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Multiscale methods for model order reduction of non-linear multiphase flow problems

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Abstract

Numerical simulations for flow and transport in subsurface porous media often prove computationally prohibitive due to property data availability at multiple spatial scales that can vary by orders of magnitude. A number of model order reduction approaches are available in the existing literature that alleviate this issue by approximating the solution at a coarse scale preserving fine scale features. We attempt to present a comparison between two such model order reduction techniques, namely (1) adaptive numerical homogenization and (2) generalized multiscale basis functions. We rely upon a non-linear, multi-phase, black-oil model formulation, commonly encountered in the oil and gas industry, as the basis for comparing the aforementioned two approaches. An expanded mixed finite element formulation is used to separate the spatial scales between non-linear, flow, and transport problems. A numerical benchmark is setup using fine scale property information from the 10th SPE comparative project dataset for the purpose of comparing accuracies of these two schemes. An adaptive criterion is employed by both the schemes for local enrichment that allows us to preserve solution accuracy compared to the fine scale benchmark problem. The numerical results indicate that both schemes are able to adequately capture the fine scale features of the model problem at hand.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Department of Energy (DOE), Center for Frontiers of Subsurface Energy Security (CFSES) grant DE-SC000111, National Science Foundation (NSF), BIGDATA: Collaborative Research Award 1546553, and Center for Subsurface Modeling industrial affiliates.

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  1. Center for Subsurface Modeling, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Gurpreet Singh, Wingtat Leung & Mary F. Wheeler

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  1. Gurpreet Singh
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  2. Wingtat Leung
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  3. Mary F. Wheeler
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Correspondence to Gurpreet Singh.

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Singh, G., Leung, W. & Wheeler, M.F. Multiscale methods for model order reduction of non-linear multiphase flow problems. Comput Geosci 23, 305–323 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10596-018-9798-5

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