Jerome A. Neufeld

Convective dissolution of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers.

[1] Geological carbon dioxide (CO2) storage is a means of reducing anthropogenic emissions. Dissolution of CO2 into the brine, resulting in stable stratification, increases storage security. The dissolution rate is determined by convection in the brine driven by the increase of brine density with CO2 saturation. We present a new analogue fluid system that reproduces the convective behaviour of CO2‐enriched brine. Laboratory experiments and high‐resolution numerical simulations show that the convective flux scales with the Rayleigh number to the 4/5 power, in contrast with a classical linear relationship. A scaling argument for the convective flux incorporating lateral diffusion from downwelling plumes explains this nonlinear relationship for the convective flux, provides a physical picture of high Rayleigh number convection in a porous medium, and predicts the CO2 dissolution rates in CO2 accumulations. These estimates of the dissolution rate show that convective dissolution can play an important role in enhancing storage security. Citation: Neufeld,J.A.,M.A .Hesse,A.Riaz,M. A.H allworth, H. A. Tchelepi, and H. E. Huppert (2010), Convective dissolution of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L22404, doi:10.1029/2010GL044728.

Viscous Control of Peeling an Elastic Sheet by Bending and Pulling

Propagation of a viscous fluid beneath an elastic sheet is controlled by local dynamics at the peeling front, in close analogy with the capillary-driven spreading of drops over a precursor film. Here we identify propagation laws for a generic elastic peeling problem in the distinct limits of peeling by bending and peeling by pulling, and apply our results to the radial spread of a fluid blister over a thin prewetting film. For the case of small deformations relative to the sheet thickness, peeling is driven by bending, leading to radial growth as t(7/22). Experimental results reproduce both the spreading behavior and the bending wave at the front. For large deformations relative to the sheet thickness, stretching of the blister cap and the consequent tension can drive peeling either by bending or by pulling at the front, both leading to radial growth as t(3/8). In this regime, detailed predictions give excellent agreement and explanation of previous experimental measurements of spread in the pulling regime in an elastic Hele-Shaw cell.

Spatial and temporal evolution of injected CO2 at the Sleipner Field, North Sea

Time-lapse, three-dimensional (3D) seismic surveys have imaged an accumulation of injected CO

Spreading and convective dissolution of carbon dioxide in vertically confined, horizontal aquifers

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Modelling carbon dioxide sequestration in layered strata

adjacent to the Sleipner field in the North Sea basin. The changing pattern of reflectivity suggests that CO

The effect of a fissure on storage in a porous medium

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The effects of capillary forces on the axisymmetric propagation of two-phase, constant-flux gravity currents in porous media

accumulates within a series of interbedded sandstones and mudstones beneath a thick caprock of mudstone. Nine reflective horizons within the reservoir have been mapped on six surveys acquired between 1999 and 2008. These horizons have roughly elliptical planforms with eccentricities ranging between two and four. In the top half of the reservoir, horizon areas grow linearly with time. In the bottom half, horizon areas initially grow linearly for about eight years and then progressively shrink. The central portions of deeper reflective horizons dim with time. Amplitude analysis of horizons above, within, and below the reservoir show that this dimming is not solely caused by acoustic attenuation. Instead, it is partly attributable to CO

Leakage from gravity currents in a porous medium. Part 2. A line sink

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Axisymmetric viscous gravity currents flowing over a porous medium

migration and/or CO

Shear-enhanced convection in a mushy layer

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