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1. Monolithic and local time-stepping decoupled algorithms for transport problems in fractured porous media

   https://doi.org/10.1093/imanum/drae005  

   Cao, Yanzhao; Hoang, Thi-Thao-Phuong; Huynh, Phuoc-Toan (April 2024, IMA Journal of Numerical Analysis)

   The objective of this paper is to develop efficient numerical algorithms for the linear advection-diffusion equation in fractured porous media. A reduced fracture model is considered where the fractures are treated as interfaces between subdomains and the interactions between the fractures and the surrounding porous medium are taken into account. The model is discretized by a backward Euler upwind-mixed hybrid finite element method in which the flux variable represents both the advective and diffusive fluxes. The existence, uniqueness, as well as optimal error estimates in both space and time for the fully discrete coupled problem are established. Moreover, to facilitate different time steps in the fracture-interface and the subdomains, global-in-time, nonoverlapping domain decomposition is utilized to derive two implicit iterative solvers for the discrete problem. The first method is based on the time-dependent Steklov–Poincaré operator, while the second one employs the optimized Schwarz waveform relaxation (OSWR) approach with Ventcel-Robin transmission conditions. A discrete space-time interface system is formulated for each method and is solved iteratively with possibly variable time step sizes. The convergence of the OSWR-based method with conforming time grids is also proved. Finally, numerical results in two dimensions are presented to verify the optimal order of convergence of the monolithic solver and to illustrate the performance of the two decoupled schemes with local time-stepping on problems of high Péclet numbers. 

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2. A space-time mixed finite element method for reduced fracture flow models on nonmatching grids

   https://doi.org/10.1090/mcom/4031  

   Hoang, Thi-Thao-Phuong; Yotov, Ivan (November 2024, Mathematics of Computation)

   This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of the flow problem in a fractured porous medium where the fracture is treated as a lower dimensional object embedded in the rock matrix. We consider a space-time mixed variational formulation of such a reduced fracture model with mixed finite element approximations in space and discontinuous Galerkin discretization in time. Different spatial and temporal grids are used in the subdomains and in the fracture to adapt to the heterogeneity of the problem. Analysis of the numerical scheme, including well-posedness of the discrete problem, stability and a priori error estimates, is presented. Using substructuring techniques, the coupled subdomain and fracture system is reduced to a space-time interface problem which is solved iteratively by GMRES. Each GMRES iteration involves solution of time-dependent problems in the subdomains using the method of lines with local spatial and temporal discretizations. The convergence of GMRES is proved by using the field-of-values analysis and the properties of the discrete space-time interface operator. Numerical experiments are carried out to illustrate the performance of the proposed iterative algorithm and the accuracy of the numerical solution. 

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3. Fast and Accuracy-Preserving Domain Decomposition Methods for Reduced Fracture Models with Nonconforming Time Grids

   https://doi.org/10.1007/s10915-023-02251-0  

   Huynh, Phuoc-Toan; Cao, Yanzhao; Hoang, Thi-Thao-Phuong (July 2023, Journal of Scientific Computing)

   This paper is concerned with the numerical solution of compressible fluid flow in a fractured porous medium. The fracture represents a fast pathway (i.e., with high permeability) and is modeled as a hypersurface embedded in the porous medium. We aim to develop fast-convergent and accurate global-in-time domain decomposition (DD) methods for such a reduced fracture model, in which smaller time step sizes in the fracture can be coupled with larger time step sizes in the subdomains. Using the pressure continuity equation and the tangential PDEs in the fracture-interface as transmission conditions, three different DD formulations are derived; each method leads to a space-time interface problem which is solved iteratively and globally in time. Efficient preconditioners are designed to accelerate the convergence of the iterative methods while preserving the accuracy in time with nonconforming grids. Numerical results for two-dimensional problems with non-immersed and partially immersed fractures are presented to show the improved performance of the proposed methods. 

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4. Coupled and decoupled stabilized mixed finite element methods for nonstationary dual‐porosity‐Stokes fluid flow model

   https://doi.org/10.1002/nme.6158  

   Al Mahbub, Md. Abdullah; He, Xiaoming; Nasu, Nasrin Jahan; Qiu, Changxin; Zheng, Haibiao (July 2019, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering)

   Summary In this paper, we propose and analyze two stabilized mixed finite element methods for the dual‐porosity‐Stokes model, which couples the free flow region and microfracture‐matrix system through four interface conditions on an interface. The first stabilized mixed finite element method is a coupled method in the traditional format. Based on the idea of partitioned time stepping, the four interface conditions, and the mass exchange terms in the dual‐porosity model, the second stabilized mixed finite element method is decoupled in two levels and allows a noniterative splitting of the coupled problem into three subproblems. Due to their superior conservation properties and convenience of the computation of flux, mixed finite element methods have been widely developed for different types of subsurface flow problems in porous media. For the mixed finite element methods developed in this article, no Lagrange multiplier is used, but an interface stabilization term with a penalty parameter is added in the temporal discretization. This stabilization term ensures the numerical stability of both the coupled and decoupled schemes. The stability and the convergence analysis are carried out for both the coupled and decoupled schemes. Three numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the accuracy, efficiency, and applicability of the proposed methods. 

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5. An Immersed Finite Element Method for Elliptic Interface Problems with Multi-Domain and Triple Junction Points

   https://doi.org/10.4208/aamm.OA-2018-0175  

   Chen, Yuan; Hou, Songming; Zhang, Xu (October 2019, Advances in applied mathematics and mechanics)

   Interface problems have wide applications in modern scientific research. Obtaining accurate numerical solutions of multi-domain problems involving triple junction conditions remains a significant challenge. In this paper, we develop an efficient finite element method based on non-body-fitting meshes for solving multi-domain elliptic interface problems. We follow the idea of immersed finite element by modifying local basis functions to accommodate interface conditions. We enrich the local finite element space by adding new basis functions for handling non-homogeneous flux jump. The numerical scheme is symmetric and positive definite. Numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the features of our method. 

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