Abstract

A mixed element-characteristic finite element method is put forward to approximate three-dimensional incompressible miscible positive semi-definite displacement problems in porous media. The mathematical
model is formulated by a nonlinear partial differential system. The flow equation is approximated by a mixed element scheme, and the pressure and Darcy velocity are computed at the same time. The concentration equation is treated by the method of characteristic finite element, where the convection term is discretized
along the characteristics and the diffusion term is computed by the scheme of finite element. The method of characteristics can confirm strong computation stability at the sharp fronts and avoid numerical dispersion and nonphysical oscillation. Furthermore, a large step is adopted while small time truncation error and high order accuracy are obtained. It is an important feature in numerical simulation of seepage mechanics that the mixed volume element can compute the pressure and Darcy velocity simultaneously and the accuracy of Darcy velocity is improved one order. Using the form of variation, energy method, $L^2$ projection and the technique of priori estimates of differential equations, we show convergence analysis for positive semi-definite problems. Then a powerfu  tool is given to solve international famous problems.

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