Solutal convection in porous media: Comparison between boundary conditions of constant concentration and constant flux

Amooie, Mohammad Amin; Soltanian, Mohamad Reza; Moortgat, Joachim

doi:10.1103/physreve.98.033118

Cited by 56 publications

(62 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Therefore, the rock‐fluid interactions stimulate the instabilities. The provided results are in‐line with recent experimental (Rasmusson et al, ) and numerical (Amooie et al, ) studies, which suggest

t_{c} = \frac{1}{R a^{n}} . \frac{H^{2}}{D_{e}}

and calculated

n = 1.1427

and

n = 1.14

, respectively. Figure b provides the downward movement of carbon concentration for a fixed time (

t = 4

years) for different Rayleigh numbers.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Signature of Geochemistry on Density‐Driven CO Mixing in Sandstone Aquifers

Erfani

Babaei

Niasar

2020

Water Resources Research

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Density‐driven mixing resulting from CO 2 injection into aquifers leads to the CO 2 entrapment mechanism of solubility trapping. Crucially, the coupled flow‐geochemistry and effects of geochemistry on density‐driven mixing process for “sandstone rocks” have not been adequately addressed. Often, there are conflicting remarks in the literature as to whether geochemistry promotes or undermines dissolution‐driven convection in sandstone aquifers. Against this backdrop, we simulate density‐driven mixing in sandstone aquifers by developing a 2‐D modified stream function formulation for multicomponent reactive convective‐diffusive CO 2 mixing. Two different cases corresponding to laboratory and field scales are studied to investigate the effect of rock‐fluid interaction on density‐driven mixing and the role of mineralization in carbon storage over the project life time. A complex sandstone mineralogical assemblage is considered, and solid‐phase reactions are assumed to be kinetic to study the length‐ and time‐scale dependency of the geochemistry effects. The study revealed nonuniform impact of rock‐fluid and fluid‐fluid interaction in early‐ and late‐time stages of the process. The results show that for moderate Rayleigh (Ra) numbers, rock‐fluid interactions adversely affect solubility trapping while improving the total carbon captured through mineral trapping. Simulation results in the range of 1,500 < Ra < 55,000 in the field‐scale model showed more pronounced impact of geochemistry for higher Ra numbers, as geochemistry stimulates the convective instabilities and improves the total sequestered carbon. This study gives new insights into the effect of rock‐fluid interactions on density‐driven mixing and solubility trapping in sandstone aquifers to improve estimation of the carbon storage capacity in deep saline aquifers.

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t_{c} = \frac{1}{R a^{n}} . \frac{H^{2}}{D_{e}}

and calculated

n = 1.1427

and

n = 1.14

, respectively. Figure b provides the downward movement of carbon concentration for a fixed time (

t = 4

years) for different Rayleigh numbers.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Signature of Geochemistry on Density‐Driven CO Mixing in Sandstone Aquifers

Erfani

Babaei

Niasar

2020

Water Resources Research

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“…Density‐driven convective flow is ubiquitous in natural systems, such as water infiltration into soil (Assouline, 2013), atmospheric movement (Hodges & Thorncroft, 1997) and oceanic currents (Ruddick & Gargett, 2003). Density‐driven convection has an wide application for flow in porous media, including geothermal energy production (Cheng & Minkowycz, 1977), oil separation from sand (Taylor, 2018), and carbon dioxide sequestration (Amooie et al, 2018; Mahmoodpour et al, 2019). It is well identified that when dense fluid sits above less dense fluid due to solute concentration and/or temperature, the system is easy to lose its equilibrium.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermal Effects on Flow and Salinity Distributions in Coastal Confined Aquifers

Xin

Nguyen

et al. 2020

Water Resources Research

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Coastal aquifers provide an important hydrologic connection between terrestrial freshwater and oceanic seawater. Understanding the water flow and salinity distributions in those aquifers is essential to manage seawater intrusion and regional groundwater resources. For the last 50 yr, these processes have been extensively examined; however, previous studies typically assumed isothermal conditions and overlooked groundwater-seawater temperature contrasts, as commonly found along the global coastline. Here, we validated a solute and heat transport model against laboratory experiments and then revisited the classical Henry problem for coastal confined aquifers. We found that as the seawater temperature increases or freshwater temperature decreases, the freshwater-seawater interface retreats seaward and thus the freshwater storage increases. This occurs as a result of temperature-induced changes to the fluid density and aquifer hydraulic conductivity. Furthermore, double diffusion of salt and heat can induce two circulation cells in opposing directions in the saltwater wedge once the seawater temperature exceeds that of groundwater by a certain extent. Consequently, the circulating seawater flux and associated travel time change dramatically compared with isotheral conditions. Overall, the effect of thermal forcing can be significant, as demonstrated by a sensitivity analysis considering a large range of groundwaterseawater temperature contrasts. These results highlight the impact of changing thermal regimes on the flow and salinity distributions in coastal confined aquifers and provide guidance for better assessment of water resources in coastal zones. Plain Language Summary Coastal zones are often densely populated with associated significant economic activity. Groundwater in coastal aquifers provides an essential freshwater resource for domestic and industrial use as well as food production. Intensive human activities and climate change cause water regime shifts and thus threaten water security in coastal areas. Coastal water resource assessments often overlook groundwater-seawater temperature contrasts, even though such contrasts are globally ubiquitous. Here, we show those assessments could be improved with thermal effects considered as temperature contrasts can markedly influence salinity distributions and water circulations in coastal aquifers. The results provide guidance for better assessment of water resources in coastal zones. Water temperature affects oceanland exchange and various biogeochemical processes, which should be considered in future studies including climate change evaluations.

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“…convection in a container heated from below and cooled from above, and it has been studied extensively over the last few decades (Ahlers, Grossmann & Lohse 2009;Chillà & Schumacher 2012;Xia 2013). Also the related problem of convection in a fluid-saturated porous medium has received increasing attention owing to its importance in a wide range of natural and industrial processes, such as geothermal energy recovery and geological sequestration of carbon dioxide (Hassanzadeh, Pooladidarvish & Keith 2007;Cinar, Riaz & Tchelepi 2009;Orr 2009;Huppert & Neufeld 2014;Emami-Meybodi & Hassanzadeh 2015;De Paoli, Zonta & Soldati 2016;Soltanian et al 2016;Amooie, Soltanian & Moortgat 2018). It is indeed of both fundamental and practical interest to study RB convection in porous media, and considerable progress has been achieved over the years based on the combinations of experimental, numerical and theoretical studies (Lapwood 1948;Wooding 1957;Joseph, Nield & Papanicolaou 1982;Otero et al 2004;Araújo et al 2006;Nield & Bejan 2006;Landman & Schotting 2007;Hewitt, Neufeld & Lister 2012Keene & Goldstein 2015;Wen, Corson & Chini 2015;Ataei-Dadavi et al 2019;Chakkingal et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%