Numerical methods for flow and transport in porous media

Overview & Synopsis

This thesis bears on the modelling of groundwater flow and transport in porous media; we perform numerical simulations by means of finite volume methods and prove convergence results. In Chapter 1, we first apply a semi-implicit standard finite volume method and then the generalized finite volume method SUSHI for the numerical simulation of density driven flows in porous media; we solve a nonlinear convection-diffusion parabolic equation for the concentration coupled with an elliptic equation for the pressure. We apply the standard finite volume method to compute the solutions of a problem involving a rotating interface between salt and fresh water and of Henry's problem. We then apply the SUSHI scheme to the same problems as well as to a three dimensional saltpool problem. We use adaptive meshes, based upon square volume elements in space dimension two and cubic volume elements in space dimension three. In Chapter 2, we apply the generalized finite volume method SUSHI to the discretization of Richards equation, an elliptic-parabolic equation modeling groundwater flow, where the diffusion term can be anisotropic and heterogeneous. This class of locally conservative methods can be applied to a wide range of unstructured possibly non-matching polyhedral meshes in arbitrary space dimension. As is needed for Richards equation, the time discretization is fully implicit. We obtain a convergence result based upon a priori estimates and the application of the Fréchet-Kolmogorov compactness theorem. We implement the scheme and present numerical tests. In Chapter 3, we study a gradient scheme for the Signorini problem. Gradient schemes are nonconforming methods written in discrete variational formulation which are based on independent approximations of the functions and the gradients. We prove the existence and uniqueness of the discrete solution as well as its convergence to the weak solution of the Signorini problem. Finally we introduce a numerical scheme based upon the SUSHI discretization and present numerical results. In Chapter 4, we apply a semi-implicit scheme in time together with a generalized finite volume method for the numerical solution of density driven flows in porous media; it comes to solve nonlinear convection-diffusion parabolic equations for the solute and temperature transport as well as for the pressure. We compute the solutions for a specific problem which describes the advance of a warm fresh water front coupled to heat transfer in a confined aquifer which is initially charged with cold salt water. We use adaptive meshes, based upon square volume elements in space dimension two.