SPE SPE-164657-MS

Advances on Partial Coupling in Reservoir Simulation: A New Scheme of

Hydromechanical Coupling
Carlos Emmanuel Ribeiro Lautenschlger, Guilherme Lima Righetto, Nelson Inoue and Sergio Augusto Barreto da
Fontoura, SPE, ATHENA Computational Geomechanics Group / GTEP Group of Technology in Petroleum
Engineering / PUC-Rio Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
Copyright 2013, Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper was prepared for presentation at the North Africa Technical Conference & Exhibition held in Cairo, Egypt, 1517 April 2013.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
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Abstract
This paper deals with the implementation and validation of a new hydromechanical partial coupling methodology conducted
between two commercial simulators of flow and stress. Such configuration is based on a coupling methodology developed by
the Computational Geomechanics Group ATHENA/GTEP - PUC-Rio, based on the consistent inclusion of terms in flow
equation in order to approach the results of fully-coupled simulations. The IMEX flow simulator was included in the
workflow of the coupling code in order to widen the application scope of the methodology developed. To include the new
option of flow simulator was required some implementation effort together with validation through simplified models. The
algorithms developed to guide the programming were defined after detailed study of numerical and computational functioning
of the flow software. The results obtained with the new simulator were compared with the pre-existing configuration
(ECLIPSE flow simulator), considering one and two way partial coupling and fully coupled models. In the comparison
scenarios set out to validate the implementation, it was evaluated changes of average pore pressure in the reservoir,
compaction and subsidence, as well pore pressure variations. Comparisons with the results of pre-existing configuration and
the full-coupling scheme demonstrated the success of the developed algorithm. The exchange of coupling parameters between
simulators, in the new configuration, has been implemented effectively. Parametric studies of the variables also demonstrated
the quality of the new configuration coupling. The rigorous choice of exchange parameters between flow and stress simulators
is crucial for obtaining reliable results.
Introduction
Reservoir production causes changes in the stresses and strains within the reservoir and surrounding rocks. Such changes give
rise to the so-called geomechanical effects, namely the effects observed in the system due to the change in pore pressure,
characteristic of the extraction and injection of fluids in porous media. In a recent paper, Herwanger & Koutsabeloulis (2011)
illustrate some of these effects: subsidence of the surface or seafloor, slipping among stratigraphic planes, reactivation of
faults, loss of seal integrity and compaction of the reservoir.
The numerical analyses that consider the geomechanical effects should consider the phenomena in a coupled way.
According to Settari & Vikram (2008), coupled problems in geomechanics must take into account the interrelationship of
hydraulic, thermal and mechanical variables in the solution of differential equations involved in each particular problem. In
general, the mechanical problem is usually addressed by the finite element method and the flow problem by the finite
difference method.
The conventional reservoir simulation solves the hydraulic problem involving flow of oil, gas and water through a porous
medium. In these simulations, the variation of the pore volume is determined based only in the changes of pore pressure due to
the activity of production and injection, and a predefined value of rock compressibility. According to Inoue & Fontoura
(2009a), in this type of simulation the total stresses are held constant, and there is no compatibility of displacements between
the boundaries of the reservoir and the surrounding rocks: overburden, sideburden and underburden. In fact, what is observed
in a field development is the variation of fluid pressure that results in variation of the rock stress state. These variations, in
turn, cause changes in porosity, which is reflected in the pressure field. This process of interaction between phenomena is what
characterizes the nature of the coupled problems in reservoir engineering. Inoue & Fontoura (2009b) state that in the
conventional reservoir simulation where only the mass balance equations, equations of state and Darcy's law are considered

SPE SPE-164657-MS

the change in porosity is dependent only on the variation of the pore pressure and rock compressibility.
Using the concepts of poroelasticity, fully coupled results may be obtained, where the continuity equation, the Darcy flow
equation, equilibrium equation, Terzaghi's principle for effective stresses, stress-strain relation and boundary conditions are
honored simultaneously. Nevertheless, fully coupled simulations do not consist in a trivial task in the case of multiphase flow,
requiring other means for geomechanical analysis involved in the hydrocarbons extraction. The full coupling is the most
rigorous scheme, whereby the flow variables and the displacement field are combined in a single set of equations. However, in
the literature there are alternative schemes such as partial coupling, which use flow and stress simulations separately, as can be
observed in many studies such as Settari & Mourits (1994), Mainguy & Longuemare (2002), Walters et al. (2002), Settari et
al.(2005), Dean et al. (2006), Samier & De Gennaro (2007), Rutqvist et al.(2002, 2007, 2008), Segura & Carol (2008a, 2008b),
Herwanger & Koutsabeloulis (2011), Inoue & Fontoura (2009a, 2009b), Inoue et al. (2011a, 2011b), Settari (2012). In the
partial coupling, each simulator solves its system of equations independently, requiring an external coupling code for
exchanging information between simulators.
As noted, great research effort has been devoted to the coherent consideration of geomechanical effects in the flow
simulator. Inoue & Fontoura (2009b) present a robust and innovative approach to partial hydromechanical coupling, where the
coupling terms intend to honor the result of fully coupled simulations. Comparative analyses conducted by Inoue et al. (2011b)
showed that commercial reservoir simulators, which seek to take into account the geomechanical effects, present very different
results from those obtained using more robust methodologies as the fully coupling. In the study aforementioned those results
were compared to the partial coupling methodology developed by ATHENA/GTEP - PUC-Rio, and it was demonstrated that
proper choice of coupling parameter is crucial in obtaining results with high technical accuracy. In the present paper, a new
flow simulator was included in workflow of the coupling code in order to widen the application scope of the methodology
developed. Next, the theoretical concepts about the methodology developed are presented.
Theoretical Aspects
Firstly, the definition of the different coupling schemes for solving a geomechanics reservoir analysis is presented. This type
of analysis, which involves stress and flow coupling, can be done using two different methodologies, which are: partial and
fully coupling. The first one can be divided in two main coupling schemes between a conventional reservoir simulator and a
stress analysis program: the two-way partial coupling and the one-way partial coupling.
In the two-way partial coupling scheme, the flow variables (pore pressure and saturation of the phases) and the stress
variables (displacement field, stress and strain state) are calculated separately and sequentially, by a conventional reservoir
simulator and a stress analysis program, respectively. The coupling parameters are exchanged at each time step until
convergence is reached. Usually, the pore pressures are used to verify the convergence of the solution during the iterations.
Figure 1 (a) illustrates the flowchart of this methodology.
Another partial coupling scheme, called one-way, can be considered as a special case of the two-way partial coupling. The
conventional reservoir simulator sends the information (pore pressure and saturation) to the stress analysis program but the
calculated results (displacements, strains and stresses) are not sent back to the conventional reservoir simulator. Thus, in this
scheme, the geomechanical effect does not affect the responses calculated by reservoir simulator. Figure 1 (b) illustrates the
flowchart of the one-way partial coupling.
(a)

(b)

Figure 1. Types of partial coupling: (a) Two-way and (b) One-way (Inoue & Fontoura, 2009b).

In the fully coupled methodology (poroelasticity), the variables of flow and geomechanics are calculated simultaneously
through a system of equations in which pore pressure, saturation and displacement are unknowns, assuring an internal
consistency. The method is also called implicit coupling because the whole system has a single discretization and is solved

SPE SPE-164657-MS

simultaneously (Inoue & Fontoura, 2009b). The theory of poroelasticity can be seen in the several works developed by Biot, e.
g., Biot (1941).
The main disadvantages of using the fully coupled scheme to solve reservoir geomechanics problem are:
Numerical difficulties in solving the coupling between the mechanical equilibrium equation and the flow equation.
The flow simulation is, in general, simplified (generally single-phase flow).
In complex reservoir geometry this scheme is highly time consuming due to the large size of the matrix generated.
Governing Equations
The governing equations were formulated using continuum mechanics, which commonly uses the macroscopic scale to
describe the continuous distribution of the constituents in the control space. In this paper, only the equations of the flow
problem and the stress analysis problem will be shown. For more details about the development of the formulation see Inoue
& Fontoura (2009b). Next, it will be presented the flow and geomechanical equations as well as the coupling methodology
developed by the ATHENA/GTEP PUC-Rio.

Flow Equations

The flow equation can be obtained by combining the mass conservation equation and the Darcys law. The law of mass
conservation is a material-balance equation written for a component in a control volume. In hydrocarbon reservoirs, a porous
medium can contain one, two and three fluid phases. In the conventional reservoir simulation, the porosity is related to pore
pressure through the rock compressibility using a linear relation, as shown in Eq. 1. On the other hand, in the fully coupled
scheme, the porosity equation is composed of four components that contribute to the fluid accumulation term, as shown in Eq.
2, considering an isotropic linear elastic material. The details of these components are shown in Tran et al. (2004) and
Zienkiewicz et al. (1999).

o 1 cr p p o

o v vo

1
p po
Q

(1)
(2)

Therefore, the governing flow equation for the conventional reservoir simulation and the governing equation used in the
fully coupled scheme are given by Eq. 3 and Eq. 4, respectively:

c
f

cr 0

p k 2
p0
t

p k
c f 0 cS 0 2 p v

t
t

(3)

(4)

Geomechanics Equation

The formulation of the geomechanical problem takes into account the equilibrium equations, stress-strain-displacement
equations, rock-flow interaction and the boundary conditions. Therefore, the governing equation of the geomechanical
problem may be written as indicated in Eq. 5 (Inoue & Fontoura, 2009b).

G2 u

G
u p
1 2

(5)

Flow Equation for the Partial Coupling

The methodology used herein for the coupling between flow and stress problem was described in Inoue & Fontoura
(2009a, 2009b). The coupling is achieved through a convenient approximation between of the flow equation of the
conventional reservoir simulation and the flow equation of the fully coupled scheme (see Figure 2). In this methodology, the
effect of solids compressibility is removed from the fully coupled scheme and the effect of volumetric strain of the porous
medium is added to conventional reservoir simulation.
The parameters responsible for the coupling, which honor the fully coupling equation, are the porosity, Eq. 2, and the
pseudo-compressibility, Eq. 6. These parameters are updated during each iteration through the stress analysis information.

cp

vn1 vn

o ( pin1 pin )

(6)

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Figure 2. Methodology developed for partial hydromechanical coupling.

Furthermore, the partial coupling between the stress analysis program and the conventional reservoir simulator is reached
using a staggered procedure (Inoue & Fontoura, 2009b). Figure 3 illustrates a more detailed flowchart of one time step of the
staggered procedure.
In the beginning of the time step, a commercial reservoir simulator is called to solve the flow equations, providing, as
result, the pore pressure and saturation field. The variation of the pore pressure in the time step is used to calculate the nodal
forces through a finite element code. A finite element program is called to solve the stress problem, providing the
displacements and stress/strain state. The coupling program calculates the pseudo-compressibility and porosity from the strain
state.
The unknown variables of the flow problem (pore pressure and saturation field) in this procedure are calculated using the
pseudo-compressibility and the porosity that are evaluated at the end of each iteration.

ECLISPE or IMEX

ABAQUS

Figure 3. Flowchart of the partially coupled scheme.

Coupling Approach
The main motivation for the development of a geomechanical coupling code between different commercial software is the
possibility of exploiting the full potential of each individual program. Such harnessing is directly reflected in the quality of the
results obtained by using this kind of system, as extensively proved in studies published in this subject.
In this study was aimed to introduce the reservoir simulator IMEX in the workflow of the coupling code developed by the
Computational Geomechanics Group ATHENA/GTEP - PUC-Rio, as an alternative to using the ECLIPSE flow simulation
software. The implementation of the new configuration was conducted after studying the structure of each flow simulator, in
order to map the similarities and differences between the operation modes of programs, allowing the adaptation of existing
code to the inclusion of IMEX. The implementation was validated using the model shown in Dean (2006).
Validation Model
A reservoir model was developed in IMEX based on the reference work presented by Dean (2006), which consists of a
prismatic reservoir surrounded by adjacent rock with a higher stiffness value. Figure 4 (a) shows the geometry (top view, side
view and front view) of the three-dimensional model of reservoir and surrounding rocks. The reservoir has a vertical well
located in the center, producing single-phase fluid at a constant flow rate of 7949.36 m/day (or 50,000 BBL/day). The
hydrostatic gradient used was equal to 9.88 kPa/m (or 0.437 psi/ft) and the vertical stress gradient equal to 22.32 kPa/m (or
0.9869 psi/ft), with the initial horizontal stress equal to half vertical stress.

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The finite element mesh of reservoir, employed in stress simulator, is coincident with the finite difference grid of flow
simulator. It is worth mentioning that in the flow model, there is no grid adjacent to the reservoir, once the geomechanical
effects are introduced into the flow response by updating of coupling parameters in iterative simulations. The reservoir model
has 605 elements/cells, and the complete model with surrounding rocks (stress simulator) has 5292 elements. Figure 4 (b)
presents an overview of the finite element mesh of the complete model.
(a)

(b)

Figure 4: Geometry of problem analyzed: (a) Top, front and side views of model (in meters) and (b) Tridimensional view of the model.

It was constructed a main data file containing a series of include files developed to arrange the input parameters and
properties. It was created an include file for each of the following contents: horizontal coordinates of the cells, vertical
coordinates of the cells, types of rocks applied to each cell, compressibility and reference pressures, listing of null cells
delimiting the geometry, reservoir permeability in three directions and porosity of each cell. The separation of these data is
important to the organized operation of coupling code, because the data to be updated by the stress simulator are contained in
these include files. Table 1 presents the properties used in the stress and flow simulations.
Table 1: Fluid flow and geomechanical properties.
PROPERTIES
Formation volume factor at 0.1013 MPa (14.7 psi)
Viscosity
Fluid density at 0.1013 MPa (14.7 psi)
Fluid compressibility

VALUES
SI units

Field units

1.0

1.0

0.001 Ns/m

1 cp

10 kN/m

62.4 lbm/ft3

4.35 x 10-4 MPa-1

3 x 10-6 psi-1

-9

Horizontal permeability

1 x 10 m

100 md

Vertical permeability

1 x 10-10 m

10 md

Porosity

0.25

0.25

Youngs modulus (reservoir)

0.689 GPa

1 x 104 psi

Youngs modulus (surrounding rock)

6.89 GPa

1 x 106 psi

0.25

0.25

Poissons ratio

For the subsequent verification of the new coupling configuration implemented, it was necessary initially to check the
reproducibility of the results using only ECLIPSE and IMEX for the model adopted. This analysis aimed to ensure that the
feeding files to the coupling code were exactly the same in terms of initial and boundary conditions, such that there was no
interference on the results from the new configuration ABAQUS-IMEX. The graph of Figure 5 shows the distribution of
pressures along the greater length of the reservoir in the initial condition and after 1200 days of production, obtained by
simulation using ECLIPSE and IMEX. The curves showed very similar behavior, indicating that the models developed in
ECLIPSE and IMEX are numerically similar.

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Figure 5: Analysis of the results reproducibility performed in the Dean model using ECLIPSE and IMEX.

After validation the base model, the implementation of IMEX in the geomechanical coupling code was carried out. This
step consisted in the development of a strategy for updating information between simulators, using IMEX and ABAQUS
restart. Some studies have been conducted to perform the implementation, and are briefly presented in the following section.
Implementation aspects
From the point of view of implementation, functioning of the coupling code depends basically on the collection and storage
of information, which is derived from the input and output files from simulators of stress and flow. The code should
manipulate information during the exchange of parameters between models in order to take the geomechanical effect to the
response variables assessed. The structure of ABAQUS-ECLIPSE coupling, which takes into account addition and removal of
terms in the flow equation to approach the full coupling response, can be used for the new implementation, since it was found
the theoretical similarity between the finite difference solutions of ECLIPSE and IMEX (ECLIPSE, 2009; IMEX, 2009).
As it is a study of geomechanical character, special attention was paid to the evaluation of porosity in flow simulators
assessed, since this is one of the parameters used in the iterative coupling analysis. It was found that both simulators address
the variation of porosity in the same manner. Eq. 1 represents the change in porosity adopted by the simulators in each time
step as a function of pore pressure variations and the compressibility of the rock.
It was observed that the porosity updating performed by IMEX due to the change in pressure field, does not take into
account the variation in the rock compressibility in each time step, and is linked only to the reference pressure assigned in the
data input, regarding the initial porosity. In the iterative process, the porosity must be updated in the reading files of flow
simulator at each time step, due to the geomechanical response from the stress simulator. Therefore, the reference pressure
should also be updated in accordance with the porosity present in each reference cell. The pseudo-compressibility, coupling
parameter that carries the effect of the volumetric deformation of the rock, must be updated every time step in flow simulator,
replacing the values of compressibility initially assigned.
Each time step of the flow simulation is an iterative process in the two-way coupling scheme, with the need to restart the
simulation every time advance, marked by obtaining convergence of the pore pressure in the cells with the highest pressure
gradient. In both coupling configurations, using ECLIPSE or IMEX as reservoir simulator, it was used restart to carry out
the flow simulations, facilitating the resuming process after convergence. However, differences were observed between
software in this respect: the ECLIPSE restart information is stored in file generated over the simulation, while in IMEX, the
input data files suffered modification along simulation.
In the pre-existing implementation, using the ECLIPSE as reservoir simulator, the pore pressure values from the stress
simulator were modified in the actual restart file generated during the simulation, serving as reference pressure for the
calculation of new porosities. In IMEX, it was observed that the values of pore pressure should be rewritten in the include
file, since, even being resumed simulation, the model values continued being based on reference pressure indicated in this file.
The other values to be updated in IMEX, from geomechanical simulation in ABAQUS porosity and pseudocompressibility have also been updated in include files, in this case as had been done in ABAQUS-ECLIPSE coupling. Still,
the values of the variables of interest that are sent from IMEX to ABAQUS oil, water and gas saturations, pressure in the
cell can be obtained directly from the results files through strings reading functions in the developed C++ code.
The implementation of the iterative process ABAQUS-IMEX was developed and completed after checking the similarities
and differences between the flow simulators employed, performing the necessary changes in the code in terms of the update of
input and output files of ABAQUS and IMEX. The results of the validation process are presented in the sequence.

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Results
The results of partial coupling ABAQUS-IMEX were compared with those obtained by the simulation fully coupled
(ABAQUS) and partially coupled ABAQUS-ECLIPSE, in one and two-way. The values for the fully coupled analyses are
presented as reference. Results of reservoirs compaction, seafloors subsidence and pore pressure within the reservoir will be
shown. Besides that, it was evaluated a parametric study varying the production flow rate.
Pore pressure behavior
Figure 6 shows a comparison among the average pore pressure in the reservoir after 1200 days of production, for the three
coupling scenarios. Figure 6 (a) and 6 (b) present the one and two-way coupling results, respectively.
(a)

(b)

Figure 6: Average pore pressure in the reservoir (a) one-way coupling (b) two-way coupling.

It was observed that the two-way coupling ABAQUS-IMEX resulted in a decrease of average pore pressure in the reservoir
over time much closer to the fully coupled simulation compared to the one- way coupling. It is also notable that the curves
obtained with the ABAQUS-IMEX coupling match ABAQUS-ECLIPSE coupling results, indicating the good quality of
implementing performed.
To analyze the pore pressure behavior in the cells of the model, it was considered a trajectory at the center of the reservoir
in the direction I (1 < I <11), passing through coordinates J = 6 and K = 3 (see Figure 7). Figure 8 shows a comparison among
the pore pressures across the reservoir in the time of 1200 days, for the three coupling scenarios. Figure 8 (a) and 8 (b) present
the one and two-way coupling results, respectively. The pore pressure was measured in the center of each cell in ABAQUSECLIPSE and ABAQUS-IMEX coupling, and in the nodes for fully coupled model (ABAQUS).

Figure 7: Reservoir path [ I, 6, 3 ] for pore pressure analyses.

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(a)

(b)

Figure 8: Pore pressure values along reservoir path [ I, 6, 3 ] (a) one-way coupling (b) two-way coupling.

It is observed that the trajectory of two-way coupling presents very good agreement with the full coupling, indicating that
good behavior observed for the average pressure can be expanded to the remainder of the reservoir. Due to the lower pressure
drop in the one-way coupling, the pore pressure trajectory presents less accurate than results of fully coupled scheme. It was
also observed, as well as the analysis of average pressure, which the curves obtained with the ABAQUS-IMEX coupling
match ABAQUS-ECLIPSE coupling results.
Compaction behavior
The compaction values were obtained from the top vertices of the reservoirs center block, around the production well, as
shown in Figure 9. Figure 10 shows a comparison among reservoir compaction over time for the three coupling scenarios.
Figure 10 (a) and 10 (b) present the one and two-way coupling results, respectively.

Figure 9: Top vertices of the reservoirs center block for compaction measurement.

(a)

Figure 10: Compaction of the reservoir (a) one-way coupling (b) two-way coupling.

(b)

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The results of the three scenarios evaluated here showed to be satisfactory in terms of compaction, keeping in mind the
expected behavior for the one and two-way coupling compared to fully coupled scheme. The curves obtained with the
ABAQUS-IMEX scheme overlap the ABAQUS-ECLIPSE results.
Subsidence behavior
The seafloor subsidence values were obtained from the top vertices of the overburdens center block, as shown in Figure
11. Figure 12 shows a comparison among seafloor subsidence over time for the three coupling scenarios. Figure 12 (a) and 12
(b) present the one and two-way coupling results, respectively.

Figure 11: Top vertices of the overburdens center block for subsidence measurement.

(a)

(b)

Figure 12: Subsidence of the seafloor (a) one-way coupling (b) two-way coupling.

In terms of seafloor subsidence, the results were shown to be satisfactory when compared to fully coupled scheme, as
observed previously. It was also observed that the curves obtained with ABAQUS-IMEX overlap the ABAQUS-ECLIPSE
results.
Parametric studies
The new version of the coupling code was tested in two different values of production flow rate, in order to carry out a
parametric analysis. Flow rates used were production of 50,000 BBL/day and 25,000 BBL/day. The results observed in the
ABAQUS-IMEX and ABAQUS-ECLIPSE two-way coupling showed excellent adjustment to those obtained with the full
coupling for each case, when evaluated compaction, subsidence and pore pressure variations. To prove that the difference
between the results obtained from different flow rates studied is only due to their own variation, graphs of compaction and
average pressure normalized by the production flow were built. This comparison is able to measure the quality of
implementation, since the overlap of the normalized curves indicates that no noise programming interfered in obtaining such
results, once the models are running in elasticity.
Figure 13 (a) presents the average pore pressure drop normalized by flow rate (psi per BBL/day), and Figure 13 (b) presents
the reservoir compaction normalized by flow rate (m per BBL/day). For both values of flow rate, it was evaluated ABAQUSECLIPSE and ABAQUS-IMEX partially coupled schemes and fully coupled scheme (ABAQUS).

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(a)

(b)

Figure 13: Parametric studies. (a) ratio between average pressure drop and different flow rates produced versus time of simulation (b)
ratio between reservoir compaction and the different flow rates produced versus time simulation.

Figure 13 (a) shows that the compaction curve normalized by the production flow rate in the models simulated with the
partial coupling ABAQUS-IMEX and ABAQUS-ECLIPSE, fall on a single curve. The curve obtained is very close to the
normalized curves of full coupling, indicating the quality of implementation even for different scenarios of production, since it
has been proven the unique influence of production flow rate in the observed of displacement values. In Figure 13 (b) it is
observed that the curves with average pressure drop normalized by flow rate fall on a single curve for the two-way coupling
ABAQUS-IMEX and ABAQUS-ECLIPSE. Again, they exhibit behavior very close to full coupling.
Conclusions
As conclusion of this study, after comparison with the results of the ABAQUS-ECLIPSE coupling and fully coupling, the use
of IMEX as reservoir software, associated with the stress analysis software ABAQUS, resulted in a combination technically
feasible for analysis of hydromechanical phenomena in one and two-way schemes. The methodology used in this work proved
to be capable of simulating coupled process in reservoir geomechanics, highlighting the importance to consider the effect of
surrounding rocks during prediction of reservoir production. Furthermore, the use of one-way partial coupling scheme showed
results quite different when compared with the two-way partial coupling scheme, which was developed in a more rigorous
way, approaching more accurately to the poroelastic solution.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank SIMULIA, Schlumberger and CMG for providing the academic licenses of the softwares
ABAQUS/CAE, ECLIPSE and IMEX, respectively. Thanks are also extended to Petrobras for the financial support.
Nomenclatures

porosity

initial porosity

Biots parameter

Biots parameter

SPE SPE-164657-MS

pore pressure

cr

rock compressibility

vn

bulk volumetric strain

initial bulk volumetric strain of time step

n 1
v

final bulk volumetric strain of time step

k
cf

absolute permeability

cs

solid matrix compressibility

shear modulus

nodal displacement

cp

pseudo-compressibility

n 1

previous time step

previous time step

saturation of the phase

11

fluid compressibility

fluid viscosity

Poissons ratio

current time step

stresses

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