Axisymmetric gravity currents in anisotropic porous media

TL;DR

This paper models axisymmetric gravity currents in anisotropic porous media, revealing how anisotropy influences flow dynamics and providing insights relevant to CO2 storage in aquifers.

Contribution

It introduces a combined pressure- and gravity-driven flow model for anisotropic media, addressing the singularity issue and analyzing flow evolution over time.

Findings

Flow radius scales as t^{3/7} at late times

Flow depth near the origin scales as t^{1/7}

Vertical permeability affects late-time flow behavior

Abstract

We explore the motion of an axisymmetric gravity current in an anisotropic porous medium in which the horizontal permeability is larger than the vertical permeability. It is well known that the classical axisymmetric gravity current supplied by a constant point source of fluid has an unphysical singularity near the origin. We address this by considering a pressure-dominated region near the origin which allows for vertical flow from the source, such that the current remains of finite depth, whilst beyond this region the flow is gravity-dominated. At early times the inner pressure-driven region controls the spreading of the current, but at late times the inner region occupies a progressively smaller fraction of the current such that the radius increases as $\sim t^{3/7}$, while the depth near the origin increases approximately as $\sim t^{1/7}$. The presence of anisotropy highlights this phenomenon, since the vertical permeability maintains an effect on the flow at late times through the pressure-driven flow near the origin. Using these results we provide some quantitative insights into the dominant dynamics which control CO$_2$ migration through permeable aquifers, as occurs in the context of carbon capture and storage.