Collaborative Research: Computational Models for Evaluating Long Term CO2 Storage in Saline Aquifers
The key goal of this project is to produce a prototypical computational system to accurately predict the fate of injected CO2 in conditions governed by multiphase flow, rock mechanics, multicomponent transport, thermodynamic phase behavior, chemical reactions within both the fluid and the rock, and the coupling of all these phenomena over multiple time and spatial scales. To tackle this grand challenge effort, a multidisciplinary research team has been assembled of senior researchers M. F. Wheeler, T. Arbogast, and M. Delshad of the Center for Subsurface Modeling and I. Duncan from the Bureau of Economic Geology at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as M. Parashar of the Applied Software Systems Laboratory at Rutgers University. This group has expertise in (1) applied mathematics and computational science that includes multiscale and multiphysics algorithms, solvers, uncertainty, and optimization (2) computer science that includes dynamic adaptivity, model/code couplings, and data management and transport (3) compositional modeling and CO2 injection processes and (4) CO2 demonstration sites. In each of the third and fourth years of the project, we will host a two-day workshop for high school teachers, advanced high school students, and undergraduate students with an interest in high school teaching. We will provide training in the use of a sophisticated groundwater simulator, to be used as a tool to engage and pique the interest of high schoolers, perhaps leading some to careers in mathematics, the sciences, and interdisciplinary work. In addition, two postdoctoral students and roughly two graduate students will be supported throughout the project.
Geologic sequestration is a proven means of permanent CO2 greenhouse gas storage, but it is difficult to design and manage such efforts. Predictive computational simulation may be the only means to account for the lack of complete characterization of the subsurface environment, the multiple scales of the various interacting processes, the large areal extent of saline aquifers, and the need for long time predictions. This proposal will investigate high fidelity multiscale and multiphysics algorithms necessary for simulation of multiphase flow and transport coupled with geochemical reactions and related mineralogy, and geomechanical deformation in porous media to predict changes in rock properties during sequestration. The work will result in a prototypical computational framework with advanced numerical algorithms and underlying technology for research in CO2 applications, which has been validated and verified against field-scale experimental tests. The multidisciplinary research team has expertise in (1) applied mathematics and computational science, (2) computer science and engineering, (3) compositional modeling and CO2 injection processes, and (4) CO2 demonstration sites. In each of the third and fourth years of the project, we will host a two-day workshop for high school teachers, advanced high school students, and undergraduate students with an interest in high school teaching. We will provide training in the use of a sophisticated groundwater simulator, to be used as a tool to engage and pique the interest of high schoolers, perhaps leading some to careers in mathematics, the sciences, and interdisciplinary work. In addition, two postdoctoral students and roughly two graduate students will be supported throughout the project.
