A New Mixed Finite Element and its Related Finite Volume Discretization on General Hexahedral Grids

Abstract

Modern reservoir simulation grids are generally composed of distorted hexahedral elements populated with heterogeneous and possibly full-tensor coefficients. The numerical discretization of the reservoir flow equations on such grids is a challenging problem. Finite volume methods based on a two-point flux approximation (TPFA) do not properly account for grid distortion or permeability anisotropy that is misaligned with the grid. Multipoint flux approximation (MPFA) methods have been developed to overcome these shortcomings. Although implemented and used in virtually every commercial reservoir simulator, a proof of convergence for MPFA methods on three-dimensional hexahedral grids has remained elusive. Here, we present a link between MPFA and a new mixed finite element methods (MFEM) on hexahedral grids, which provides a powerful mathematical framework for the analysis of MPFA. First, we introduce a new mixed finite element on 3D hexahedra. The new element defines a velocity field with bilinear normal components through element faces. Thus, the new velocity field is defined by four degrees of freedom per face, which are the normal components of the velocity field at the vertices of each face. The new space is compatible with a piecewise constant pressure discretization and yields a convergent discretization. The application of a vertex-based quadrature rule reduces the new mixed finite element method to a multipoint flux control volume method. For Cartesian grids, this is in fact the classical MPFA O-method. This provides for the first time a direct link between MFEM and MPFA on hexahedral grids, which we use to establish convergence of MPFA for 3D rectangular grids.