FluidFlower Benchmark: Lessons Learned from the Perspective of Subsurface Simulation

Abstract

In this work, we describe our decisions made to perform the FluidFlower simulation study and discuss various aspects of the benchmark that are different from our usual subsurface simulation practice. We will discuss the impact of various modeling choices on the outcomes of the simulation models, such as gridding, discretization, and solver strategies, and the lessons learned, taking into account the different conditions of the FluidFlower study compared to conditions commonly dealt with in subsurface simulation. We will start with a brief description of the DARTS framework utilized for compositional simulation, the thermodynamic and physical modeling related to the atmospheric $$\text{ CO}_{2}$$ CO 2 -brine system, and the modeling workflow used in our benchmark submission. Additionally, we describe a custom nonlinear solver developed for the atmospheric benchmark conditions to improve convergence including the linear solver strategy since our default two-stage preconditioner does not perform effectively. To make meaningful comparisons between each of the modeling choices, we define a baseline model which is a simplified version of our setup in the main FluidFlower benchmark. The baseline model is then used to study the effect of Cartesian and unstructured meshes and a two-point flux approximation compared with a multi-point flux approximation for capturing the physics at play. We conclude our work with lessons learned and future recommendations.