Laboratory In-situ X-ray CT Imaging and Visualization of Pore-scale Fluid Flow in Three-dimensional Printed Pore Structures of Tight Reservoir Rocks
Abstract
Accurate knowledge and characterisation of pore-scale three-dimensional (3D) fluid flow and transport in subsurface porous media is of vital significance to solving various engineering problems, such as the evaluation and predication of unconventional petroleum recovery rates, the contaminant remediation of groundwater, and CO2 geological sequestrations, etc. Pore-scale fluid flow in the interior structure of a porous solid is a directly invisible process, and numerical approaches are usually adopted to characterise the pore-scale flow in the 3D structure. However, for nature reservoir rocks, the pore-scale flow is significantly affected by pore geometry, pore-network topology, pore surface roughness and wettability, and structural tortuosity as well. Numerical methods are usually unable to precisely predict the flow process in the pore structure, due to the lack of the substantial knowledge of the key factors. Moreover, it is difficult to verify the results of numerical simulation. In this study, in order to obtain a better understanding of the pore-scale fluid flow in a 3D pore structure and analysis the influencing factors, we adopted a triaxial loading system integrated with microfocus X-ray computed tomography (XCT) to visualize and characterise the two-phase displacement flow in the porous specimens subjected to various stress conditions. The porous specimens are fabricated using 3D printing technique and transparent photopolymer materials. The geometrical information extracted from the real pore structure of natural tight sandstone is applied to generate the porous structures. The pore-scale two-phase flow in the deformed specimens under various stress conditions is recorded and analysed. The impacts of pore geometry, pore network connectivity and tortuosity on fluid flow behaviour are discussed. This study provides a novel way to quantitatively characterise and visualise the interior pore-scale flow in subsurface porous media and to validate numerical simulations as well.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFM.H33B..07J
- Keywords:
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- 1832 Groundwater transport;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1859 Rocks: physical properties;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1878 Water/energy interactions;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1895 Instruments and techniques: monitoring;
- HYDROLOGY