Multiscale preconditioning of Stokes flow in complex porous geometries

Fluid flow through porous media is central to many subsurface (e.g., CO₂ storage) and industrial (e.g., fuel cell) applications. The optimization of design and operational protocols, and quantifying the associated uncertainties, requires fluid-dynamics simulations inside the microscale void space of porous samples. This often results in large and ill-conditioned linear(ized) systems that require iterative solvers, for which preconditioning is key to ensure rapid convergence. We present robust and efficient preconditioners for the accelerated solution of saddle-point systems arising from the discretization of the Stokes equation on geometrically complex porous microstructures. They are based on the recently proposed pore-level multiscale method (PLMM) and the more established reduced-order method called the pore network model (PNM). The four preconditioners presented are the monolithic PLMM, monolithic PNM, block PLMM, and block PNM. Compared to existing block preconditioners, accelerated by the algebraic multigrid method, we show our preconditioners are far more robust and efficient. The monolithic PLMM is an algebraic reformulation of the original PLMM, which renders it portable and amenable to non-intrusive implementation in existing software. Similarly, the monolithic PNM is an algebraization of PNM, allowing it to be used as an accelerator of direct numerical simulations (DNS). This bestows PNM with the, heretofore absent, ability to estimate and control prediction errors. The monolithic PLMM/PNM can also be used as approximate solvers that yield globally flux-conservative solutions, usable in many practical settings. We systematically test all preconditioners on 2D/3D geometries and show the monolithic PLMM outperforms all others. All preconditioners can be built and applied on parallel machines.