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Impact of layer thickness and well orientation on caprock integrity for geologic carbon storage

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

Newell, Pania N.; Martinez, Mario J.; Eichhubl, P.

Economic feasibility of geologic carbon storage demands sustaining large storage rates without damaging caprock seals. Reactivation of pre-existing or newly formed fractures may provide a leakage pathway across caprock layers. In this study, we apply an equivalent continuum approach within a finite element framework to model the fluid-pressure-induced reactivation of pre-existing fractures within the caprock, during high-rate injection of super-critical CO2 into a brine-saturated reservoir in a hypothetical system, using realistic geomechanical and fluid properties. We investigate the impact of reservoir to caprock layer thickness, wellbore orientation, and injection rate on overall performance of the system with respect to caprock failure and leakage. We find that vertical wells result in locally higher reservoir pressures relative to horizontal injection wells for the same injection rate, with high pressure inducing caprock leakage along reactivated opening-mode fractures in the caprock. After prolonged injection, leakage along reactivated fractures in the caprock is always higher for vertical than horizontal injection wells. Furthermore, we find that low ratios of reservoir to caprock thickness favor high excess pressure and thus fracture reactivation in the caprock. Injection into thick reservoir units thus lowers the risk associated with CO2 leakage.

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TYPE Journal Article YEAR 2017
ScopusOSTIDOI

A conformal decomposition finite element method for dynamic wetting applications

American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Fluids Engineering Division (Publication) FEDSM

Noble, David R.; Kucala, Alec K.; Martinez, Mario J.

An enriched finite element method is described for capillary hydrodynamics including dynamic wetting. The method is enriched via the Conformal Decomposition Finite Element Method (CDFEM). Two formulations are described, one with first-order accuracy and one with second-order accuracy in time. Both formulations utilize a semi-implicit form for the surface tension that is shown to effectively circumvent the explicit capillary time step limit. Sharp interface boundary conditions are developed for capturing the dynamic contact angle as the fluid interface moves along the wall. By virtue of the CDFEM, the contact line is free to move without risk of mesh tangling, but is sharply captured. Multiple problems are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods.

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TYPE Conference Poster YEAR 2017
ScopusOSTIDOI

Investigation of the influence of geomechanical and hydrogeological properties on surface uplift at In Salah [Systematic investigation of the influence of geomechanical and hydrogeological properties on surface uplift at In Salah]

Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering

Newell, Pania N.; Yoon, Hongkyu Y.; Martinez, Mario J.; Bishop, Joseph E.; Bryant, Steven B.

Coupled reservoir and geomechanical simulations are significantly important to understand the long-term behavior of geologic carbon storage (GCS) systems. In this study, we performed coupled fluid flow and geomechanical modeling of CO2 storage using available field data to (1) validate our existing numerical model and (2) perform parameter estimation via inverse modeling to identify the impact of key geomechanical (Young's modulus and Biot's coefficient) and hydrogeological (permeability and anisotropy ratio) properties on surface uplift and the pore pressure buildup at In Salah in Algeria. Furthermore, two sets of surface uplift data featuring low and high uplifts above two injection wells and the maximum change in the pore pressure due to CO2 injection were used to constrain the inverse model.

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TYPE Journal Article YEAR 2016
OSTIDOI
Results 51–75 of 163
Results 51–75 of 163