Simulation of Coupled Viscous and Porous Flow Problems

Theoretical and numerical formulations are presented for the conjugate problem involving incompressible flow and flow in a saturated porous medium. The major focus of the work is the development of a generally applicable finite element method for the simulation of both fixed interface and evolving porous interface problems. The available alternatives for coupling Darcy and non-Darcy models to the Navier-Stokes equations have been studied and evaluated in a mixed finite element framework. Questions regarding convergence of the finite element method for porous flow models have been addressed. Numerical experiments on simple flow geometries have revealed the shortcomings of both the Darcy and Brinkman models. Application of the more realistic models to practical, multidimensional, flow studies has also been demonstrated.