Non-iterative adaptive time-stepping scheme with temporal truncation error control for simulating variable-density flow

The automatic non-iterative second-order time-stepping scheme based on the temporal truncation error proposed by Kavetski et al. [Kavetski D, Binning P, Sloan SW. Non-iterative time-stepping schemes with adaptive truncation error control for the solution of Richards equation. Water Resour Res 2002;38(10):1211, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001WR000720.] is implemented into the code of the HydroGeoSphere model. This time-stepping scheme is applied for the first time to the low-Rayleigh-number thermal Elder problem of free convection in porous media [van Reeuwijk M, Mathias SA, Simmons CT, Ward JD. Insights from a pseudospectral approach to the Elder problem. Water Resour Res 2009;45:W04416, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007421.], and to the solutal [Shikaze SG, Sudicky EA, Schwartz FW. Density-dependent solute transport in discretely-fractured geological media: is prediction possible? J Contam Hydrol 1998;34:273–91] problem of free convection in fractured-porous media. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the proposed scheme efficiently limits the temporal truncation error to a user-defined tolerance by controlling the time-step size. The non-iterative second-order time-stepping scheme can be applied to (i) thermal and solutal variable-density flow problems, (ii) linear and non-linear density functions, and (iii) problems including porous and fractured-porous media.