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where µ denotes the amount of re-initialization or stabilization of the

level set function φ , and ε determines the interface thickness between
the two fluids. The density ρ and viscosity η are related to the level set
φ in the region of the two-phase flow:
ρ = ρl + ( ρg − ρl )φ 
 (9)
η = ηl + (ηg − ηl )φ 
where the subscripts l and g refer to the liquid and gas phases,
respectively. The interfacial tension Fsv is calculated according to the
continuum surface tension model proposed by Brackbill et al. (1992) as
follows:
v
Fsv ( x ) = σδ (−∇ ⋅ n)n (10) Fig. 2. Porous media with a buffer region.

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where σ is the surface tension coefficient; and δ is the Dirac delta
function, which can be written as The inlet velocity is set to 0.5 cm/s. According to conditions of the
δ = 6 ∇φ φ (1 − φ ) (11) shallow saline aquifer, the density and viscosity of the water are set to
1×103 kg/m3 and 1.34×10−3 Pa s, respectively. The density and viscosity

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This function ensures the following equation:
1 of the CO2 are set to 38.5 kg/m3 and 1.47×10−5 Pa s, respectively. The
∫0 Fsvdφ = σn (12)
interfacial tension between water and CO2 is set to 44.57×10−3 N/m
In addition, the continuum surface tension model is independent of (Chalbaud et al., 2010).

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grid size. The finite element method is used to solve the coupled equation
system. The geometric model is discretized with 2D unstructured
3. Numerical solution and discussion triangle meshes, and boundaries with large curvature are discretized
with finer meshes as shown in Fig. 3. The number of the mesh is

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The left and right sides of the porous media shown in Fig. 1 are taken
as inlet and outlet boundary conditions, respectively; the lower and
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upper boundaries are taken as a symmetric boundary condition. Pores
are considered as water wettable with a contact angle of 180°. The CO2
injected into porous media will automatically choose flow channels.
Therefore, a buffer region, where the CO2 can automatically choose
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251,327. A linear system solver PARDISO (parallel direct solver) is
used. A relative tolerance of 0.01 and an absolute tolerance of 0.1 are
assumed for the time discretization scheme. The time-stepping method
uses the generalized alpha method to determine each time step.
An initial condition given by an assumed phase distribution may not
be reasonable. Therefore, before the displacement simulation, the flow

flow channels, is connected to the inlet boundary of the geometric
model. The modified geometric model is shown in Fig. 2.
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field is calculated with zero inlet velocity within a short time to make
the assumed phase distribution to reach a reasonable pattern. The
calculated initial phase distribution is shown in Fig. 4.
At the beginning of the injection, the injected CO2 displaces the

resident water in the porous media through a relatively large channel, as

shown by the arrow in Fig. 5. At this time, the CO2 in relatively narrow
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pores does not show obvious flow. When the CO2 in the relatively large
channel reaches a narrow pore throat as shown by the arrow in Fig. 6a,
the CO2 will stop displacing through this channel, and the CO2 in
relatively narrow pores begins to displace the water as shown by the
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arrows in Fig. 6b.

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Fig. 3. Pore geometry discretized with unstructured 2D meshes.

Fig. 5. Injected CO2 flows through the relatively large pore.

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Comparing CO2 distribution in Fig. 6b and c, we may see that

although CO2 firstly flows through a relatively large pore, a relatively
narrow throat restricts the CO2 to flow through this channel. Therefore,
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pore throat, rather than pore body, is determinant that determines

channel of the CO2 flow. This result indicates that capillary force is
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determinant in CO2 flow in porous media.

Distribution of the two-phase interface in Fig. 6c shows that, when
reaching a pore throat, CO2 will displace through another channel.
Consequently, there will be a moment when all two-phase interfaces
Fig. 4. Initial CO2-water distribution.
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reach respective pore throats of potential flow channels. At this time,

once the maximum pore throat is broken through by the CO2,
meniscuses at the other pore throats will retreat quickly; this process
can be shown by comparing Fig. 6c and d. Therefore, the two-phase
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interfaces are in a self-adjusting process in the displacement process.

This result also indicates that CO2 may have ever reached a position in
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porous media where although the CO2 is not seen at a certain time, such
as the positions shown with pink arrows in Fig. 6d. This push-pull
movement of interfaces may improve the dissolution and reaction of
CO2 in porous media (Li, 2011).
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Fig. 6. Variations of two-phase interface during displacement.
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Fig. 7 shows the variation of injection pressure during the
displacement process. The pressure variation indicates that injection
pressure fluctuates throughout the displacement process. The variations
of two-phase distribution and injection pressure reveal that, when CO2
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Fig. 8 shows the finally simulated results of two-phase distribution.
This result shows that 47.71% of the water is displaced. Therefore,
more than half of the water remains in the porous media.

reaches a pore throat and needs to break through it, the injection
pressure needs to increase high enough. Once the CO2 breaks through
the pore throat under effect of the increased injection pressure, the
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injection pressure will release quickly, and the stored pressure by the
capillary pressure of meniscus will release with the meniscuses
retreating. Subsequently, the injection pressure gradually increases to
prepare for breaking through the next pore throat.
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Fig. 8. Simulated results of CO2 distribution.

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4. Conclusions
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A 2D pore structure is extracted from a sandstone sample, and CO2

displacement in the sandstone is simulated using the Navier-Stokes
equation combined with the conservative level set method. The
simulation results show that pore throat, rather than pore body, is a
crucial factor that determines flow channel of the CO2 displacement in
porous media. The injected CO2 firstly flows through the largest pore.
When reaching a pore throat, the pore throat will restrict the CO2 from
flowing in that channel, and the CO2 will choose to flow through the
second-largest pore, and so on. In this way, CO2 displacement needs to
break through one or more pore throats. At this time, the CO2 will
Fig. 7. Variation of injection pressure in the injection process.
choose the relatively large pore throat to break through, and therefore
this pore throat determines flow channel of the CO2.
The two-phase meniscuses in each pore throat are in a self-adjusting
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process during the displacement. Before breaking through the relatively
large pore throat, the injection pressure of the CO2 increases gradually,
and the curvature and the position of interfaces in other pore throats
adjust accordingly. Once the maximum pore throat is broken through by
the CO2, the capillary force in other pore throats releases subsequently,
and the interfaces retreat accordingly, preparing for breaking through
the next pore throat. The two-phase displacement in CO2 injection is
accompanied by the breaking through and adjusting of the two-phase
interfaces.
Conflict of interest
The authors wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of
interest associated with this publication and there has been no
significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its
outcome.
Acknowledgements
This work is funded by Key Laboratory of Coal-based CO2 Capture
and Geological Storage, Jiangsu Province, China and US Advanced
Coal Technology Consortium (No. 2013 DFB60140-08). We also thank
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Prof. Qi Li for useful discussions.
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The authors wish to confirm that there are no known conflicts of interest associated with this publication and there
has been no significant financial support for this work that could have influenced its outcome.

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