oa Coupled Flow and Geomechanical Testing of Low Permeable Material – Application for CO2 Storage

The work presented is part of a national research project focusing on methodologies for testing cap-rock material and measure flow and mechanical properties that are important for the process of qualifying future storage locations. A flow through cell is used to flood a shale core where both axial and radial strains of the core are measured together with the acoustic velocities in the axial direction. The experimental results indicate that re-activation of micro cracks in shale plays an important role for the percolation and flow of CO2 in shale for the stress conditions given in the experiment. Current experimental experience raises several questions related to sample preparation, test conditions and flow mechanisms inside the sample during invasion and penetration of CO2.