The last decade has seen a strong increase of research into flows in fractured porous media, mainly related to subsurface processes, but also in materials science and biological applications. Connected fractures totally dominate flow-patterns, and their representation is therefore a critical part in model design. Due to the fracture's characteristics as approximately planar discontinuities with an extreme size to width ratio, they challenge standard macroscale mathematical and numerical modeling of flow based on averaging. Thus, over the last decades, various, and also fundamentally different, approaches have been developed. This paper reviews common conceptual models and discretization approaches for flow in fractured porous media, with an emphasis on the dominating effects the fractures have on flow processes. In this context, the paper discuss the tight connection between physical and mathematical modeling and simulation approaches. Extensions and research challenges related to transport, multi-phase flow and fluid-solid interaction are also commented on. arXiv:1805.05701v1 [physics.geo-ph]

Conventional vertically integrated models for CO 2 storage usually adopt a vertical equilibrium (VE) assumption, which states that due to strong buoyancy, CO 2 and brine segregate quickly, so that the fluids can be assumed to have essentially hydrostatic pressure distributions in the vertical direction. However, the VE assumption is inappropriate when the time scale of fluid segregation is not small relative to the simulation time. By casting the vertically integrated equations into a multiscale framework, a new vertically integrated model can be developed that relaxes the VE assumption, thereby allowing vertical dynamics to be modeled explicitly. The model maintains much of the computational efficiency of vertical integration while allowing a much wider range of problems to be modeled. Numerical tests of the new model, using injection scenarios with typical parameter sets, show excellent behavior of the new approach for homogeneous geologic formations.

Recent studies suggest the possibility of CO2 sequestration in depleted shale gas formations, motivated by large storage capacity estimates in these formations. Questions remain regarding the dynamic response and practicality of injection of large amounts of CO2 into shale gas wells. A two-component (CO2 and CH4) model of gas flow in a shale gas formation including adsorption effects provides the basis to investigate the dynamics of CO2 injection. History-matching of gas production data allows for formation parameter estimation. Application to three shale gas-producing regions shows that CO2 can only be injected at low rates into individual wells and that individual well capacity is relatively small, despite significant capacity variation between shale plays. The estimated total capacity of an average Marcellus Shale well in Pennsylvania is 0.5 million metric tonnes (Mt) of CO2, compared with 0.15 Mt in an average Barnett Shale well. Applying the individual well estimates to the total number of existing and permitted planned wells (as of March, 2015) in each play yields a current estimated capacity of 7200-9600 Mt in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and 2100-3100 Mt in the Barnett Shale.

Naturally Fractured Reservoirs (NFR's) have received little attention as potential CO2 storage sites. Two main facts deter from storage projects in fractured reservoirs: (1) CO2 tends to be nonwetting in target formations and capillary forces will keep CO2 in the fractures, which typically have low pore volume; and (2) the high conductivity of the fractures may lead to increased spatial spreading of the CO2 plume. Numerical simulations are a powerful tool to understand the physics behind brine‐CO2 flow in NFR's. Dual‐porosity models are typically used to simulate multiphase flow in fractured formations. However, existing dual‐porosity models are based on crude approximations of the matrix‐fracture fluid transfer processes and often fail to capture the dynamics of fluid exchange accurately. Therefore, more accurate transfer functions are needed in order to evaluate the CO2 transfer to the matrix. This work presents an assessment of CO2 storage potential in NFR's using dual‐porosity models. We investigate the impact of a system of fractures on storage in a saline aquifer, by analyzing the time scales of brine drainage by CO2 in the matrix blocks and the maximum CO2 that can be stored in the rock matrix. A new model to estimate drainage time scales is developed and used in a transfer function for dual‐porosity simulations. We then analyze how injection rates should be limited in order to avoid early spill of CO2 (lost control of the plume) on a conceptual anticline model. Numerical simulations on the anticline show that naturally fractured reservoirs may be used to store CO2.