Benchmarking of FEHM Control Volume Finite Element Solver

The numerical modeling of groundwater and geothermal problems has seen increase in the past few years due to the increase in computational power and software. The size and complexity of solutions attempted has increased as computational abilities increase. Problems with larger number of total nodes, with complex geology involving faulting, as well as coupling of multiple processes are now being attempted. Las Alamos National Labs (LANL) has invested over 50 man-years of effort into the FEHM control volume finite element solver over the past number of decades. The code has been used on US EPA Superfund sites and has results published in various studies and areas. The code allows for complex coupling of processes as well as non-isothermal models to be solved of increased complexity than existing commercial codes. LANL and SoilVision Systems Ltd. have combined efforts to offer a groundwater and geothermal numerical modeling solution that allows solution of larger and more complex models. In order to gain confidence in the combined front end, solver, and back end visualization system, a number of benchmarks have been created in order to document performance. This paper presents the results of benchmarks created to test the performance of the new groundwater and geothermal modeling system. Performance of the system is discussed as well as challenges and hurdles encountered in the collaboration. The ability of the system to scale up to model field-scale systems will be discussed.