A phase-field multirate scheme with stabilized iterative coupling for pressure driven fracture propagation in porous media

Abstract

Phase-field methods have the potential to simulate large scale evolution of networks of fractures in porous media without the need to explicitly track interfaces. Practical field simulations require however that robust and efficient decoupling techniques can be applied for solving these complex systems. In this work, we focus on the mechanics-step that involves the coupling of elasticity and the phase-field variable. We develop a multirate scheme in which a coarser time grid is employed for the mechanics equation (i.e., the displacements) and a finer time grid is taken for the phase-field problem. The performance of this algorithm is demonstrated for two test cases.