A meshless method for axi-symmetric poroelastic simulations: numerical study

A meshless model, based on the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin (MLPG) approach, is developed and implemented for the solution of axi-symmetric poroelastic problems. The solution accuracy and the code performance are investigated on a realistic application concerning the prediction of land subsidence above a deep compacting reservoir. The analysis addresses several numerical issues, including the parametric selection of the optimal size of the local sub-domains for the weak form and the nodal supports, the appropriate integration rule, and the linear system solver. The results show that MLPG can be more accurate than the standard finite element (FE) method on coarse discretizations, with its superiority decreasing as the nodal resolution increases. This is due to both a slower convergence rate and a progressively higher computational cost compared to FE. These drawbacks can be partially mitigated by improving the efficiency of the numerical integration and the system solver with the aid of projection techniques based on Krylov subspace methods. The outcome of the present analysis supports the development of coupled methods where a limited number of MLPG nodes are used to locally improve a FE solution. Copyright q 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd