Virtual Element simulation of two-phase flow of immiscible fluids in Discrete Fracture Networks

In this paper, we propose a primal C0-conforming virtual element discretization for the simulation of the two-phase flow of immiscible fluids in poro-fractured media modeled by means of a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN). The fractures are assumed to be made of the same isotropic rock type and to have the same width. The flexibility of the Virtual Element Method (VEM) in handling general polygonal elements allows to obtain a global conformity of the DFN mesh while preserving a fracture-independent meshing approach. The effectiveness and the robustness of the proposed numerical method are tested on DFN configurations of increasing complexity and characterized by challenging mesh geometry.