A convergent algorithm for time parallelization applied to reservoir simulation

Abstract

Parallel methods are not usually applied to the time domain because the sequential nature of time is considered to be a handicap for the development of competitive algorithms. However, this sequential nature can also play to our advantage by ensuring convergence within a given number of iterations. The novel parallel algorithm presented in this paper acts as a predictor corrector improving both speed and accuracy with respect to the sequential solvers. Experiments using our in house fluid flow simulator in porous media, Athena, show that our parallel implementation exhibit an optimal speed up relative to the method.