Injection of carbon dioxide (CO{sub 2}) into saline aquifers has been proposed as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (geological carbon sequestration). Large-scale injection of CO{sub 2} will induce a variety of coupled physical and chemical processes, including multiphase fluid flow, fluid pressurization and changes in effective stress, solute transport, and chemical reactions between fluids and formation minerals. This work addresses some of these issues with special emphasis given to the physics of fluid flow in brine formations. An investigation of the thermophysical properties of pure carbon dioxide, water and aqueous solutions of CO{sub 2} and NaCl has been conducted. As a result, accurate representations and models for predicting the overall thermophysical behavior of the system CO{sub 2}-H{sub 2}O-NaCl are proposed and incorporated into the numerical simulator TOUGH2/ECO{sub 2}. The basic problem of CO{sub 2} injection into a radially symmetric brine aquifer is used to validate the results of TOUGH2/ECO2. The numerical simulator has been applied to more complex flow problem including the CO{sub 2} injection project at the Sleipner Vest Field in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea and the evaluation of fluid flow dynamics effects of CO{sub 2} injection into aquifers. Numerical simulation results show that …

Surface shape control techniques are applied to many diverse disciplines, such as adaptive optics, noise control, aircraft flutter control and satellites, with an objective to achieve a desirable shape for an elastic body by the application of distributed control forces. Achieving the desirable shape is influenced by many factors, such as, actuator locations, sensor locations, surface precision and controller performance. Building prototypes to complete design optimizations or controller development can be costly or impractical. This shortfall, puts significant value in developing accurate modeling and control simulation approaches. This thesis focuses on the field of adaptive optics, although these developments have the potential for application in many other fields. A static finite element model is developed and validated using a large aperture interferometer system. This model is then integrated into a control model using a linear least squares algorithm and Shack-Hartmann sensor. The model is successfully exercised showing functionality for various wavefront aberrations. Utilizing a verified model shows significant value in simulating static surface shape control problems with quantifiable uncertainties. A new dynamic model for a seven actuator deformable mirror is presented and its accuracy is proven through experiment. Bond graph techniques are used to generate the state space model of …