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Characterisation of single-phase fluid-flow heterogeneity due to localised deformation in a porous rock using rapid neutron tomography

Etxegarai, Maddi ; Tudisco, Erika LU orcid ; Tengattini, Alessandro ; Viggiani, Gioacchino ; Kardjilov, Nikolay and Hall, Stephen A. LU (2021) In Journal of Imaging 7(12).
Abstract

The behaviour of subsurface-reservoir porous rocks is a central topic in the resource engineering industry and has relevant applications in hydrocarbon, water production, and CO2 sequestration. One of the key open issues is the effect of deformation on the hydraulic properties of the host rock and, specifically, in saturated environments. This paper presents a novel full-field data set describing the hydro-mechanical properties of porous geomaterials through in situ neutron and X-ray tomography. The use of high-performance neutron imaging facilities such as CONRAD-2 (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin) allows the tracking of the fluid front in saturated samples, making use of the differential neutron contrast between “normal” water and... (More)

The behaviour of subsurface-reservoir porous rocks is a central topic in the resource engineering industry and has relevant applications in hydrocarbon, water production, and CO2 sequestration. One of the key open issues is the effect of deformation on the hydraulic properties of the host rock and, specifically, in saturated environments. This paper presents a novel full-field data set describing the hydro-mechanical properties of porous geomaterials through in situ neutron and X-ray tomography. The use of high-performance neutron imaging facilities such as CONRAD-2 (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin) allows the tracking of the fluid front in saturated samples, making use of the differential neutron contrast between “normal” water and heavy water. To quantify the local hydro-mechanical coupling, we applied a number of existing image analysis algorithms and developed an array of bespoke methods to track the water front and calculate the 3D speed maps. The experimental campaign performed revealed that the pressure-driven flow speed decreases, in saturated samples, in the presence of pre-existing low porosity heterogeneities and compactant shear-bands. Furthermore, the observed complex mechanical behaviour of the samples and the associated fluid flow highlight the necessity for 3D imaging and analysis.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Fluid measurement, Fluid velocity map, Heavy water, High-speed tomography, Hydro-mechanical, Neutron imaging mechanics, Saturated rock
in
Journal of Imaging
volume
7
issue
12
article number
275
pages
16 pages
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85121353511
  • pmid:34940742
ISSN
2313-433X
DOI
10.3390/jimaging7120275
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Funding Information: The PhD of the first author, which this work is part of, was fully financially supported by LabEx Tec 21 Investissements d?Avenir, Grant Agreement No. ANR-11-LABX-0030. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
id
80acd4ef-f189-4bad-a9c6-b9180f20849d
date added to LUP
2022-01-14 13:09:40
date last changed
2024-08-25 06:51:07
@article{80acd4ef-f189-4bad-a9c6-b9180f20849d,
  abstract     = {{<p>The behaviour of subsurface-reservoir porous rocks is a central topic in the resource engineering industry and has relevant applications in hydrocarbon, water production, and CO<sub>2</sub> sequestration. One of the key open issues is the effect of deformation on the hydraulic properties of the host rock and, specifically, in saturated environments. This paper presents a novel full-field data set describing the hydro-mechanical properties of porous geomaterials through in situ neutron and X-ray tomography. The use of high-performance neutron imaging facilities such as CONRAD-2 (Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin) allows the tracking of the fluid front in saturated samples, making use of the differential neutron contrast between “normal” water and heavy water. To quantify the local hydro-mechanical coupling, we applied a number of existing image analysis algorithms and developed an array of bespoke methods to track the water front and calculate the 3D speed maps. The experimental campaign performed revealed that the pressure-driven flow speed decreases, in saturated samples, in the presence of pre-existing low porosity heterogeneities and compactant shear-bands. Furthermore, the observed complex mechanical behaviour of the samples and the associated fluid flow highlight the necessity for 3D imaging and analysis.</p>}},
  author       = {{Etxegarai, Maddi and Tudisco, Erika and Tengattini, Alessandro and Viggiani, Gioacchino and Kardjilov, Nikolay and Hall, Stephen A.}},
  issn         = {{2313-433X}},
  keywords     = {{Fluid measurement; Fluid velocity map; Heavy water; High-speed tomography; Hydro-mechanical; Neutron imaging mechanics; Saturated rock}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{12}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Journal of Imaging}},
  title        = {{Characterisation of single-phase fluid-flow heterogeneity due to localised deformation in a porous rock using rapid neutron tomography}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jimaging7120275}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/jimaging7120275}},
  volume       = {{7}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}