scholarly journals A higher-order finite element reactive transport model for unstructured and fractured grids

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joachim Moortgat ◽  
Mengnan Li ◽  
Mohammad Amin Amooie ◽  
Di Zhu

Abstract This work presents a new reactive transport framework that combines a powerful geochemistry engine with advanced numerical methods for flow and transport in subsurface fractured porous media. Specifically, the PhreeqcRM interface (developed by the USGS) is used to take advantage of a large library of equilibrium and kinetic aqueous and fluid-rock reactions, which has been validated by numerous experiments and benchmark studies. Fluid flow is modeled by the Mixed Hybrid Finite Element (FE) method, which provides smooth velocity fields even in highly heterogenous formations with discrete fractures. A multilinear Discontinuous Galerkin FE method is used to solve the multicomponent transport problem. This method is locally mass conserving and its second order convergence significantly reduces numerical dispersion. In terms of thermodynamics, the aqueous phase is considered as a compressible fluid and its properties are derived from a Cubic Plus Association (CPA) equation of state. The new simulator is validated against several benchmark problems (involving, e.g., Fickian and Nernst-Planck diffusion, isotope fractionation, advection-dispersion transport, and rock-fluid reactions) before demonstrating the expanded capabilities offered by the underlying FE foundation, such as high computational efficiency, parallelizability, low numerical dispersion, unstructured 3D gridding, and discrete fraction modeling.

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Y. Yao ◽  
J. W. Zhou ◽  
Z. Zhou ◽  
L. Li

The shape function of the finite element-least square point interpolation method (FE-LSPIM) combines the quadrilateral element for partition of unity and the least square point interpolation method (LSPIM) for local approximation, and inherits the completeness properties of meshfree shape functions and the compatibility properties of FE shape functions, and greatly reduces the numerical dispersion error. This paper derives the formulas and performs the dispersion analysis for the FE-LSPIM. Numerical results for benchmark problems show that, the FE-LSPIM yields considerably better results than the finite element method (FEM) and element-free Galerkin method (EFGM).


Author(s):  
Ayoub Ayadi ◽  
Kamel Meftah ◽  
Lakhdar Sedira ◽  
Hossam Djahara

Abstract In this paper, the earlier formulation of the eight-node hexahedral SFR8 element is extended in order to analyze material nonlinearities. This element stems from the so-called Space Fiber Rotation (SFR) concept which considers virtual rotations of a nodal fiber within the element that enhances the displacement vector approximation. The resulting mathematical model of the proposed SFR8 element and the classical associative plasticity model are implemented into a Fortran calculation code to account for small strain elastoplastic problems. The performance of this element is assessed by means of a set of nonlinear benchmark problems in which the development of the plastic zone has been investigated. The accuracy of the obtained results is principally evaluated with some reference solutions.


Author(s):  
Sarmila Sahoo

The present study investigates buckling characteristics of cut-out borne stiffened hyperbolic paraboloid shell panel made of laminated composites using finite element analysis to evaluate the governing differential equations of global buckling of the structure. The finite element code is validated by solving benchmark problems from literature. Different parametric variations are studied to find the optimum panel buckling load. Laminations, boundary conditions, depth of stiffener and arrangement of stiffeners are found to influence the panel buckling load. Effect of different parameters like cut-out size, shell width to thickness ratio, degree of orthotropy and fiber orientation angle of the composite layers on buckling load are also studied. Parametric and comparative studies are conducted to analyze the buckling strength of composite hyperbolic paraboloid shell panel with cut-out.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Haitao Wang ◽  
Xiangyang Zeng ◽  
Ye Lei

Wave-based methods for acoustic simulations within enclosures suffer the numerical dispersion and then usually have evident dispersion error for problems with high wave numbers. To improve the upper limit of calculating frequency for 3D problems, a hybrid smoothed finite element method (hybrid SFEM) is proposed in this paper. This method employs the smoothing technique to realize the reduction of the numerical dispersion. By constructing a type of mixed smoothing domain, the traditional node-based and face-based smoothing techniques are mixed in the hybrid SFEM to give a more accurate stiffness matrix, which is widely believed to be the ultimate cause for the numerical dispersion error. The numerical examples demonstrate that the hybrid SFEM has better accuracy than the standard FEM and traditional smoothed FEMs under the condition of the same basic elements. Moreover, the hybrid SFEM also has good performance on the computational efficiency. A convergence experiment shows that it costs less time than other comparison methods to achieve the same computational accuracy.


2006 ◽  
Vol 932 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Jacques ◽  
J. Šimůnek ◽  
D. Mallants ◽  
M.Th. van Genuchten

ABSTRACTNaturally occurring radionuclides can also end up in soils and groundwater due to human practices, such as application of certain fertilizers in agriculture. Many mineral fertilizers, particularly (super)phosphates, contain small amounts of 238U and 230Th which eventually may be leached from agricultural soils to underlying water resources. Field soils that receive P-fertilizers accumulate U and Th and their daughter nuclides, which eventually may leach to groundwater. Our objective was to numerically assess U migration in soils. Calculations were based on a new reactive transport model, HP1, which accounts for interactions between U and organic matter, phosphate, and carbonate. Solid phase interactions were simulated using a surface complexation module. Furthermore, all geochemical processes were coupled with a model accounting for dynamic changes in the soil water content and the water flux. The capabilities of the code in calculating natural U fluxes to groundwater were illustrated using a semi-synthetic 200-year long time series of climatological data for Belgium. Based on an average fertilizer application, the input of phosphate and uranium in the soil was defined. This paper discusses calculated U distributions in the soil profile as well as calculated U fluxes leached from a 100-cm deep soil profile. The calculated long-term leaching rates originating from fertilization are significantly higher after 200 years than estimated release rates from lowlevel nuclear waste repositories.


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