5.3.8 Leakage risk through a fault

Chang et al., 2008 developed a quasi-1D single phase flow model to examine the CO2 upward migration along a fault, CO2 lateral movement from the fault into permeable layers and a continued but attenuated CO2 flux along the fault above the layers. The presented 1D model is compared with full-physics simulations in 2D. They concluded that although more CO2 escapes from a deeper storage formation through a fault, less CO2 reaches top of the fault. Thus, attenuation can reduce risk associated with CO2 reaching the top of the fault.