High Rayleigh number convection in Porous Media, and implications for CO_2 storage

I will present high-resolution numerical simulations of statistically steady high Rayleigh number convection in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional porous media, and will discuss in detail the relationship between the strength of convection, as described by the Rayleigh number, and the transfer of buoyancy, as described by the Nusselt number. In addition, I will examine the remarkable dynamical structure of high Rayleigh number porous convection, which takes the form of an ordered columnar exchange flow with a regular (Rayleigh-number dependent) horizontal wavelength. I will investigate the physical control of this structure. I will extend these results to consider the more physically relevant context of convection from below one boundary, and apply the results to the convective dissolution of CO_2 that has been injected into underground brine-saturated porous rock.