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Monitoring pressure and assessing injectivity during fluid injection into a porous medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 October 2025

Kaien Yang  and
Zhong Zheng Open the ORCID record for Zhong Zheng [Opens in a new window]
Kaien Yang
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Hydrodynamics, School of Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China
Zhong Zheng*
Affiliation:
MOE Key Laboratory of Hydrodynamics, School of Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, PR China
*
Corresponding author: Zhong Zheng, zzheng@alumni.princeton.edu; zhongzheng@sjtu.edu.cn
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Abstract

Monitoring fluid flow and pollutant transport is important in many geophysical, environmental and industrial processes, such as geological $\textrm {CO}_2$ sequestration, waste water disposal, oil and gas recovery and sea water invasion. But it can also be challenging. Recent studies revealed a series of self-similar solutions to describe the interface shape evolution between the injecting and the ambient fluids during fluid injection into a confined porous layer. The present work focuses further on the pressure evolution. In particular, we present self-similar solutions for the pressure evolution at both the early and late times. Two dimensionless parameters are recognised, including the viscosity ratio $M$ and the rescaled buoyancy $G$, and their specific role on the pressure evolution is clarified. Laboratory experiments are also performed to measure the pressure evolution at two specific locations during the propagation of a viscous gravity current within a vertically placed Hele-Shaw cell, with a favourable comparison with the model prediction in the unconfined regime. The obtained pressure solutions are also used to explain the field data of bottom-hole-pressure (BHP) evolution from a geological $\textrm {CO}_2$ sequestration project, considering both fluid injection and shut-in operations. The model and solutions might also be of use to assess reservoir injectivity and develop pressure-based monitoring technologies at well bores.

JFM classification

Low-Reynolds-number flows: Lubrication theory Geophysical and Geological Flows: Gravity currents

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Type
JFM Papers
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Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 1022 , 10 November 2025 , A11
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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press

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