An efficient mesh generation method for fractured network system based on dynamic grid deformation

Abstract

Meshing quality of the discrete model influences the accuracy, convergence, and efficiency of the solution for fractured network system in geological problem. However, modeling and meshing of such a fractured network system are usually tedious and difficult due to geometric complexity of the computational domain induced by existence and extension of fractures. The traditional meshing method to deal with fractures usually involves boundary recovery operation based on topological transformation, which relies on many complicated techniques and skills. This paper presents an alternative and efficient approach for meshing fractured network system. The method firstly presets points on fractures and then performs Delaunay triangulation to obtain preliminary mesh by point-by-point centroid insertion algorithm. Then the fractures are exactly recovered by local correction with revised dynamic grid deformation approach. Smoothing algorithm is finally applied to improve the quality of mesh. The proposed approach is efficient, easy to implement, and applicable to the cases of initial existing fractures and extension of fractures. The method is successfully applied to modeling of two- and three-dimensional discrete fractured network (DFN) system in geological problems to demonstrate its effectiveness and high efficiency. © 2013 Shuli Sun et al.