Convergence of MPFA on triangulations and for Richards' equation

Spatial discretization of transport and transformation processes in porous media requires techniques that handle general geometry, discontinuous coefficients and are locally mass conservative. Multi-point flux approximation (MPFA) methods are such techniques, and we will here discuss some formulations on triangular grids with further application to the nonlinear Richards equation. The MPFA methods will be rewritten to mixed form to derive stability conditions and error estimates. Several MPFA versions will be shown, and the versions will be discussed with respect to convergence, symmetry and robustness when the grids are rough. It will be shown that the behavior may be quite different for challenging cases of skewness and roughness of the simulation grids. Further, we apply the MPFA discretization approach for the Richards equation and derive new error estimates without extra regularity requirements. The analysis will be accompanied by numerical results for grids that are relevant for practical simulation. Copyright (C) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.