Field and laboratory studies of geomechanical response to the injection of CO₂

This chapter provides an overview of laboratory and field studies that involve CO₂ injection to understand the geomechanical behavior of rock during geologic carbon storage (GCS) over relevant time and spatial scales. Novel laboratory methods are reviewed, paying special attention to deformation and stress evolution as a result of CO₂ flow across rock samples, in both host and caprock representatives. Field- and pilot-scale CO₂ injection tests that involved monitoring of the subsurface response are discussed. Large-scale industrial storage sites are reviewed, analyzing their geomechanical response to CO₂ storage. All these observations should contribute to the understanding of the stress and pore pressure relationship in subsurface systems, which is crucial in developing constitutive models. The implications for the large-scale deployment of GCS of the reviewed geomechanical responses are discussed.