When supercritical CO2 is injected through an injection well the resulting two-phase flow in heterogeneous geology is complex. When considering coupled process modelling the location of the interface is of importance as most of the significant interactions occur there. McDermott et al. (2011) compares different methods for undertaking such calculations. QPAC calculations (using the finite volume approach) were compared with a hybrid method that uses finite elements combined with analytical techniques.
The figures below show an example of the QPAC calculation which used the multiphase flow (MPF) module, illustrating the effects of the heterogeneous conditions for radial injection and linear injection. Although there were detailed differences between these calculations and those obtained from dedicated models, the QPAC calculations reproduced the key features of the system evolution, in particular the location of the CO2 front.
