A Hybridized Crouziex-Raviart Nonconforming Finite Element and Discontinuous Galerkin Method for a Two-Phase Flow in the Porous Media

Abstract

In this study, we present a numerical solution for the two-phase incompressible flow in the porous media under isothermal condition using a hybrid of the linear lower-order nonconforming finite element and the interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method. This hybridization is developed for the first time in the two-phase modeling and considered as the main novelty of this research.The pressure equation and convection dominant saturation equation are discretized using the nonconforming Crouziex-Raviart finite element (CR FEM) and the weighed interior penalty discontinuous Galerkin (SWIP) method, respectively. Utilizing the nonconforming finite element method for solving the flow equation made the pressure and velocity values be consistent with respect to the degrees of freedom arrangement at the midpoint of the neighboring element edges. The boundary condition governing the simulation is the Robin type at entrance boundaries, and the time marching discretization for the governing equations is the sequential solution scheme. An H (div) projection using Raviart-Thomas element is implemented to improve the results’ resolution and preserve the continuity of the normal component of the velocity field. At the end of each time step, the non-physical oscillation is omitted using a slope limiter, namely, modified Chavent-Jaffre limiter, in each element. Also, in this study, the developed algorithm is verified using some benchmark problems and the test cases are considered to demonstrate the efficiency of the developed model in capturing the shock front at the interface of fluid phases and discontinuities.

Keywords

• nonconforming finite element method
• two-phase flow
• crouziex-raviart element
• slope limiter
• velocity field