Meter-scale reactive transport modeling of CO2-rich fluid flow along debonded wellbore casing-cement interfaces

Abstract

Defects along wellbore interfaces constitute potential pathways for CO2 to leak from geological storage systems. In previous experimental work, we demonstrated that CO2-induced reaction over length-scales of several meters can lead to self-sealing of such defects. In the present work, we develop a reactive transport model that, on the one hand, enables μm-mm scale exploration of reactions along debonding defects and, on the other hand, allows simulation of the large, 6 m-long samples used in our experiments. At these lengths, we find that interplay between flow velocity and reaction rate strongly affects opening/sealing of interfacial defects, and depth of chemical alteration. Carbonate precipitation in initially open defects decreases flow rate, leading to a transition from advection-dominated to diffusion-dominated reactive transport, with acidic conditions becoming progressively more confined upstream. We investigate how reaction kinetics, portlandite content, and the nature of the carbonate products impact the extent of cement alteration and permeability reduction. Notably, we observe that nonuniformity of the initial defect geometry has a profound effect on the self-sealing behavior and permeability evolution as observed on the meter scale. We infer that future wellbore models need to consider the effects of such aperture variations to obtain reliable upscaling relations.