Thermal convection of viscous fluids in a faulted system: 3D benchmark for numerical codes

We propose a new benchmark for the simulation of thermal convection in a 3D faulted system. Linear stability analysis is adopted to estimate the critical viscous-dependent Rayleigh number. These results are used to quantify the reliability of OpenGeoSys-5, Golem and FEFLOW simulators in accounting for the onset conditions and in predicting the long-term behavior of convective flow patterns. By comparing the analytical and numerical results, we can conclude that the proposed methodology and Rayleigh expressions can be applied as benchmark case for any numerical study involving coupled hydrothermal fluid flow in fault zones.