Using TRINET for simulating flow and transport in porous media

The finite element model TRINET calculates transient or steady-state fluid flow and solute transport on a lattice composed of one-dimensional finite elements (i.e., pipes) of porous medium. TRINET incorporates an adaptive gridding algorithm to minimize numerical dispersion for transport calculations. Although TRINET was originally developed to study fracture networks, the primary interest here is in applying TRINET more generally to simulate transport in porous media (or a fractured medium being treated as an effective continuum). This requires developing expressions to relate TRINET inputs to equivalent parameters used to describe flow and transport in homogeneous porous media. In this report, the authors briefly describe the basic TRINET formulation for flow and transport, present TRINET equivalences for porous medium parameters, and compare TRINET to analytical solutions using the proposed porous medium equivalents.