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Development of Open-Source Porous Media Simulators: Principles and Experiences

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Abstract

By its very nature, research into multi-physical processes occurring in porous and fractured media requires a collaborative approach. An interdisciplinary approach has led to the adoption of collaborative software development paradigms in this field relying on software for scientific computing as research infrastructures. The development of open-source software has become a cornerstone of computational approaches in academia and has even spawned successful business models in the commercial world. This article is geared toward readers who want to learn more about potential benefits of open-source software in porous media research and who want to familiarize themselves with typical workflows required to become an active contributor to or user of open-source solutions for porous media simulation. The article puts general principles, motivations and concepts into the specific context of experiences and lessons learned from the authors developing the open-source software projects OpenGeoSys and DuMu\(^{\text {x}}\).

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Notes

  1. Often called thermo-hydro-mechanical/chemical-biological coupled problems, THM/CB.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our thanks to the community of developers and users of the described software, in particular to those involved in the long-term projects OpenGeoSys (OGS) and DuMu\(^{\text {x}}\), in which the authors are involved. We thank the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ for long-term funding and continuous support of the OpenGeoSys initiative (Helmholtz future projects Earth System Modeling (ESM) and Digital Earth). OGS has been supported by various projects funded by Federal Ministries (BMBF, BMWi) as well as the German Research Foundation (DFG). We further thank the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) for funding and the DECOVALEX initiative for providing an open and productive research environment for the development and validation of coupled models. The OpenGeoSys community thanks Microsoft for sponsoring a part of the QA infrastructure of OGS with their sponsorships for nonprofit organizations. The sustainable development of DuMu\(^{\text {x}}\)profited and profits largely from the projects “Quality assurance in software frameworks on the example of DUNE/PDELab/DuMu\(^{\text {x}}\)” funded by the MWK Baden-Württemberg, the DFG Cluster of Excellence SimTech and the IWR at the University of Heidelberg as well as “Sustainable infrastructure for the improved usability and archivability of research software on the example of the porous-media-simulator DuMu\(^{\text {x}}\)” funded by the German Research Foundation DFG. Finally, we thank the representatives and members of the International Society for Porous Media, InterPore, for the establishment of a vibrant community and discussion platform dedicated to “bridging the gap” between different research disciplines and entities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Informatics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research — UFZ, Leipzig, Germany

    Lars Bilke, Thomas Kalbacher, Olaf Kolditz & Thomas Nagel

  2. Department of Hydromechanics and Modelling of Hydrosystems, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

    Bernd Flemisch & Rainer Helmig

  3. Applied Environmental Systems Analysis, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Olaf Kolditz

  4. Chair of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, Geotechnical Institute, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Freiberg, Germany

    Thomas Nagel

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Submitted to the Special Issue in Celebration of InterPore’s \(10^{\mathrm{th}}\) Anniversary.

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Bilke, L., Flemisch, B., Kalbacher, T. et al. Development of Open-Source Porous Media Simulators: Principles and Experiences. Transp Porous Med 130, 337–361 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-019-01310-1

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