A new numerical scheme is proposed for flow computation in complex discrete fracture networks. The method is based on a three-field formulation of the Darcy law for the description of the hydraulic head on the fractures and uses a cost functional to enforce the required coupling condition at fracture intersections. The resulting method can handle non conforming meshes, independently built on each geometrical object of the computational domain, and ensures local mass conservation properties at fracture intersections. An iterative solver is devised for the method, ready for parallel implementation on parallel computing architectures.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.