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Sequential Methods for Coupled Geomechanics and Multiphase Flow

Sequential Methods for Coupled Geomechanics and Multiphase Flow

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5.6. NUMERICAL EXAMPLES 147<br />

Behavior <strong>for</strong> high coupling strength<br />

In this <strong>and</strong> the previous chapters, we have shown that, unlike the drained <strong>and</strong> fixed-strain<br />

splits, the undrained <strong>and</strong> fixed-stress splits are unconditionally stable. We have not ad-<br />

dressed, however, the efficiency of the methods.<br />

Figure 5.7 shows a comparison between the undrained <strong>and</strong> fixed-stress splits <strong>for</strong> Cases<br />

5.1 <strong>and</strong> 5.2, at very high coupling strength. In these cases, the undrained split requires<br />

many iterations to match the fully coupled solution, while the fixed-stress split does so<br />

with only one iteration per time step. In particular, we have shown in Chapter 4 that the<br />

undrained split is not convergent <strong>for</strong> incompressibility of the fluid <strong>and</strong> the solid grains. On<br />

the other h<strong>and</strong>, the fixed-stress split takes only one iteration in Case 5.2 <strong>and</strong> two iterations<br />

in Case 5.1 in order to yield a virtually exact match with the fully coupled method. The<br />

flow problem <strong>for</strong> the first iteration in the Terzaghi problem (Case 5.1) is trivial, since the<br />

driving <strong>for</strong>ce is instantaneous loading from the mechanical problem.<br />

This result implies that the fixed-stress split yields almost the same solution as the fully<br />

coupled method with one or two iterations. This behavior is consistent with the fact that<br />

the error amplification factor of the fixed-stress split is zero.<br />

Case 5.3—The M<strong>and</strong>el problem<br />

Figure 5.8 indicates that the fixed-strain split (top) is stable <strong>for</strong> τ < 1, while it is unsta-<br />

ble when τ > 1. Similar to the drained split, the fixed-strain split can yield the severe<br />

oscillations at early time. Due to the oscillations, the early time solution is not computed<br />

properly by the fixed-strain split, even though the late time solution converges to the ana-<br />

lytical result. The fixed-stress split, on the other h<strong>and</strong>, is stable <strong>and</strong> non-oscillatory under<br />

all conditions as shown in Figure 5.8. The M<strong>and</strong>el–Cryer effect can be also captured by the<br />

fixed-stress split showing good agreement with the analytical solution.<br />

For the vertical <strong>and</strong> horizontal displacements, the fixed-strain split causes severe oscil-<br />

lations even though it is stable (the top of Figures 5.9 <strong>and</strong> 5.10). But, when the coupling<br />

strength is greater than one, the fixed-strain split is unstable (the bottom of Figures 5.9

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