Coupling a simulator and at least one other simulator

A system of coupling a first simulator and a second simulator to simulate a coupled multi-physics model of a subsurface formation, the system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory communicatively connected to the processor, the memory storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed, cause the processor to perform:
• loading, by a coupling framework within the first simulator, the second simulator as a shared library into a plurality of common processes and a plurality of common memory spaces with the first simulator to create the coupled multi-physics model of the subsurface formation, wherein the first simulator is a standalone simulator comprising a first computational mesh and a first domain decomposition of the first computational mesh, wherein the second simulator is a standalone simulator comprising a second computational mesh and a second domain decomposition of the second computational mesh, wherein the second simulator is external to the first simulator, wherein the first simulator comprises a first physics model of the subsurface formation and the second simulator comprises a second physics model of the subsurface formation, wherein the first physics model and the second physics model overlap spatially and overlap temporally for the subsurface formation;
• and
• simulating, by the coupling framework, the coupled multi-physics model of the subsurface formation such that the coupling framework performs the following during the simulating to couple the first simulator and the shared library corresponding to the second simulator:
• (i) controls data exchange between the first simulator and the second simulator through the plurality of common memory space;
• (ii) controls execution of the first simulator and the second simulator responsive to the plurality of common processes;
• (iii) establishes a communication pattern between the plurality of common processes and the plurality of common memory spaces based on the first domain decomposition of the first computational mesh and the second domain decomposition of the second computational mesh;
• and
• (iv) maps data in a globally conservative manner between the first simulator and the second simulator in the event of grid misalignment.