Does Numerical Modelling of the Onset of Dissolution-convection Reliably Reproduce this Key Stabilization Process in CO2 Storage?

Abstract

Dissolution of carbon dioxide into water is a key medium-term CO2 plume stabilization process. It proceeds much more quickly when aided by convection than when driven by diffusion alone. The onset of the convection process is not well understood, so laboratory experiments using a Hele-Shaw cell containing a porous medium were used to reproduce the process of CO2 dissolution and convection in water. High resolution numerical flow models were then used to replicate the laboratory results. They show a remarkably good match in terms of convective plume temporal and spatial development. This suggests that numerical models of dissolution-convection at much larger reservoir scales can reliably predict the onset of dissolution-convection.