Adaptive Mesh Refinement in Reactive Transport Modeling of Subsurface Environments

Abstract:

Adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) is a numerical technique for locally adjusting the resolution of computational grids. AMR makes it possible to superimpose levels of finer grids on the global computational grid in an adaptive manner allowing for more accurate calculations locally. AMR codes rely on the fundamental concept that the solution can be computed in different regions of the domain with different spatial resolutions. AMR codes have been applied to a wide range of problem including (but not limited to): fully compressible hydrodynamics, astrophysical flows, cosmological applications, combustion, blood flow, heat transfer in nuclear reactors, and land ice and atmospheric models for climate.

In subsurface applications, in particular, reactive transport modeling, AMR may be particularly useful in accurately capturing concentration gradients (hence, reaction rates) that develop in localized areas of the simulation domain. Accurate evaluation of reaction rates is critical in many subsurface applications. In this contribution, we will discuss recent applications that bring to bear AMR capabilities on reactive transport problems from the pore scale to the flood plain scale.