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Gravity currents of carbon dioxide with residual gas trapping in a two-layered porous medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2011

TAKASHI GODA  and
KOZO SATO
TAKASHI GODA
Affiliation:
Department of Systems Innovation, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
KOZO SATO*
Affiliation:
Frontier Research Center for Energy and Resources, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
*
†Email address for correspondence: sato@frcer.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
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Abstract

In the geological sequestration of carbon dioxide (CO2), residual gas trapping plays an important role in immobilizing CO2. In this study, we investigate the propagation of gravity currents with residual gas trapping in a two-layered porous medium. We first formulate a model for a constant-flux release of a relatively less dense fluid (CO2) from a point source into a porous medium bounded above by a horizontal less-permeable seal. After a constant-flux release ceases, a fraction of the released fluid remains within the porous spaces at the trailing edge because of the capillary forces. This capillary retention is formulated in a model of gravity currents of a finite-volume release in the two-layered medium. In the latter model, the plume shape at the end of the constant-flux release is used as an initial profile. Using these models sequentially, the propagation of both cross-sectional and axisymmetric currents is quantitatively examined.

JFM classification

Geophysical and Geological Flows: Gravity currents Low-Reynolds-number flows: Porous media
Type
Papers
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 673 , 25 April 2011 , pp. 60 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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