@misc{ChengBestehornFiroozabadi, author = {Cheng, Philip and Bestehorn, Michael and Firoozabadi, Abbas}, title = {Effect of permeability anisotropy on density-driven flow for CO2 sequestration in saline aquifers}, series = {Water Resources Research}, volume = {48}, journal = {Water Resources Research}, number = {9}, issn = {1944-7973}, doi = {10.1029/2012WR011939}, pages = {W09539}, abstract = {Solubility trapping of carbon dioxide (CO2) in deep saline aquifers is considered one of the most effective methods for carbon sequestration. Dissolution of CO2 into the brine may create gravitational instabilities that lead to the onset of convection, which greatly enhances the storage efficiency and reduces the possibilities of leakage. Convection appears in the form of downward traveling fingers of relatively dense, CO2-dissolved fluid. Many natural aquifer formations display considerable permeability anisotropy, where the horizontal permeability kh may be several times greater than the vertical permeability kz. It has been previously found that increasing kh for a fixed kz reduces the critical time tc at which onset occurs and the critical wavelength λc with which the fingers initially form. We extend earlier work by showing how and why this occurs. Our results reveal new insights about λc. We have studied the behavior for times greater than tc using high-resolution numerical simulations. We show that the enhanced dissolution from convection can become significant much earlier in anisotropic media. Furthermore, the effects of anisotropy may be sustained for a long period of time. Our results suggest that permeability anisotropy can allow a wider range of aquifer formations to be considered for effective sequestration.}, language = {en} } @misc{BestehornFiroozabadi, author = {Bestehorn, Michael and Firoozabadi, Abbas}, title = {Effect of fluctuations on the onset of density-driven convection in porous media}, series = {Physics of Fluids}, volume = {24}, journal = {Physics of Fluids}, number = {11}, issn = {1089-7666}, doi = {10.1063/1.4767467}, pages = {114102}, abstract = {We study the dissolution of CO2 in saline aquifers. The long diffusion times can be accelerated by orders of magnitude from mass transfer that origins from convection.Convection occurs at a critical time via a phase transition from the horizontally homogeneous diffusion state. To start the instability, perturbations that break the horizontal translation symmetry are necessary. We start with the basic equations and the boundary conditions, examine the linearized equations around the diffusive time and z-dependent base state and compare different definitions of the critical time found in the literature. Taking a simple model we show the role of fluctuations for delayed instabilities if the control parameter is slowly swept through the bifurcation point. Apart from the critical time we use a "visible" time where convection is manifested in the vertical CO2 transport. We specify the perturbations with respect to their strength and length scale, and compute the critical times for various cases by numerical integration of the basic equations in two spatial dimensions. Fluctuating concentration at the upper boundary, fluctuating porosity as well fluctuating permeability are studied in detail. For the permeability fluctuation, the compressibility of the fluid becomes important and the velocity field cannot be derived from a stream function. Our work also includes non-isothermal conditions with a prescribed vertical geothermal gradient and space dependent thermal conductivity. Temperature fields for different standard configurations are computed numerically and serve as starting condition for density-driven convection. Based on our work, we conclude that the visible time is much larger than the critical time. The visible time is a strong function of strength and length scale of the perturbations.}, language = {en} }