TITLE:
Numerical Study of the Injection of Carbon Dioxide in a Homogeneous Porous Media
AUTHORS:
Luiz Umberto Rodrigues Sica
KEYWORDS:
Finite Volume Method, Mass Absorption between Phases, Flow in Porous Media, Carbon Dioxide Sequestration
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Fluid Dynamics,
Vol.8 No.1,
March
29,
2018
ABSTRACT: This work proposes a locally conservative and less restrictive algorithm to solve the problem dealt with in [1], i.e. a two-phase flow in a homogeneous porous medium (water and CO2), with mass absorption between the fluid phases and reaction between the CO2 phase and the rock. The latter is modeled by two non-linear hyperbolic equations that represent the transport of the flowing phases for a given velocity field (equations of saturation and concentration). From the numerical point of view, we use the operator splitting technique to properly treat the time scale of each physical phenomenon and a high-order non-oscillatory central-scheme finite volume method for nonlinear hyperbolic equations proposed by [2] that was extended for a system of equations with source terms to treat the equations that govern the saturation and concentration of phases. In addition, with respect to source terms, the mass flux between fluid phases was handled using the flash methodology, whereas kinetic theory was applied for reproducing the changes in porosity and permeability that are caused by the reaction of CO2 with the rock. The same physical trends observed in [1] were obtained in our numerical results which indicate a good predictive capability. Furthermore, this method avoids the difficulties that arise when adopting small time steps enforced by CFL stability restrictions. Finally, the results obtained show that the applicability of the KT method is beyond just a single nonlinear conservation law with the absence of source terms.