A fully-coupled flow-reactive-transport formulation based on element conservation, with application to CO2 storage simulations

A numerical simulation framework for coupled multiphase flow, multicomponent transport and geochemical reactions in porous media is presented. The approach is an element-based formulation that combines the compositional modeling capabilities used in oil reservoir simulation with the treatment of chemical reactions used in groundwater modeling. The procedure employs a conservative finite-volume method with a fully-implicit treatment in time in order to preserve the nonlinear coupling of flow, transport, reactions, and mass transfer across phases. Phase behavior is described using cubic equations of state. In this framework, all the governing equations and associated constraints are cast in discrete residual form, such that any variable, or coefficient, can depend on any other variable in the problem. Prior to linearization, which is applied to construct the Jacobian matrix, no algebraic or analytic manipulation need be performed to reduce the nonlinear sets of equations and unknowns. Once the complete Jacobian matrix is assembled, a series of algebraic reductions (Schur complements), of the type used in compositional reservoir simulation, are performed to reduce the number of discrete equations that must be solved simultaneously. A GMRES solution strategy with CPR (Constrained Pressure Residual) preconditioning is applied to solve the reduced linear system. We demonstrate the formulation using two CO2 sequestration problems, one of which involves chemical reactions. The simulations demonstrate the efficiency and applicability of the overall procedure for modeling the long-term fate of sequestered CO2.

► A fully-coupled, fully-implicit, flow and reactive-transport framework is presented.
► The framework is based on element conservation and includes heterogeneous reactions.
► A new decoupling strategy, performed at the Jacobian matrix level, is introduced.
► State-of-the-art linear solvers, as used in reservoir simulation, are applied.
► Results for CO2 storage demonstrate the capabilities and efficiency of the method.