© 2015, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. Successful large-scale implementation of geological CO<inf>2</inf> sequestration (GCS) will require the preliminary assessment of multiple potential injection sites. Risk assessment and optimization tools used in this effort typically require large numbers of simulations. This makes it important to choose the appropriate level of complexity when selecting the type of simulation model. A promising multi-phase semi-analytical method proposed by Nordbotten et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. 43, 743–749 2009) to estimate key system attributes (i.e., pressure distribution, CO<inf>2</inf> plume extent, and fluid migration) has been found to reduce computational run times by three orders of magnitude when compared to other standard numerical techniques. The premise of the work presented herein is that the existing semi-analytical leakage algorithm proposed by Nordbotten et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol. 43, 743–749 2009) may be further improved in computational efficiency by applying a fixed-point-type iterative global pressure solution to eliminate the need to solve large sets of linear equations at each time step. Results show that significant gains in computational efficiency are obtained with this new methodology. In addition, this modification provides the same enhancement to similar semi-analytical algorithms that simulate single-phase injection into multi-layer domains.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)