No Arabic abstract
Constitutive functions that govern macroscale capillary pressure and relative permeability are central in constraining both storage efficiency and sealing properties of CO$_2$ storage systems. Constitutive functions for porous systems are in part determined by wettability, which is a pore-scale phenomenon that influences macroscale displacement. While wettability of saline aquifers and caprocks are assumed to remain water-wet when CO$_2$ is injected, there is recent evidence of contact angle change due to long-term CO$_2$ exposure. Weakening of capillary forces alters the saturation functions dynamically over time. Recently, new dynamic models were developed for saturation functions that capture the impact of wettability alteration (WA) due to long-term CO$_2$ exposure. In this paper, these functions are implemented into a two-phase two-component simulator to study long-term WA dynamics for field-scale CO$_2$ storage. We simulate WA effects on horizontal migration patterns under injection and buoyancy-driven migration in the caprock. We characterize the behavior of each scenario for different flow regimes. Our results show the impact on storage efficiency can be described by the capillary number, while vertical leakage can be scaled by caprock sealing parameters. Scaling models for CO$_2$ migration into the caprock show that long-term WA poses little risk to CO$_2$ containment over relevant timescales.
Current methods of monitoring subsurface CO$_2$, such as repeat seismic surveys, are episodic and require highly skilled personnel to acquire the data. Simulations based on simplified models have previously shown that muon radiography could be automated to continuously monitor CO$_2$ injection and migration, in addition to reducing the overall cost of monitoring. In this paper, we present a simulation of the monitoring of CO$_2$ plume evolution in a geological reservoir using muon radiography. The stratigraphy in the vicinity of a nominal test facility is modelled using geological data, and a numerical fluid flow model is used to describe the time evolution of the CO$_2$ plume. A planar detection region with a surface area of 1000 m$^2$ is considered, at a vertical depth of 776 m below the seabed. We find that one year of constant CO$_2$ injection leads to changes in the column density of $lesssim 1%$, and that the CO$_2$ plume is already resolvable with an exposure time of less than 50 days.
We present results of a multi-epoch monitoring program on variability of 6$,$cm formaldehyde (H$_2$CO) masers in the massive star forming region NGC$,$7538$,$IRS$,$1 from 2008 to 2015 conducted with the GBT, WSRT, and VLA. We found that the similar variability behaviors of the two formaldehyde maser velocity components in NGC$,$7538$,$IRS$,$1 (which was pointed out by Araya and collaborators in 2007) have continued. The possibility that the variability is caused by changes in the maser amplification path in regions with similar morphology and kinematics is discussed. We also observed 12.2$,$GHz methanol and 22.2$,$GHz water masers toward NGC$,$7538$,$IRS$,$1. The brightest maser components of CH$_3$OH and H$_2$O species show a decrease in flux density as a function of time. The brightest H$_2$CO maser component also shows a decrease in flux density and has a similar LSR velocity to the brightest H$_2$O and 12.2$,$GHz CH$_3$OH masers. The line parameters of radio recombination lines and the 20.17 and 20.97$,$GHz CH$_3$OH transitions in NGC$,$7538$,$IRS$,$1 are also reported. In addition, we observed five other 6$,$cm formaldehyde maser regions. We found no evidence of significant variability of the 6$,$cm masers in these regions with respect to previous observations, the only possible exception being the maser in G29.96$-$0.02. All six sources were also observed in the H$_2^{13}$CO isotopologue transition of the 6$,$cm H$_2$CO line; H$_2^{13}$CO absorption was detected in five of the sources. Estimated column density ratios [H$_2^{12}$CO]/[H$_2^{13}$CO] are reported.
The San Andreas fault (SAF) in the USA is one of the most investigated self-organizing systems in nature. In this paper, we studied some geophysical properties of the SAF system in order to analyze the behavior of earthquakes in the context of Tsalliss $q$--Triplet. To that end, we considered 134,573 earthquake events in magnitude interval $2leq m<8$, taken from the Southern Earthquake Data Center (SCEDC, 1932 - 2012). The values obtained ($q$--Triplet$equiv$${$$q$$_{stat}$,$q$$_{sen}$,$q$$_{rel}$$}$) reveal that the $q_{stat}$--Gaussian behavior of the aforementioned data exhibit long-range temporal correlations. Moreover, $q_{sen}$ exhibits quasi-monofractal behavior with a Hurst exponent of 0.87.
Wettability is a pore-scale property that has an important impact on capillarity, residual trapping, and hysteresis in porous media systems. In many applications, the wettability of the rock surface is assumed to be constant in time and uniform in space. However, many fluids are capable of altering the wettability of rock surfaces permanently and dynamically in time. Experiments have shown wettability alteration can significantly decrease capillarity in CO$_2$ storage applications. For these systems, the standard capillary-pressure model that assumes static wettability is insufficient to describe the physics. In this paper, we develop a new dynamic capillary-pressure model that takes into account changes in wettability at the pore-level by adding a dynamic term to the standard capillary pressure function. We simulate the dynamic system using a bundle-of-tubes (BoT) approach, where a mechanistic model for time-dependent contact angle change is introduced at the pore scale. The resulting capillary pressure curves are then used to quantify the dynamic component of the capillary pressure function. This study shows the importance of time-dependent wettability for determining capillary pressure over timescales of months to years. The impact of wettability has implications for experimental methodology as well as macroscale simulation of wettability-altering fluids.
Wettability is a pore-scale property that impacts the relative movement and distribution of fluids in a porous medium. There are reservoir fluids that provoke the surface within pores to undergo a wettability change. This wettability change, in turn, alters the dynamics of relative permeabilities at the Darcy scale. Thus, modeling the impact of wettability change in relative permeabilities is essential to understand fluids interaction in porous media. In this study, we include time-dependent wettability change into the relative permeability--saturation relation by modifying the existing relative permeability function. To do so, we assume the wettability change is represented by the sorption-based model that is exposure time and chemistry dependent. This pore-scale model is then coupled with a triangular bundle-of-tubes model to simulate exposure time-dependent relative permeabilities data. The simulated data is used to characterize and quantify the wettability dynamics in the relative permeability--saturation curves. This study further shows the importance of accurate prediction of the relative permeability in a dynamically altering porous medium.