Imperial College London
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Professor of Rock Mechanics

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Chair in Rock Mechanics
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 7412r.w.zimmerman

 
 
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Location

 

2.38DRoyal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@inproceedings{Burtonshaw:2022,
author = {Burtonshaw, JEJ and Paluszny, A and Thomas, RN and Zimmerman, RW},
title = {The influence of hydraulic fluid properties on induced seismicity during underground hydrogen storage},
year = {2022}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Geological hydrogen storage is a promising technique to seasonally store surplus renewable energy at the large scale. Depleted gas reservoirs are currently being considered as potential storage sites for hydrogen. Induced seismicity is a key aspect of the sustainability and acceptance of both onshore and offshore gas storage and production. This study conducts a preliminary numerical assessesment of the deformation of a single three-dimensional fault that extends from the reservoir and into the caprock during the injection and storage of hydrogen over a period of weeks. Simulations are conducted with a three-dimensional finite element, fully coupled poroelastic code. Induced seismicity is quantified both in terms of tangential displacements on the fault surfaces, cumulative moment release, and maximum seismic event magnitudes. The reservoir is an anticlinal structure bound from above by a low permeability caprock, and below from a low permeability underburden. Mechanical properties are defined based on North Sea depleted gas reservoirs. The effect of injection fluid parameters such as density and viscosity are investigated. For hydrogen storage in depleted oil and gas reservoirs with proximate faults, some minor seismicity can be expected. According to these preliminary simulations, geological hydrogen storage appears to be operationally sustainable in terms of the magnitude of induced seismicity, at least for the injection volumes, rates and storage periods considered in this work. For the studied case, the maximal potential seismicity observed is of moment magnitude 2.1, with very few seismic events.
AU  - Burtonshaw,JEJ
AU  - Paluszny,A
AU  - Thomas,RN
AU  - Zimmerman,RW
PY  - 2022///
TI  - The influence of hydraulic fluid properties on induced seismicity during underground hydrogen storage
ER  -
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