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Calibrating micro-computed tomography data to permeability experiments and petrography – insights from Digital Rocks

Monsees, Alexander C.; Subhedar, Amol; Busch, Benjamin ORCID iD icon; Nestler, Britta; Hilgers, Christoph ORCID iD icon

Abstract (englisch):

Petrophysical measurements on core plugs integrated with petrographic information from thin-sections are established methods in reservoir quality assessment. X-ray micro-computed tomography (μCT) presents an opportunity to derive the internal structure of reservoir sandstones for digital fluid flow simulations, while si-multaneously assessing mineral distribution in 3D based on mineral densities. We compare the sin-gle-phase permeabilities obtained with fluid flow sim-ulations and experiments and discuss the anisotropic nature of the permeability tensor in both single- and two-phase flow. The results demonstrate a closer match for μCT porosity to petrophysical porosity com-pared to optical porosity, and an acceptable first order fit of the main mineralogical constituents. One-phase fluid flow simulations deliver results within 10–20 % of the laboratory measurements. Two-phase flow sim-ulations enable the assessment of relative permeabili-ties in rocks with water-sensitive minerals. However, μCT-based fluid flow simulations are computationally very demanding and time consuming due to the heter-ogeneous nature of natural sandstone samples, and require a tradeoff between resolution, representative volume, and cost. ... mehr


Postprint §
DOI: 10.5445/IR/1000123827
Veröffentlicht am 01.10.2021
Cover der Publikation
Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Angewandte Materialien – Computational Materials Science (IAM-CMS)
Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften (AGW)
Universität Karlsruhe (TH) – Interfakultative Einrichtungen (Interfakultative Einrichtungen)
KIT-Zentrum Klima und Umwelt (ZKU)
Publikationstyp Zeitschriftenaufsatz
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 09.2020
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator ISSN: 0342-5622
KITopen-ID: 1000123827
HGF-Programm 35.14.01 (POF III, LK 01) Effiziente Nutzung geothermisch. Energie
Erschienen in Oil gas
Verlag GBI-Genios
Heft 3/2020
Seiten 28-33
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