An online generalized multiscale approximation of the multipoint flux mixed finite element method

Abstract

In this paper, we develop an online generalized multiscale approximation of the multipoint flux mixed finite element method (MFMFE) for Darcy flow in highly heterogeneous porous media, which can handle full tensor permeability fields and unstructured grids with local velocity elimination. Here, for illustration of the proposed method, we will mainly consider the situation that the porous medium is filled with fractures, which usually results in unstructured grids, and the extension to the situation that the permeability is represented as a full tensor is straightforward. From the fine-grid discretization by the MFMFE method, we derive the symmetric and positive definite discrete bilinear form for both the matrix and fracture pressure, and thereby obtain the corresponding discrete weak formulation that only related to pressure. In the offline stage, we compute offline basis functions which contain the important local multiscale information of each coarse-grid block to form the initial multiscale space. In the online stage, we construct and add online basis functions to enrich the multiscale space and consequently improve the accuracy of the multiscale solution. Each offline basis function and each online basis function contains multiscale information both for matrix and fracture. We give the theoretical analysis for the convergence of the online enrichment, which shows that more sufficient initial basis functions lead to faster convergence rates. A series of numerical examples that either the permeability is a full tensor or the porous medium is filled with fractures are presented to show the performance of the multiscale method.