Computational Environments for Coupling Multiphase Flow, Transport, and Mechanics in Porous Media Cost-effective management of remediation of contamination
sites and production from oil and gas reservoirs is driving development of a
new generation of subsurface simulators.
The central challenge is to minimize costs of cleanup or maximize
economic benefit from an environment whose properties are only poorly known and
in which a variety of complex chemical and physical phenomena take place. In order to address this challenge a robust
reservoir simulator comprised of coupled programs that together account for multicomponent, multiscale,
multiphase flow and transport through porous media and through wells is
required. The coupled programs must be
able to treat different physical processes occurring simultaneously in
different parts of the domain, and for computational accuracy and efficiency,
should also accommodate multiple numerical schemes. We present a "wish
list" for simulator capabilities as well as describe the methodology and
algorithms employed in the IPARS software developed at The University of Texas
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