Modelling and Simulation of Structural Deformation of Isothermal Subsurface Flow and Carbon Dioxide Injection

Injection of CO2 in hydrocarbon reservoir has double benefit. On the one hand, it is a profitable method due to issues related to global warming, and on the other hand it is an effective mechanism to enhance hydrocarbon recovery. Such injection associates complex processes involving, e.g., solute transport of dissolved materials, in addition to local changes in density of the phases. Also, increasing carbon dioxide injection may cause a structural deformation of the medium, so it is important to include such effect into the model. The structural deformation modelling in carbon sequestration is important to evaluate the medium stability to avoid CO2 leakage to the atmosphere. On the other hand, geologic formation of the medium is usually heterogeneous and consists of several layers of different permeability. In this work we conduct numerical simulation of two-phase flow in a heterogeneous porous medium domain with dissolved solute transport as well as structural deformation effects. The solute transport of the dissolved component is described by concentration equation. The structural deformation for geomechanics is derived from a general local differential balance equation with neglecting the local mass balance of solid phase and the inertial force term. The flux continuity condition is used at interfaces between different permeability layers of the heterogeneous medium. We analyze the vertical migration of a CO2 plume injected into a 2D layered reservoir. Analysis of distribution of flow field components such as saturation, pressures, velocities, and CO2 concentration are presented.