Iterative Numerical Scheme for Non-Isothermal Two-Phase Flow in Heterogeneous Porous Media

In the current paper, an iterative algorithm is developed to simulate the problem of two-phase flow with heat transfer in porous media. The convective body force caused by heat transfer is described by Boussinesq approximation throughout with the governing equations, namely, pressure, saturation, and energy. The two coupled equations of pressure and saturation are solved using the implicit pressure-explicit saturation (IMPES) scheme, while the energy equation is treated implicitly, and the scheme is called iterative implicit pressure, explicit saturation, implicit temperature (I-IMPES-IMT). In order to calculate the pressure implicitly, the equations of pressure and saturation are coupled by linearizing the capillary pressure which is a function of saturation. After that, the equation of saturation is solved explicitly. Then, the velocity is computed which is used in the energy equation to calculate the temperature implicitly. The cell-centered finite difference (CCFD) method is utilized for spatial discretization. Furthermore, a relaxation factor along is used with the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) condition. Finally, in order to illustrate the efficiency of the developed algorithm, error estimates for saturation and temperature for different values of time steps and number of iterations are presented. Moreover, numerical examples of different physical scenarios of heterogamous media are presented.