New Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element method for modeling contaminant transport in fractured porous formations

摘要

Fracture network simulators have been extensively used in the past for obtaining a better understanding of flow and transport processes in fractured rock. In this paper, a new finite element code TRIPOLY is introduced which combines a powerful Lagrangian-Eulerian approach for solving flow and transport in networks of discrete fractures with an efficient method to account for the diffusive interaction between the fractures and the adjacent matrix blocks. The code is capable of handling large-scale fracture-matrix systems comprising individual fractures and matrix blocks of arbitrary size, shape, and dimension.