The MFE-CFE-GFE Method for the Fully Coupled Quasi-Static Thermo-Poroelastic Problem

Abstract

In this work, we consider a combined finite element method for fully coupled nonlinear thermo-poroelastic model problems. The mixed finite element (MFE) method is used for the pressure, the characteristics finite element (CFE) method is used for the temperature, and the Galerkin finite element (GFE) method is used for the elastic displacement. The semi-discrete and fully discrete finite element schemes are established and the stability of this method is presented. We derive error estimates for the pressure, temperature and displacement. Several numerical examples are presented to confirm the accuracy of the method.