Implementing and Benchmarking Poroelasticity in PyLith

Robert L. Walker, Brad T. Aagaard, Matthew G. Knepley, & Charles A. Williams

Published August 13, 2021, SCEC Contribution #11371, 2021 SCEC Annual Meeting Poster #024

PyLith, a community, open-source code (https://geodynamics.org/cig/software/pylith/) for modeling quasi-static and dynamic crustal deformation with an emphasis on earthquake faulting, has recently been expanded to allow for the flexible implementation of multiphysics problems. We provide a showcase example of this versatility by utilizing the multiphysics formulation to model fully coupled continuum poromechanics. We verify this newly incorporated physics using standard benchmarks for a porous medium saturated with a slightly compressible fluid; these consist of Terzaghi’s consolidation problem for the one-dimensional case, Mandel’s problem for the two-dimensional case, and Cryer’s problem for the three-dimensional case. These benchmarks correspond with well-known closed form analytical solutions, and these solutions are compared against full domain numerical results generated by our updated code and incorporated into the PyLith continuous integration test suite.

Key Words
PyLith, Poroelastic, Problems

Citation
Walker, R. L., Aagaard, B. T., Knepley, M. G., & Williams, C. A. (2021, 08). Implementing and Benchmarking Poroelasticity in PyLith. Poster Presentation at 2021 SCEC Annual Meeting.


Related Projects & Working Groups
Computational Science (CS)