A new locally conservative numerical method for two-phase flow in heterogeneous poroelastic media

We construct a new class of locally conservative numerical methods for two-phase immiscible flow in heterogeneous poroelastic media. Within the framework of the so-called iteratively coupled methods and fixed-stress split algorithm we develop mixed finite element methods for the flow and geomechanics subsystems which furnish locally conservative Darcy velocity and transient porosity input fields for the transport problem for the water saturation. Such hyperbolic equation is decomposed within an operator splitting technique based on a predictor-corrector scheme with the predictor step discretized by a higher-order non-oscillatory finite volume central scheme. The proposed scheme adopts an inhomogeneous dual mesh with variable cell size ruled by the local wave speed of propagation to compute numerical fluxes at cell edges. In the limit of small time steps the central scheme gives rise to a semidiscrete formulation for the water saturation capable of incorporating heterogeneous porosity fields and generalized flux functions including the water transport due to the solid phase velocity. Numerical simulations of a water-flooding problem in secondary oil recovery are presented for different realizations of the input random fields (permeability, Young modulus and initial porosity). Comparison between the accuracies of the proposed approach and the traditional one-way coupled hydro-geomechanical formulation are presented. The effects of the cross-correlation between the input random fields and compaction drive mechanism upon finger growth and breakthrough curves are also analyzed. A notable feature of the formulation proposed herein is the accurate prediction of the influence of geomechanical effects upon the unstable movement of the water front, whose evolution is dictated by rock heterogeneity and unfavorable viscosity ratio, without deteriorating the local conservative character of the numerical schemes.