Thermo-hydro-mechanical Modeling of CO₂ Sequestration System Around Fault Environment

Abstract

Geological sequestration of CO₂ (carbon dioxide) shows great potential to reduce Greenhouse gas emissions. However, CO₂ injection into geological formations may give rise to a variety of coupled chemical and physical processes. The thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) impact of CO₂ injection can induce fault instability, even possibly lead to seismic activities in and around the disposal reservoir. A sequential coupling approach under some assumptions was proposed in the numerical study to investigate the THM behavior of the CO₂ sequestration system concerning the temperature, initial geological stress, injection pressure and CO₂ buoyancy. The fault was treated as a flexible contact model. The effects of CO₂ injection on the mechanical behavior of the faults were investigated. The Drucker-Prager model and the cap model were used to model the constitutive relationship of formations. The numerical results show that injection pressure sensitively affects the relative slip change of the fault. At the initial stage of the sequestration process, the injection pressure plays a key role in affecting the pore pressure of the formations. However, as time continues, the influence of CO₂-induced buoyancy becomes obvious on the pore pressure of the formations. In general, The THM effects of CO₂ geosequestration do not affect the mechanical stability of formations and faults.