Research Main
My research interests include modelling coupled mechanical deformation and single-phase flow in naturally fractured porous media using a single unstructured DFM grid. The computational grid is constructed around the fracture, such that a fracture (long dimension) is discretized as an interface segment between two adjacent matrix elements in the mesh. A double-node strategy, with additional degrees of freedom, is used for fracture segments in order to represent the mechanical deformation problem. This strategy of combining DFM with double-node numbering allows one to keep the same unstructured mesh throughout the simulation, as long as the assumptions are honored, namely, that all the fractures (scale and geometry) are already present in the computational model and that no failure (fracture propagation) takes place during the time period of interest. Further» we briefly describe the challenges associated with the modelling of fluid flow and elastic mechanical deformation for fractured porous media.Fractures in geologic porous formations usually occur at multiple scales with very complex geometry, this is one of the reason which motivates us to look on the multiscale methods for a coupled problem read further»
On the figure on the right you can see the displcament field in a horizontal direction for a rectangular
domain with a single fracture, which is a result of a coupled simulation of flow and mechanics under vertical compressive force.
Dependent on how boundary conditions are defined on a fracture surface: free boundary or
fluid pressure-supported fracture - the deformation field can be different.