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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: [email protected]
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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 

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