Joint Publication “Verification benchmarks for single-phase flow in three-dimensional fractured porous media”

Based on a collaboration between 11 research groups, the researchers compared 17 numerical methods in their latest paper, published in Advances in Water Resources:

“Verification benchmarks for single-phase flow in three-dimensional fractured porous media”

Auhors

Inga Berre (member of SFB 1313's advisory board), Wietse M. Boon (former SFB 1313 researcher), Bernd Flemisch (SFB 1313 research project D03), Alessio Fumagalli, Dennis Gläser (SFB 1313 internal research project I-03), Eirik Keilegavlen, Anna Scotti, Ivar Stefansson, Alexandru Tatomir, Konstantin Brenner, Samuel Burbulla (SFB 1313 research project B03), Philippe Devloo, Omar Duran, Marco Favino, Julian Hennicker, I-Hsien Lee, Konstantin Lipnikov, Roland Masson, Klaus Mosthaf, Maria Giuseppina Chiara Nestola, Chuen-Fa Ni, Kirill Nikitin, Philipp Schädle, Daniil Svyatskiy, Ruslan Yanbarisov, Patrick Zulian

Abstract

Flow in fractured porous media occurs in the earth’s subsurface, in biological tissues, and in man-made materials. Fractures have a dominating influence on flow processes, and the last decade has seen an extensive development of models and numerical methods that explicitly account for their presence. To support these developments, four benchmark cases for single-phase flow in three-dimensional fractured porous media are presented. The cases are specifically designed to test the methods’ capabilities in handling various complexities common to the geometrical structures of fracture networks. Based on an open call for participation, results obtained with 17 numerical methods were collected. This paper presents the underlying mathematical model, an overview of the features of the participating numerical methods, and their performance in solving the benchmark cases.