Assessment of a Hybrid Continuous/Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Code for Geothermal Reservoir Simulations

摘要

FALCON (Fracturing And Liquid CONvection) is a hybrid continuous/discontinuous Galerkin finite element geothermal reservoir simulation code based on the MOOSE (Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment) framework being developed and used for multiphysics applications. In the present work, a suite of verification and validation (V&V) test problems for FALCON was defined to meet the design requirements, and solved to the interests of enhanced geothermal system modeling and simulation. The intent for this test problem suite is to provide baseline comparison data that demonstrates the performance of FALCON solution methods. The test problems vary in complexity from a single mechanical or thermal process, to coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in geological porous medium. Numerical results obtained by FALCON agreed well with either the available analytical solutions or experimental data, indicating the verified and validated implementation of these capabilities in FALCON. Whenever possible, some form of solution verification has been attempted to identify sensitivities in the solution methods, and suggest best practices when using the FALCON code.