Abstract Matthew Sweeney

Abstract: Modeling discrete fracture networks in porous media using a continuum approach

Modeling flow and transport in fractured porous media is challenging because of the disparity in length and time scales between processes in the porous matrix and embedded fracture networks.  In this work, we have developed an algorithm to generate 3-dimensional, octree-refined continuum meshes, which contain the underlying fracture properties as upscaled cell- or node-based attributes.  The fractures themselves are not explicitly represented in this formulation, but the meshes are adaptively refined in the area of the fractures, which preserves the underlying network topology, as well as captures gradients between the fracture network and surrounding matrix.  This approach avoids the complicated numerical methods needed to represent the true multidimensional fracture-matrix system and is portable to many pre-existing computational tools.  To date, we have successfully tested various octree-refined continuum meshes in flow, transport, and heat simulations.  In this talk, I will give an overview of the computational geometry algorithm we have developed to make these meshes, as well as the upscaling techniques that are needed to perform multiphysics simulations on them.