An approximation of incompressible miscible displacement in porous media by mixed finite element method and characteristics-mixed finite element method

Abstract

An approximation scheme is defined for incompressible miscible displacement in porous media. This scheme is constructed by using two methods. Standard mixed finite element is used for the Darcy velocity equation. A characteristics-mixed finite element method is presented for the concentration equation. Characteristic approximation is applied to handle the convection part of the concentration equation, and a lowest-order mixed finite element spatial approximation is adopted to deal with the diffusion part. Thus, the scalar unknown concentration and the diffusive flux can be approximated simultaneously. In order to derive the optimal L 2 -norm error estimates, a post-processing step is included in the approximation to the scalar unknown concentration. This scheme conserves mass globally; in fact, on the discrete level, fluid is transported along the approximate characteristics. Numerical experiments are presented finally to validate the theoretical analysis.