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Sequential Methods for Coupled Geomechanics and Multiphase Flow

Sequential Methods for Coupled Geomechanics and Multiphase Flow

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30 CHAPTER 3. STABILITY OF THE DRAINED AND UNDRAINED SPLITS<br />

The boundary conditions <strong>for</strong> the mechanical problem are u = ū (prescribed displace-<br />

ment) on Γu <strong>and</strong> σ · n = ¯t (prescribed traction) on Γσ. Again, we assume Γu ∩ Γσ = ∅, <strong>and</strong><br />

Γu ∪ Γσ = ∂Ω.<br />

The initial displacements <strong>and</strong> strains are, by definition, equal to zero. The initial con-<br />

dition of the coupled problem is p|t=0 = p0 <strong>and</strong> σ|t=0 = σ0. The initial stress field must<br />

satisfy mechanical equilibrium.<br />

3.2 Discretization<br />

The finite-volume method is widely used by the reservoir simulation community (Aziz <strong>and</strong><br />

Settari, 1979), whereas most numerical models in geotechnical engineering <strong>and</strong> thermo-<br />

mechanics use nodal-based finite-element discretizations (Zienkiewicz et al., 1988; Lewis<br />

<strong>and</strong> Sukirman, 1993; Lewis <strong>and</strong> Schrefler, 1998; Armero <strong>and</strong> Simo, 1992; Armero, 1999;<br />

Wan et al., 2003; White <strong>and</strong> Borja, 2008). In the finite-volume method <strong>for</strong> the flow prob-<br />

lem, the pressure is located at the cell (grid block) center. In the nodal-based finite-element<br />

method <strong>for</strong> the mechanical problem, the displacement vector is located at vertices (Hughes,<br />

1987). This space discretization has the following characteristics: local mass conservation<br />

at the element level, a continuous displacement field, which allows <strong>for</strong> tracking the de<strong>for</strong>ma-<br />

tion, <strong>and</strong> convergent approximations with the lowest order discretization (Jha <strong>and</strong> Juanes,<br />

2007). Since we assume slightly compressible fluid flow, the given space discretization pro-<br />

vides a stable pressure field at early time (Phillips <strong>and</strong> Wheeler, 2007a,b), while <strong>for</strong> nodal<br />

based finite element methods, spurious pressure oscillations are identified <strong>for</strong> the equal-order<br />

approximations of pressure <strong>and</strong> displacement (e.g., piecewise continuous interpolation) <strong>and</strong><br />

incompressible fluid flow (Vermeer <strong>and</strong> Verruijt, 1981; Murad <strong>and</strong> Loula, 1992, 1994; White<br />

<strong>and</strong> Borja, 2008). Stabilization techniques to deal with spurious pressure oscillations have<br />

been studied by several authors (Murad <strong>and</strong> Loula, 1992, 1994; Wan, 2002; Wan et al., 2003;<br />

Truty <strong>and</strong> Zimmermann, 2006; White <strong>and</strong> Borja, 2008). Refer to Appendix A. <strong>for</strong> further<br />

discussion on the finite-volume <strong>and</strong> finite-element methods.<br />

Let the domain be partitioned into nonoverlapping elements (grid blocks), Ω = ∪ ne<br />

j=1 Ωj,

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