An implementation of mimetic finite difference method for fractured reservoirs using a fully implicit approach and discrete fracture models

Highlights: • Novel fully implicit mimetic finite difference scheme for general fractured reservoirs. • Discrete fracture model is employed with good convergence. • The scheme is computationally efficient. • Tested for highly heterogeneous fractured media and full permeability tensor. • Various shapes of elements were employed and tested. In this paper, we present a fully implicit mimetic finite difference method (MFD) for general fractured reservoir simulation. The MFD is a novel numerical discretization scheme that has been successfully applied to many fields and it is characterized by local conservation properties and applicability to complex grids. In our work, we extend this method to the numerical simulation of fractured reservoirs using discrete fracture models. The MFD scheme supports general polyhedral meshes and full tensor properties which improves the modeling and simulation of subsurface reservoirs. Furthermore, we describe in detail the principle of our MFD approach and the corresponding numerical formulations of the discrete fracture model. In our tests, we use a fully implicit scheme that assures flux conservation and simulation efficiency. Several case studies are conducted to show the accuracy and the robustness of the proposed numerical scheme.