Wietse M. Boon

Jan M. Nordbotten, Wietse M. Boon, Alessio Fumagalli et al.

In this paper, we introduce a mortar-based approach to discretizing flow in fractured porous media, which we term the mixed-dimensional flux coupling scheme. Our formulation is agnostic to the discretizations used to discretize the fluid flow equations in the porous medium and in the fractures, and as such it represents a unified approach to integrated fractured geometries into any existing discretization framework. In particular, several existing discretization approaches for fractured porous media can be seen as special instances of the approach proposed herein. We provide an abstract stability theory for our approach, which provides explicit guidance into the grids used to discretize the fractures and the porous medium, as dependent on discretization methods chosen for the respective domains. The theoretical results are sustained by numerical examples, wherein we utilize our framework to simulate flow in 2D and 3D fractured media using control volume methods (both two-point and multi-point flux), Lagrangian finite element methods, mixed finite element methods, and virtual element methods. As expected, regardless of the ambient methods chosen, our approach leads to stable and convergent discretizations for the fractured problems considered, within the limits of the discretization schemes.

Martin Schneider, Kilian Weishaupt, Dennis Gläser et al.

A discretization is proposed for models coupling free flow with anisotropic porous medium flow. Our approach employs a staggered grid finite volume method for the Navier-Stokes equations in the free flow subdomain and a MPFA finite volume method to solve Darcy flow in the porous medium. After appropriate spatial refinement in the free flow domain, the degrees of freedom are conveniently located to allow for a natural coupling of the two discretization schemes. In turn, we automatically obtain a more accurate description of the flow field surrounding the porous medium. Numerical experiments highlight the stability and applicability of the scheme in the presence of anisotropy and show good agreement with existing methods, verifying our approach.

Wietse M. Boon, Jan M. Nordbotten

We consider mechanics of composite materials in which thin inclusions are modeled by lower-dimensional manifolds. By successively applying the dimensional reduction to junctions and intersections within the material, a geometry of hierarchically connected manifolds is formed which we refer to as mixed-dimensional. The governing equations with respect to linear elasticity are then defined on this mixed-dimensional geometry. The resulting system of partial differential equations is also referred to as mixed-dimensional, since functions defined on domains of multiple dimensionalities are considered in a fully coupled manner. With the use of a semi-discrete differential operator, we obtain the variational formulation of this system in terms of both displacements and stresses. The system is then analyzed and shown to be well-posed with respect to appropriately weighted norms. Numerical discretization schemes are proposed using well-known mixed finite elements in all dimensions. The schemes conserve linear momentum locally while relaxing the symmetry condition on the stress tensor. Stability and convergence are shown using a priori error estimates.

Wietse M. Boon, Ralf Hiptmair, Wouter Tonnon et al.

Reformulating the incompressible Stokes equations with the velocity sought in H(curl) has recently emerged as a promising approach for the design of helicity-preserving schemes in magnetohydrodynamics and pressure-robust finite element methods on polygonal meshes. A key challenge in this setting, however, is the treatment of Navier slip boundary conditions. In this paper, we overcome this difficulty by recasting the slip condition as a Robin boundary condition and proving well-posedness of the resulting continuous problem. We further identify the geometric and regularity assumptions on the domain and the exact solution under which the classical Stokes solution is recovered. Finally, we study a conforming finite element Galerkin discretization, establishing stability and a priori error estimates. Numerical experiments validate the optimal convergence rates predicted by the theory.

Wietse M. Boon, Jan M. Nordbotten, Ivan Yotov

Flow in fractured porous media represents a challenge for discretization methods due to the disparate scales and complex geometry. Herein we propose a new discretization, based on the mixed finite element method and mortar methods. Our formulation is novel in that it employs the normal fluxes as the mortar variable within the mixed finite element framework, resulting in a formulation that couples the flow in the fractures with the surrounding domain with a strong notion of mass conservation. The proposed discretization handles complex, non-matching grids, and allows for fracture intersections and termination in a natural way, as well as spatially varying apertures. The discretization is applicable to both two and three spatial dimensions. A priori analysis shows the method to be optimally convergent with respect to the chosen mixed finite element spaces, which is sustained by numerical examples.