Study of a finite volume - finite element scheme for a nuclear transport model
Provides a theoretically grounded numerical method for a specific multiphysics problem in nuclear waste management.
The paper develops and analyzes a combined finite volume-finite element scheme for a coupled nonlinear system modeling nuclear waste transport with thermal effects, proving stability, convergence, and error estimates.
We consider a problem of nuclear waste contamination. It takes into account the thermal effects. The temperature and the contaminant's concentration fulfill convection-diffusion-reaction equations. The velocity and the pressure in the flow satisfy the Darcy equation, with a viscosity depending on both concentration and temperature. The equations are nonlinear and strongly coupled. Using both finite volume and nonconforming finite element methods, we introduce a scheme adapted to this problem. We prove the stability and convergence of this scheme and give some error estimates.