Application of the mixed multiscale finite element method to parallel simulations of two-phase flows in porous media

Abstract : The Mixed Multiscale Finite Element method (MMsFE) is a promising alternative to traditional upscaling techniques in order to accelerate the simulation of flows in large heterogeneous porous media. Indeed, in this method, the calculation of the basis functions which encompass the fine-scale variations of the permeability field, can be performed in parallel and the size of the global linear system is reduced. However, we show in this work that a two-level MPI strategy should be used to adapt the calculation resources at these two steps of the algorithm and thus obtain a better scalability of the method. This strategy has been implemented for the resolution of the pressure equation which arises in two-phase flow models. Results of simulations performed on complex reservoir models show the benefits of this approach.