Phillips, Tomos Alexander

Project Title

Fluid transport in fractures of caprocks for CO2 storage

Project Abstract

In order to understand leakage from deep CO2 storage reservoirs, the flow along fracture networks and fault zones needs to be quantified under varying pore pressure and stress conditions. This is particularly required as a first step to quantify leak rates from such reservoirs and to support general risk assessment. An important topic is the understanding of the coupling between stress and permeability of fractures having different mineralogy, aperture size, roughness, tortuosity or angle to bedding. Data and knowledge generated from such measurements can directly feed into small-scale modelling and further into upscaling to the reservoir scale. Fracture flow experiments on a variety of samples will be performed at Heriot-Watt University, along with matrix permeability measurements. Selected samples will then be tested in a high pressure/high temperature flow cell using X-ray CT imaging to better understand the flow path characteristics in relation to flow rates, feeding into model developments (UGhent).

Supervisors

Professor Andreas Busch, Professor Veerle Cnudde, Dr. Sabine den Hartog

Contact

Email: tp45@hw.ac.uk