Abstract
The presence of impermeable barriers in a reservoir can significantly impede the buoyant migration of \(\mathrm{CO}_2\) injected deep into a heterogeneous geological formation. An important consequence of the presence of these impermeable barriers in terms of the long-term storage of \(\mathrm{CO}_2\) is the residual trapping that takes place beneath the barriers, which acts to both increase the storage potential of the reservoir and improve the storage security of the \(\mathrm{CO}_2\). Analytical results for the total amount of \(\mathrm{CO}_2\) trapped in a reservoir with an uncorrelated random distribution of impermeable barriers are obtained for both two and three-dimensional cases. In two dimensions, it is shown that the total amount of \(\mathrm{CO}_2\) contained in this fashion scales as \(n^{5/4}\), where \(n\) is the number of barriers in the vertical direction. In three dimensions, the trapped amount scales as \(n^c\), where \(5/4 \le c \le 2\) depending on the aspect ratio of the barriers. The analytical two-dimensional results are compared with results of detailed numerical simulations, and good agreement is observed.
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Green, C.P., Ennis-King, J. Residual Trapping Beneath Impermeable Barriers During Buoyant Migration of \(\mathrm{CO}_2\) . Transp Porous Med 98, 505–524 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-013-0156-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-013-0156-8