HR: 10:50h
AN: H12A-03    [Abstracts]
TI: Large-scale Discrete Fracture Network Multiphase Flow Simulations Using TOUGH2- MP
AU: * Zhang, K
EM: kzhang@lbl.gov
AF: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MS 90-1116, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
AU: Wu, Y
EM: yswu@lbl.gov
AF: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, MS 90-1116, 1 Cyclotron Rd, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
AB: Application of discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling method has in practice been limited by the computational intensity involved in the method, because an extremely large amount of fractures needs to be investigated to accurately describe a fractured rock aquifer. However, DFN models can portray fractures and their connectivity in much greater detail than continuum models, and thus more fully represent the complex field distributions of fracture-matrix systems. Spatial distribution and connectivity of fractures in a reservoir are in general complex, difficult to simulate numerically, and demand enormous computational effort, especially for the multiphase flow simulations. In this study, we use the TOUGH2-MP code for large-scale DFN simulations. TOUGH2-MP is a parallel version of TOUGH2, which simulates nonisothermal flows of multicomponent, multiphase fluids. The code uses an integral finite difference method and unstructured grids for space discretization, which avoids any reference to a global system of coordinates, and thus offers the advantage of being applicable to regular or irregular shaped elements in 1D, 2D, and 3D systems. These features make it an easy task to discretize and represent any 2D or 3D complex fracture networks in simulation. The excellent scalability of TOUGH2-MP makes possible the simulation of DFN models involving a huge number of fractures, using a multiple CPU computer. This approach has been successfully used in large-scale unsaturated flow simulations involving hundreds of thousands of fractures and matrix blocks.
DE: 1805 Computational hydrology
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 1847 Modeling
DE: 1875 Vadose zone
DE: 5104 Fracture and flow
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting