Adaptive Multiscale Finite-Volume Method for Multiphase Flow and Transport in Porous Media

Abstract

We present a multiscale finite-volume (MSFV) method for multiphase flow and transport in heterogeneous porous media. The approach extends our recently developed MSFV method for single-phase flow. We use a sequential scheme that deals with flow (i.e., pressure and total velocity) and transport (i.e., saturation) separately and differently. For the flow problem, we employ two different sets of basis functions for the reconstruction of a conservative fine-scale total velocity field. Our basis functions are designed to have local support, and that allows for adaptive computation of the flow field. We use a criterion based on the time change of the total mobility field to decide when and where to recompute our basis functions. We show that at a given time step, only a small fraction of the basis functions needs to be recomputed. Numerical experiments of difficult two-dimensional and three-dimensional test cases demonstrate the accuracy, computational efficiency, and overall scalability of the method.