Two-phase gravity currents in layered porous media

DOI10.1017/JFM.2021.523zbMATH Open1502.76094arXiv2102.03219OpenAlexW3174695771MaRDI QIDQ4957352FDOQ4957352

Authors: G. P. Benham, Mike J. Bickle, Jerome A. Neufeld 

Publication date: 8 September 2021

Published in: Journal of Fluid Mechanics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Abstract: We examine the effects of horizontally layered heterogeneities on the spreading of two-phase gravity currents in a porous medium, with application to numerous environmental flows, most notably geological carbon sequestration. Geological heterogeneities, which are omnipresent within all reservoirs, affect the large-scale propagation of such flows through the action of small-scale capillary forces, yet the relationship between these small and large scales is poorly understood. Here, we derive a simple upscaled model for a gravity current under an impermeable cap rock, which we use to investigate the effect of a wide range of heterogeneities on the macroscopic flow. By parameterising in terms of different types of archetypal layering, we assess the sensitivity of the gravity current to the distribution and magnitude of these heterogeneities. Furthermore, since field measurements of heterogeneities are often sparse or incomplete, we quantify how uncertainty in such measurements is manifest as uncertainty in the macroscale flow predictions. Finally we apply our model to the Sleipner case study in the North Sea, positing how heterogeneities may have played a role in the observed migration of CO2.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.03219

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zbMATH Keywords

geological carbon sequestrationheterogeneity effectgravity gas-liquid spreading currentimpermeable cap rock

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Liquid-gas two-phase flows, bubbly flows (76T10) Flows in porous media; filtration; seepage (76S05) Hydrology, hydrography, oceanography (86A05)

Cites Work

• The averaging of gravity currents in porous media
• Two-phase gravity currents in porous media
• Gravity-driven flows in porous layers
• The effects of capillary forces on the axisymmetric propagation of two-phase, constant-flux gravity currents in porous media
• Axisymmetric gravity currents in a porous medium
• Coupling Arbogast-Correa and Bernardi-Raugel elements to resolve coupled Stokes-Darcy flow problems
• Two-phase gravity currents resulting from the release of a fixed volume of fluid in a porous medium
• Buoyancy-driven flow in a confined aquifer with a vertical gradient of permeability
• Shear dispersion in a porous medium. I: An intrusion with a steady shape
• Shear dispersion in a porous medium. II: An intrusion with a growing shape
• Upscaling multiphase viscous-to-capillary transitions in heterogeneous porous media

Cited In (8)

• The effects of capillary forces on the axisymmetric propagation of two-phase, constant-flux gravity currents in porous media
• The near-field shape and stability of a porous plume
• Axisymmetric gravity currents in anisotropic porous media
• Buoyancy-driven plumes in a layered porous medium
• Transient Joule-Thomson cooling during \(\mathrm{CO}_2\) injection in depleted reservoirs
• Gravity currents in horizontal porous layers: transition from early to late self-similarity
• Leakage dynamics of fault zones: experimental and analytical study with application to \(\mathrm{CO_2}\) storage
• The evolution of miscible gravity currents in horizontal porous layers

Uses Software

• DarcyLite

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