A reduced fracture model for two-phase flow with different rock types

This article is concerned with the numerical discretization of a model for incompressible two-phase flow in a porous medium with fractures. The model is a discrete fracture model in which the fractures are treated as interfaces of dimension 2 in a 3-dimensional simulation, with fluid exchange between the 2-dimensional fracture flow and the 3-dimensional flow in the surrounding rock matrix. The model takes into account the change in the relative permeabilities and in the capillary pressure curves which occurs at the interface between the fracture and the rock matrix. The model allows for barriers which are fractures with low permeability. Mixed finite elements and advective upstream weighting are used to discretize the problem and numerical experiments are shown.