Over the last century, the state of stress in the earth’s upper crust has undergone rapid changes because of human activities associated with fluid withdrawal and injection in subsurface formations. The stress dependency of multiphase flow mechanisms in earth materials is a substantial challenge to understand, quantify, and model for many applications in groundwater hydrology, applied geophysics, CO₂ subsurface storage, and the wider geoenergy field (e.g., geothermal energy, hydrogen storage, hydrocarbon recovery). Here, we conduct core-scale experiments using N₂/water phases to study primary drainage followed by spontaneous imbibition in a carbonate specimen under increasing isotropic effective stress and isothermal conditions. Using X-ray computed micro-tomography images of the unconfined specimen, we introduce a novel coupling approach to reconstruct pore-deformation and simulate multiphase flow inside the deformed pore-space followed by a semi-analytical calculation of spontaneous imbibition. We show that the irreducible water saturation increases while the normalized volume of spontaneously imbibed water into the specimen decreases (46–25%) in response to an increase in effective stress (0–30 MPa), leading to higher residual gas saturations. Furthermore, the imbibition rate decreases with effective stress, which is also predicted by a numerical model, due to a decrease in water relative permeability as the pore-space becomes more confined and tortuous. This fundamental study provides new insights into the physics of multiphase fluid transport, CO₂ storage capacity, and recovery of subsurface resources incorporating the impact of poromechanics.

Underground hydrogen storage (UHS) in initially brine-saturated deep porous rocks is a promising large-scale energy storage technology, due to hydrogen's high specific energy capacity and the high volumetric capacity of aquifers. Appropriate selection of a feasible and safe storage site vitally depends on understanding hydrogen transport characteristics in the subsurface. Unfortunately there exist no robust experimental analyses in the literature to properly characterise this complex process. As such, in this work, we present a systematic pore-scale modelling study to quantify the crucial reservoir-scale functions of relative permeability and capillary pressure and their dependencies on fluid and reservoir rock conditions. To conduct a conclusive study, in the absence of sufficient experimental data, a rigorous sensitivity analysis has been performed to quantify the impacts of uncertain fluid and rock properties on these upscaled functions. The parameters are varied around a base-case, which is obtained through matching to the existing experimental study. Moreover, cyclic hysteretic multiphase flow is also studied, which is a relevant aspect for cyclic hydrogen-brine energy storage projects. The present study applies pore-scale analysis to predict the flow of hydrogen in storage formations, and to quantify the sensitivity to the micro-scale characteristics of contact angle (i.e., wettability) and porous rock structure.

We present analytical solutions for capillary-controlled displacement in one dimension by use of fractional-flow theory. We show how to construct solutions with a spreadsheet that can be used for the analysis of experiments as well as matrix-block-scale recovery in field settings. The solutions can be understood as the capillary analog to the classical Buckley-Leverett solution (Buckley and Leverett 1942) for viscous-dominated flow, and are valid for cocurrent and countercurrent spontaneous imbibition (SI), as well as for arbitrary capillary pressure and relative permeability curves. They can be used to study the influence of wettability, predicting saturation profiles and production rates characteristic for water-wet and mixed-wet conditions. We compare our results with in-situ measurements of saturation profiles for SI in a waterwet medium. We show that the characteristic shape of the saturation profile is consistent with the expected form of the relative permeabilities. We discuss how measurements of imbibition profiles, in combination with other measurements, could be used to determine relative permeability and capillary pressure.

The influence of in-situ stresses on flow processes in fractured rock is investigated using a novel modelling approach. The combined finite-discrete element method (FEMDEM) is used to model the deformation of a fractured rock mass. The fracture wall displacements and aperture changes are modelled in response to uniaxial and biaxial stress states. The resultant changes in flow properties of the rock mass are investigated using the Complex Systems Modelling Platform (CSMP++). CSMP++ is used to model single-phase flow through fractures with variable aperture and a permeable rock matrix. The study is based on a geological outcrop mapping of a low density fracture pattern that includes the realism of intersections, bends and segmented features. By applying far-field (boundary) stresses to a square region, geologically important phenomena are modelled including fracture-dependent stress heterogeneity, the re-activation of pre-existing fractures (i.e. opening, closing and shearing), the propagation of new fractures and the development of fault zones. Flow anisotropy is investigated under various applied stresses and matrix permeabilities. In-situ stress conditions that encourage a closing of fractures together with a more pervasive matrix-dominated flow are identified. These are compared with conditions supporting more localised flow where fractures are prone to dilatational shearing and can be more easily exploited by fluids. The natural fracture geometries modelled in this work are not perfectly straight, promoting fracture segments that dilate as they shear. We have demonstrated the introduction of several realistic processes that have an influence on natural systems: fractures can propagate with wing cracks; there is the potential for new fractures to connect with existing fractures, thus increasing the connectivity and flow; blocks can rotate when bounded by fractures, bent fractures lead to locally different aperture development; highly heterogeneous stress distributions emerge naturally. Results presented in this work provide a mechanically rigorous demonstration that a change in the stress state can cause reactivation of pre-existing fractures and channelling of flow in critically stressed fractures.

A second order in space accurate implicit scheme for time-dependent advection-dispersion equations and a discrete fracture propagation model are employed to model solute transport in porous media. We study the impact of the fractures on mass transport and dispersion. To model flow and transport, pressure and transport equations are integrated using a finite-element, node-centered finite-volume approach. Fracture geometries are incrementally developed from a random distributions of material flaws using an adoptive geomechanical finite-element model that also produces fracture aperture distributions. This quasistatic propagation assumes a linear elastic rock matrix, and crack propagation is governed by a subcritical crack growth failure criterion. Fracture propagation, intersection, and closure are handled geometrically. The flow and transport simulations are separately conducted for a range of fracture densities that are generated by the geomechanical finite-element model. These computations show that the most influential parameters for solute transport in fractured porous media are as follows: fracture density and fracture-matrix flux ratio that is influenced by matrix permeability. Using an equivalent fracture aperture size, computed on the basis of equivalent permeability of the system, we also obtain an acceptable prediction of the macrodispersion of poorly interconnected fracture networks. The results hold for fractures at relatively low density.