Abstract
A helium leakage detection system was modified to measure gas permeability on extracted cores of nearly impermeable rock. The Helium-Mass-Spectrometry-Permeameter (HMSP) is duplicating the classic Darcy’s experiment with a constant pressure differential and steady-state flow through a sample using helium gas. Under triaxial stress condition, the newly developed HMSP can measure hydraulic permeability of rocks and geomaterials down to the nanoDarcy scale (10−21 m2). The extension of measuring the lower end of the permeability scale may help answer important questions regarding the permeability of rock at great depth where fractures may close completely under high lithostatic stress.
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Acknowledgments
Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. The technical support received from Steve Webb and David Bronowski as part of this study is also gratefully appreciated.
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Lee, M.Y., Bauer, S.J. Development of Helium-Mass-Spectrometry-Permeameter for the Measurement of Permeability of Near-Impermeable Rock. Rock Mech Rock Eng 49, 4661–4665 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-016-1058-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-016-1058-1