Characterization of CO2 Injection into Deep Saline Aquifers Using Two-Phase Darcy-Forchheimer Flow: Fid-Bau Portal

Characterization of CO2 Injection into Deep Saline Aquifers Using Two-Phase Darcy-Forchheimer Flow

Zhang, Andi / Aral, Mustafa M.

In this study the generalized Darcy-Forchheimer model is used to characterize two-phase fluid flow where spatial flow characteristics may transition between Darcy and Forchheimer flow behavior. The local transition between the two flow regimes is characterized using the Forchheimer number as the criterion. A three-dimensional numerical model is developed that utilizes a control-volume method to simulate two-phase inertial, immiscible, and incompressible flow in a nondeformable homogeneous porous medium. The numerical model is validated by comparing its results with those obtained using a semianalytical solution of the Buckley-Leverett problem. The critical Forchheimer number is characterized using experimental data and is used to transition the local flow domain between Darcy and Forchheimer flow regions for both single-phase and multiphase analysis. The saturation-dependent distribution of the critical Forchheimer number is then used to analyze the Darcy and Forchheimer flow regions to provide a coupled solution to the problem. The proposed approach simulates injection of ${CO}_{2}$ into saline aquifers. The simulation results show that local Forchheimer flow transition reveals critical conditions that need to be addressed in field applications. The findings are discussed in reference to deep saline injection of ${CO}_{2}$ .