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Numerical simulation of tracer transport in the Altmark gas field

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Abstract

The paper presents a modeling strategy as well as simulation results of a designed conservative tracer test in the depleted Altensalzwedel natural gas reservoir in order to know the tracer concentration and breakthrough time at the production wells. Krypton is considered as a suitable tracer. The production wells are located in several hundred meters to a few kilometers away from the injection well. The numerical simulation has been performed by using the newly implemented compositional gas flow module of OpenGeoSys (OGS), a scientific open-source simulator for calculation of coupled geohydraulic (single and multiphase flow), transport (heat and mass transfer), geomechanical and geochemical processes. The tracer breakthrough curves at the production wells show that the breakthrough times vary between 2 and 3 years. The model verification is presented by comparing the OGS results with a one-dimensional analytical solution. The numerical results have been verified by code comparison, additionally.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the funding by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in the framework of the CLEAN joint project, which is part of the geoscientific R&D program GEOTECHNOLOGIEN (results are presented in the GEOTECHNOLOGIEN Scientific Report under the publication number GEOTECH-1951). We cordially thank Alissa Hafele for proof reading and improving the manuscript considerably.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Informatics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, 04318, Leipzig, Germany

    A. K. Singh, T. Kalbacher, U.-J. Görke & O. Kolditz

  2. GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    P. Pilz & M. Zimmer

  3. Technische Universität Dresden, 01061, Dresden, Germany

    O. Kolditz

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  1. A. K. Singh
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  2. P. Pilz
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  3. M. Zimmer
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  4. T. Kalbacher
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  5. U.-J. Görke
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  6. O. Kolditz
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Correspondence to A. K. Singh.

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Singh, A.K., Pilz, P., Zimmer, M. et al. Numerical simulation of tracer transport in the Altmark gas field. Environ Earth Sci 67, 537–548 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1688-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-012-1688-x

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