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Forward and inverse modeling of fault transmissibility in subsurface flows

Journal Article · · Computers and Mathematics with Applications (Oxford)
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. Baylor Univ., Waco, TX (United States); OSTI
  2. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
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Characterizing physical properties of faults, such as their transmissibility, is crucial for performing predictive numerical simulation of subsurface flows, such as those encountered in petroleum engineering and remediation of subsurface contamination. Here, this paper provides a complete investigation of the inverse problem for fault transmissibility in subsurface flow models, under appropriate assumptions on fault structure. In particular, the following aspects are considered: 1) fault modeling and well-posedness of the forward problem; 2) finite element (FEM) discretizations of the forward problem and their rigorous a priori convergence analysis; 3) Well-posedness of the Bayesian inverse problem, FEM discretization of the infinite dimensional Bayesian inverse formulation, and its rigorous a priori analysis. Moreover, computation of the maximum a posteriori (MAP) point via fast inexact Newton-conjugate gradient optimization and a Laplace approximation of the Bayesian posterior are also presented. Numerical results illustrate the use of the proposed fault model in forward and inverse problems for subsurface flows in two dimensional domains with multiple faults.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0018147; SC0019303
OSTI ID:
2420718
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1961472
Journal Information:
Computers and Mathematics with Applications (Oxford), Journal Name: Computers and Mathematics with Applications (Oxford) Journal Issue: C Vol. 128; ISSN 0898-1221
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
Fault transmissibility
Inverse problem
Mathematics
Subsurface flow