Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-dfsvx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T21:41:01.344Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fluid migration between confined aquifers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 September 2014

Samuel S. Pegler ,
Herbert E. Huppert  and
Jerome A. Neufeld
Samuel S. Pegler*
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK
Herbert E. Huppert
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK Faculty of Science, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1UH, UK School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Jerome A. Neufeld
Affiliation:
Institute of Theoretical Geophysics, Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK BP Institute and Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0EZ, UK
*
†Email address for correspondence: ssp23@cam.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We study the two-dimensional flow and leakage of buoyant fluid injected at a constant volumetric rate into a fluid-saturated porous medium confined vertically by horizontal boundaries. The upper boundary contains a localized vertical fracture that allows fluid to leak into an open or partially confined porous layer above. The rate of leakage is modelled as proportional to the combined action of the gravitational hydrostatic head of the current below the fracture and the background pressure introduced by the injection. After the injected current reaches the fracture, leakage is initially controlled kinematically by the rate at which injected fluid flows towards the fracture. Once the rate at which buoyant fluid flows towards the fracture exceeds a critical value, the current overshoots the fracture and leakage switches to being controlled dynamically by the pressure drop across the fracture. Two long-term regimes of flow can emerge. In one, the current approaches a steady height above the lower boundary and essentially all fluid injected into the medium leaks at long times. In the other, the current accumulates to fill the entire depth of the medium below the fracture. Only a fraction of the injected fluid then leaks at long times, implying significantly greater long-term storage than has been proposed from studies of leakage from unconfined media. An understanding of the flow regimes is obtained using numerical solutions and analysis of long-term similarity solutions. The implications of our results to the geological storage of carbon dioxide is discussed.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Geophysical and Geological Flows Geophysical and Geological Flows: Gravity currents Low-Reynolds-number flows: Porous media
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 757 , 25 October 2014 , pp. 330 - 353
Copyright
© 2014 Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bear, J. 1988 Dynamics of Fluids in Porous Media. Dover.Google Scholar
Bender, C. M. & Orszag, S. A. 1999 Advanced Mathematical Methods for Scientists and Engineers, vol. I: Asymptotic Methods and Perturbation Theory. Springer.Google Scholar
Bickle, M. J. 2009 Geological carbon storage. Nat. Geosci. 2, 815–818.Google Scholar
Bickle, M. J., Chadwick, R. A., Huppert, H. E., Hallworth, M. A. & Lyle, S. 2007 Modelling carbon dioxide accumulation at Sleipner: implications for underground carbon storage. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 255, 164–176.Google Scholar
Boait, F. C., White, N. J., Bickle, M. J., Chadwick, R. A., Neufeld, J. A. & Huppert, H. E. 2012 Spatial and temporal evolution of injected ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$ at the Sleipner Field, North Sea. J. Geophys. Res. 117, B03309.Google Scholar
Dake, L. P. 2010 Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering. Elsevier.Google Scholar
Huppert, H. E. & Neufeld, J. A. 2014 The fluid mechanics of carbon dioxide sequestration. Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech. 46, 255–272.Google Scholar
Huppert, H. E. & Woods, A. W. 1995 Gravity-driven flows in porous layers. J. Fluid Mech. 292, 55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neufeld, J. A., Vella, D. & Huppert, H. E. 2009 The effect of a fissure on storage in a porous medium. J. Fluid Mech. 639, 239–259.Google Scholar
Neufeld, J. A., Vella, D., Huppert, H. E. & Lister, J. R. 2011 Leakage from gravity currents in a porous medium. Part I. A localized sink. J. Fluid Mech. 666, 391–413.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nordbotten, J. M. & Celia, M. A. 2006 Similarity solutions for fluid injection into confined aquifers. J. Fluid Mech. 561, 307–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nordbotten, J. M., Celia, M. A., Bachu, S. & Dahle, H. 2005 Semianalytical solution for ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$ leakage through an abandoned well. Environ. Sci. Technol. 39, 602–611.Google Scholar
Nordbotten, J. M., Kavetski, D., Celia, M. A. & Bachu, S. 2009 Model for ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$ leakage including multiple geological layers and multiple leaky wells. Environ. Sci. Technol. 43, 743–749.Google Scholar
Orr, F. M. 2009 Onshore geological storage of ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$ . Science 325, 1656–1658.Google Scholar
Pegler, S. S., Huppert, H. E. & Neufeld, J. A. 2014 Fluid injection into a confined porous layer. J. Fluid Mech. 745, 592–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pritchard, D. 2007 Gravity currents over fractured substrates in a porous medium. J. Fluid Mech. 584, 415–431.Google Scholar
Pritchard, D. & Hogg, A. J. 2001 On the slow draining of a gravity current moving through a layered permeable medium. J. Fluid Mech. 444, 23–47.Google Scholar
Singhal, B. B. S. & Gupta, R. P. 2010 Applied Hydrogeology of Fractured Rocks. Springer.Google Scholar
Vasco, D. W., Ferretti, A. & Novali, F. 2008 Reservoir monitoring and characterization using satellite geodetic data: interferometric synthetic radar observations from the Krechba Field, Algeria. Geophysics 73, WA113–122.Google Scholar
Vella, D., Neufeld, J. A., Huppert, H. E. & Lister, J. R. 2011 Leakage from gravity currents in a porous medium. Part II. A line sink. J. Fluid Mech. 666, 414–427.Google Scholar