International Seminar on Infrastucture Development in Cluster

Island Easter Part of Indonesia, Baubau, Indonesia

NUMERI CAL STUDY OF GROUND DEFORMATI ON I NDUCED BY I NJ ECTI ON OF
CARBON DI OXI DE I NTO LOW PERMEABLE ROCKS



Ardy Arsyad
1
, and Lawalenna Samang
2


ABSTRACT: We present numerical investigation of ground deformation caused by CO
2
injection to low permeable
rocks under injection of CO
2
. A field scale model of homogeneous Ainoura sandstones with properties, initial and
boundary conditions was simulated. The model is in 3-Dimensions with the size of 3200 m 3200 m and the depth of
1600 m. An injection well is located at the center of the model at the depth of 800 m. The distance between of injection
well to the lateral boundaries and vertical boundary is 1600 and 800 meters, respectively, which are sufficient to
minimize boundary effect. Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model was employed in this analysis. No fracture was
considered in the model. We performed a laboratory tests to obtain the physical and geomechanical, hydraulic
properties of Ainoura sandstones. It was found the injection of CO
2
into Ainoura sandstone formation would generate
ground uplift with average magnitude of 0.9 cm/year. The peak of uplift is located at a certain distance from injection
well. The more CO
2
injected, the higher of peak and the larger area being uplifted as it would expect. During the
injection, uplift occurs in the overlying layers while subsidence takes place in underlying layers of injection point. The
magnitude of the subsidence is found to be smaller than the uplift.

Keywords: Ground deformation, Injection of carbon dioxide, Low permeable rocks.


INTRODUCTION

The increase of anthropogenic CO
2
emission in the
atmosphere has contributed to global warming.
Currently, multi-approaches have been undertaken in
many countries to minimize severe impact of global
warming, including developing efficient energy and
alternative energies (wind energy, solar power, biomass),
and designing a carbon capture and geological storage
(CCS). The CCS is a process of separating CO
2
emission
produced by large stationery sources such as industrial
plants and power stations, then compressing it to be
supercritical CO
2
and transporting via pipelines to
suitable geological formations, such as unmineable coal
beds, deep saline aquifers, and depleted oil and gas
reservoirs (IPCC, 2005). CO
2
injection into depleted oil
and gas reservoirs has been experienced since 1980s in
enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of petroleum industries.
However, the EOR have encountered several constraints.
The distribution of oil and gas reservoirs is not equal to
many countries, and it will be taking a long time for oil
and gas reservoirs to be depleted and ready for EOR. In
addition, vast pipelines distributions are still needed due
to lack of co-location between the sources of CO
2
emission and oil and gas reservoirs. Therefore, deep
saline aquifers, which is expected to have largest storage
capacity, has been recently investigated as potential CO
2
storage. In fact, several CO
2
injection projects are
undertaken in deep saline aquifers such as Sleipner
North Sea Project and Snohvit Barent Sea Project in
Norway, and Gorgon LNG Project Australia.
Prior to public acceptance to CCS, one of its aspect
that needs careful examination is geomechanical effect
induced by CO
2
injection. Geomechanical process
associated with geologic CO
2
storage has become a
concern for studies due to it would likely to play
significant role on large scale CO
2
storage (Rutqvist and
Tsang 2002; Saripalli and Mc Grail 2002; Li et al 2002,
Streit and Hills 2004; Yamamoto and Takahashi, 2004).
It is widely believed that large-scale CO
2
injection would
be able to generate significant ground deformation as
this was found in In Salah CO
2
injection project in
Algeria (Mathieson et al. 2011). If an overpressured
injection of CO
2
to rock formation occurred, there is
possible an excessive compression, or even tension
generated (Villarasa et al., 2010). This will initiate and
propagate cracks in the formation (Rutqvist and Tsang,
2002), may becoming an escape way of the injected CO
2
to potable ground water, and even to the surface.
In this paper, we conducted numerical simulation to
examine ground deformation caused by CO
2
injection to
low permeable rocks. Low permeable rock is selected



1,2
Department of Civil Engieering Hasanuddin University Makassar, ardy.arsyad@unhas.ac.id, INDONESIA
A.Arsyad, et al.

Two phase flow
0


due to its better capacity to trap CO
2
flow compared to
high permeable one. Besides that, deep saline aquifer
External functions governing the effective stress is
following:
with cap rock formation is not found in geological
formation of Japan. As a result, deep sedimentary basins
o ' = o
m
oP

(1)
with low permeable rocks are expected to be both CO
2

storage and natural barrier for CO
2
flow.

COMPUTATIONAL MODEL
where o is effective stress, om is average stress, o is
Biot coefficient and P is pore pressure.

The change of porosity as function of effective stress
was introduced by Davies and Davies (1999) as follow:

Numerical simulation was conducted by employing a
geohydrological analysis of multiphase phase flow and

| = |
r
+ (|
0


|
r
)e
ao '


(2)
thermal transport simulation of TOUGH2 (Pruess 2005),
and a rock and soil mechanics with hydromechanical and
thermomechanical interactions computation of FLAC3D.
The TOUGH2 is a reservoir simulator developed
specially for CO
2
-brine mixtures in a realistic fluid
property. The simulator can take real density and
viscosity effect of CO2, including CO
2
solubility in
liquid phase. On other hand, FLAC3D is a three-
where |
0
is zero effective stress porosity, |r is high
effective stress porosity, and the exponent a is a
parameter.

The permeability change as a function of porosity
change can be described (Davies and Davies 1999) as:

c
| |
0
|
1|
=
|

dimensional explicit finite-difference program for
K K e
\ .


(3)
engineering mechanics compution. In FLAC3D, the
explicit, lagrangian, calculation scheme and the mixed
discretization zoning technique can model the
deformation of soil or rock that undergo plastic flow
when their yield limit are reached. TOUGH2-FLAC3D
were coupled by using external functions that dictate
changes in effective stress as a function of two-phase
pore pressure and thermal expansion, and changes
porosity, permeability as a function of mechanical
deformation (Figure 1). This linking model was
originally developed by Rutqvist and Tsang (2002) to
simulate hydromechanical changes on a caprock
associated with CO
2
-injection into a brine formation.
where K
0
is zero stress permeability and the exponent c
is a parameter.


Geometry and Material Properties
An idealized conceptual model of sedimentary rock
formation including geometry, material properties, initial
and boundary conditions was simulated. The model is in
3-Dimensions with the size of 3200 m 3200 m and the
depth of 1600 m (Figure 1). A total 8,000 grids were
generated with a grid size is a 160 m 160 m 80 m.
An injection well is located at the center of the model at
the depth of 800 m. The distance between of injection
well to the lateral boundaries and vertical boundary is

TOUGH2



T, P
w
,, P
CO2
, S
w,
P
cap

Two phase flow , K




Coupling module
Coupling module





P
pore
, P
confining

Stress and strain analysis
',

FLAC3DD


Figure 1. Schematic of linking TOUGH2 and FLAC3D for coupled hydromechanical
simulation.
Numerical Study Of Ground Deformation Induced By Injection Of Carbon Dioxide Into Low Permeable Rocks
Depth
(m)
Tempera
ture (C)
Overburden
Pressure
(MPa)
Pore
Pressure
(MPa)
Permea
bility
(mD)
240 21 5.71 2.5 0.13
480 27 11.42 5.0 0.097
720 33 17.14 7.49 0.081
960 39 22.85 9.98 0.071
1200 45 28.56 12.48 0.064
1440 51 34.27 14.98 0.059
1600 55 38.08 16.64 0.056

Property Ainoura
Sandstone
Young Modulus (GPa) 6.787
Poisson ratio 0.242
Air-dried density (t/m3) 2.350
Zero stress porosity 0.155
20 MPa stress permeability (mDarcy) 0.05
Irreducible gas saturation, S
gr
0.15
Irreducible liquid saturation, S
wr
0.45
Van Genuchtens exponent, m 0.68
Van Genuchtens air-entry pressure, P0
(KPa)
25



1600 and 800 meters, respectively, which are sufficient
to minimize boundary effect. In the vertical direction, the
base layer of model was fixed, while the top layer was
freed as assumed to be the ground surface. The model
formation is homogeneous Ainoura Sandstone. This
actual formation can be found near Sasebo Nagasaki
Japan.

Mohr-Coulomb constitutive model was employed in
this analysis. No fracture was considered in the model.
We performed a laboratory tests to obtain the physical
and geomechanical properties Ainoura sandstones,
shown in Table 1. Relative permeability was derived by
Van Genuchten equations in which the parameters of m,
Swr, Sgr, and P0, obtained using a mercury injection test.
CO
2
solubility in water is based on Spyscher and Prueess
model.



Figure 2. Schematic grid model of sedimentary rock
formations employed in this study.

Table 1. Material Properties
30C/km. As a result, temperature at 240 meter depth
was accounted for 21C, while the temperature at the
base layer (-1600 meters) is 55C (Table 2). The
overburden pressure was assumed to be isotropic and its
gradient corresponds to the acceleration of gravity
multiplied by the rock density. The gradient of
overburden pressure for Ainoura Sandstone formation
was estimated at 23.25 kPa/m. Therefore, the overburden
pressure at 960 meters depth, for instance, is 22.85 MPa,
while that at 1600 meters depth is 38.8 MPa (Table 2).

By conducting permeability measurement using flow
pump permeability test, the intrinsic permeability of
Ainoura and Berea was found at around 0.077 mD. The
permeability was expected for the reservoir condition at
800 meters depth. However, overburden pressure has
significant effect on intrinsic Permeability. The change
of intrinsic permeability due to the increase of confining
pressure has been conducted by a laboratory test. It was
found that the intrinsic permeability of Ainoura
Sandstone will decrease by 26% if the confining pressure
increased from 0 to 10 MPa. Therefore, in the model, the
reduction of intrinsic permeability as the overburden
pressure increasing complied with the results found in
laboratory test.

Table 2. Initial conditions of the model of Ainoura
sandstone


















Initial and Boundary Conditions
Pre-injection calculation of temperature of the model
was conducted using the temperature gradient is
INJECTION OF CO
2
INTO LOW PERMEABLE
ROCK FORMATION
We present the result of the simulations of CO
2
injection to Ainoura sandstone formation. The injection
was undertaken at a constant rate of 0.35 kg/s. This is
only about 1/1000 of the required injection rate to
dispose CO
2
produced from standard coal power plant
producing CO
2
(350 kg/s) (Hitchon 1996). The
suitability of the injection rate is matched for Ainoura
sandstone formation as low permeable rock (0.02 0.07
mDarcies permeability) since the injection is predicted
for a fifty years and the upper boundary of pore pressure
generated will still below at the lithostatic stress.
A.Arsyad, et al.







Title: Provide concise and informative titles since
they are used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid
abbreviations and formulae where possible.




Generated Pressure in the Formation
Figure 3 presents the change of pore pressure and the
spread of CO
2
plume due to CO
2
injection into Ainoura
sandstone over the period of 5 years. It was found that
the pore pressure at the vicinity of injection point has
increased from 8.32 MPa to 12.125 MPa. Small increase
of pore pressure is caused by a low of injection rate
applied. It can be seen in Figure 3a, the increase of pore
pressure is more pronounce at the vicinity of the
injection point, yet it decreases at the distance being
further away from the injection point. The increase of
pore pressure becomes unnoticeable at the area beyond
500 from the injection point. At 5 years, the spread of
CO
2
plume just exist over 80 meters from the injection
point (Figure 3b). It means that CO
2
flows very slowly to
migrate from the injection point. Off course, this is
probably due to low permeability of the formation and
low injection rate employed in the injections. As a
consequence, the total volume of CO
2
that can be
disposed in the formation was accounted for only about
55 kilo tons, lower than the expected CO
2
that should be
achieved to meet the average CO
2
production from a
standard coal power plant, 55 million tons. Therefore,
multiplying the number of injection wells may be
prevalent to boost the storage capacity in disposing CO
2
for the case of low permeability rock formation.



(a)



(b)

Figure 3. Pore pressure (a) and CO
2
spread (b) induced
by the injection of CO
2
at 5 years.
Ground Deformation due to the Injection of CO
2

The increase of pore pressure induced by the
injection has reduced the effective stress of the formation.
This has resulted in an uplifting or heave of ground. The
maximum uplift was yielded at 4.94 cm (Figure. 4a). The
uplifted area has a peak with 4.94 cm height, located at
193 meters from the injection well. The result was
different than what we expected that the injection well is
supposed to be a center of the uplifted area. The total
area being uplifted by injection is 4.2 km2 with the
radius of 1,170 meters, on the basis that 1 cm is the
lower bound of the displacement considered.
Figure 4b presents vertical displacement profiles of
the formation. It was found that not only uplifted being
generated, but also subsidence. Ground uplift took place
in overlying layers of injection point, while a ground
subsidence occurred at the underlying layers. The
highest uplift was found at 8 cm, located at 250 meters
over the injection point. The uplift will decrease as it
approaches to the surface. On the other hand, the highest
subsidence generated was found at about 4 cm. It is only
a half of the uplift magnitude. The lower subsidence
compared to the uplift is due to high overburden pressure
in deep underground. In this area, the permeability will
be lower so that the induced pressure is not as high as
that in overlying layers. Therefore, effective stress is
still high, leading to small subsidence yielded. Another
possible factor is the flow of CO
2
plume more horizontal
rather than vertical due to buoyancy effect.
Figure 5 presents the stress alteration in the
formation under CO
2
injection. At the injection point, a
tension stress occurred with more than 1 MPa yielded by
flow of the injected CO
2
. This has resulted in
compressions in the area encircling the injection points.
The maximum compression stress occurred in the areas
where the increased pore pressure was very small.
Beyond the maximum compressed areas, the stress
alteration is relatively small.



(a)
Numerical Study Of Ground Deformation Induced By Injection Of Carbon Dioxide Into Low Permeable Rocks





(b)
Figure 4. Vertical displacement in the ground surface (a),
and vertical displacement profiles with depths (b)
induced by the injection of CO
2
at 5 years.





Figure 5. Stress alteration in the formation due to CO
2
injection over 5 years.



INJECTION OF CARBON DIOXIDE INTO THE
FORMATION OVER 10 AND 25 YEARS

The ground deformation due to CO
2
injection was
predicted over the next 10 and 25 years, in which the
injection of CO
2
assumed to be continued within the
same constant injection rate. It can be seen in Figure 6,
the pore pressure increased to 12.5 MPa for and 13.2
MPa, for 10 and 25 years injection of CO
2
, respectively
(Figure 6a). The pore pressures are still under the
overburden pressure at this depth (19.4 MPa), indicating
the onset of hydraulic fracture would not be propagated.
The spread of CO
2
plume was just 200 meters away from
the injection point with 600 meters as natural barrier.
This will prevent CO
2
plume from leaking to the potable
ground water. Figure 6b reveals that, at 25 years, the
flow of CO
2
seems to be more vertically flowing rather
than horizontally. This means the longer time for
injection, more vertical flow is generated. This requires
further study to investigate whether the changes of
hydraulic properties such as permeability and porosity
related to strains-stress affecting the flow. We suggested
that the high compressed areas have limited the flow of
CO
2
laterally. Instead, it will flow vertically as the
vertical displacements dominated the geomechanical
process, enlarging porosity and driving more CO
2
to
flow upward.
The injection of CO
2
within longer period would
generate more significant uplift as it would expect. The
simulation results show that the maximum uplift at 10
years injection was almost 9 cm, while that at 25 years
was 23 cm, more than doubled than 10 years injection
(Figure 7). The uplifted area also increased, for instance,
at 10 years, the radius of uplifting induced area is about
1,350 meters, and at 25 years, it rises to more than 1600
meters. Profiles of vertical deformation shown in Figure
7 show the consistent results of uplift on the overlying
layers of the injection point and subsidence in underlying
layers.
Figure 8 presents stress alteration of the formation
due to CO
2
injection. At 10 years, a tension stress driven
by the injection pressure has yielded compressive stress
in the overlying and underlying layers. The pattern of
areas with having compressive stress is little bit different
than that at 5 years. The increasing pore pressure
contributed to the change of stress in the formation. At
25 years, tension stress occurred in most of the area, and
no compressive stress was found.

CONCLUSIONS
1. The injection of CO
2
into Ainoura sandstone
formation would generate ground uplift with
average magnitude of 0.9 cm/year. At 5 years, the
uplift peaks at 4.94 cm, rising to almost 9 cm at 10
years, and 23 cm at 25 years.
2. The peak of uplift is located at a certain distance
from injection well. This is different than what we
expected that peak of uplifted area is the position of
the injection well. The more CO
2
injected, the
higher of peak and the larger area being uplifted.
3. During the injection, uplift occurs in the overlying
layers and subsidence takes place in underlying
layers of injection point. The magnitude of the
subsidence is smaller than the uplift.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank to Professor
Yasuhiro Mitani of Kyushu University Japan, and
Professor Tayfun Babadagli of School of Petroleum
Engineering at University of Alberta Edmonton Canada
for computational facility during the research.


REFERENCES

Davies, J.P., and Davies, D.K., (1999). Stress-dependent
permeability: Characterization and modeling. SPE 56813.
A.Arsyad, et al.












5 yrs
10 yrs
25 yrs



P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

(
M
P
a
)



Li, Q., Wu, Z.S., Li, X.C., Ohsumi, T., Koide, H., (2002).
Numerical simulation on crust deformation due to CO
2
sequestration in deep aquifers. Journal of Applied
Mechanics JSCE, Vol. 5, pp. 591-600.

Mathieson A., Midgley, J., Wright, I., Saoul, N.,
Ringrosec, P., (2011). In Salah CO2 storage JIP: CO
2
sequestration monitoring and verification technologies
applied at Krechba Algeria, Energy Procedia 4, pp.
3596-3603.

Pruess, K., (1999). ECO2N: A TOUGH2 fluid property
module for mixtures of water, NaCl, and CO
2
. Research
repot, LBNL-57952, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory,
Berkeley, CA, 2005.

Rutqvist, J., Tsang, C-F., (2002). A study of caprock
hydromechanical changes associated with CO
2
injection
into brine aquifer. Environmental Geology, Vol.42, pp.
296-305.

Saripalli, P., McGrail, B.P., (2002). Semi-analytical
approaches to modeling deep well injection of CO
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for
geological sequestration. Energy Conservation
Management, Vol. 43, pp. 185-198.

Streit, J.E., Hillis, R.R., (2004). Estimating fault stability
and sustainable fluid pressures or underground storage of
CO
2
in porous rock. Energy, Vol 29, pp. 1445-1456.

Yamamoto, K., Takahashi, K., (2004). Importance of the
geomechanics for the safety of CO
2
geologic
sequestration. In Proceedings of 3
rd
Asian Rock
Mechanics Symposium, Nov. 30 Dec 2, 2004, Kyoto
Japan.

Villarasa V., Bolstera, D., Olivella, S., Carrera, J.,
(2010). Coupled hydromechanical modeling of CO
2
sequestration in deep saline aquifers, International
Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control 4, pp. 910-919.

(b)

Figure 6. Pore pressure (a) and CO2 spread (b) induced
by the injection of CO
2
at 5, 10, and 25 years.


14


13


12


11


10


9


8
-1000 -500 0 500 1000 1500
Distance from Injection Point (m)


(a)

(a)
Numerical Study Of Ground Deformation Induced By Injection Of Carbon Dioxide Into Low Permeable Rocks



(b)

Figure 7. Vertical displacements in the formation
induced by the injection of CO
2
at 10 years (a), and 25
years (b).



(a)


(b)
Figure 8. Stress alteration induced by the injection of
CO
2
at 10 years (a), and 25 years (b).