Modified Method of Characteristics Combined with Finite Volume Element Methods for Incompressible Miscible Displacement Problems in Porous Media

Abstract

The incompressible miscible displacement problem in porous media is modeled by a coupled system of two nonlinear partial differential equations, the pressure-velocity equation and the concentration equation. In this paper, we present a mixed finite volume element method (FVEM) for the approximation of the pressure-velocity equation. Since modified method of characteristics (MMOC) minimizes the grid orientation effect, for the approximation of the concentration equation, we apply a standard FVEM combined with MMOC. A priori error estimates in norm are derived for velocity, pressure and concentration. Numerical results are presented to substantiate the validity of the theoretical results.