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The Impact of Sub-Resolution Porosity of X-ray Microtomography Images on the Permeability

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Abstract

There is growing interest in using advanced imaging techniques to describe the complex pore-space of natural rocks at resolutions that allow for quantitative assessment of the flow and transport behaviors in these complex media. Here, we focus on representations of the complex pore-space obtained from X-ray microtomography and the subsequent use of such ‘pore-scale’ representations to characterize the overall porosity and permeability of the rock sample. Specifically, we analyze the impact of sub-resolution porosity on the macroscopic (Darcy scale) flow properties of the rock. The pore structure of a rock sample is obtained using high-resolution X-ray microtomography \((3.16^3\,{\upmu } \hbox {m}^{3}/\hbox {voxel})\). Image analysis of the Berea sandstone sample indicates that about 2 % of the connected porosity lies below the resolution of the instrument. We employ a Darcy–Brinkman approach, in which a Darcy model is used for the sub-resolution porosity, and the Stokes equation is used to describe the flow in the fully resolved pore-space. We compare the Darcy–Brinkman numerical simulations with core flooding experiments, and we show that proper interpretation of the sub-resolution porosity can be essential in characterizing the overall permeability of natural porous media.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge TOTAL STEMS project and the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Energy Frontier Research Center under Contract Number DE-AC02-05CH11231 for financial support. We thank the Stanford Center for Computational Earth & Environmental Sciences for computational support. We also thank Paul Tafforeau for his help with the X-ray microtomography data acquisition at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF, France).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University, 367 Panama St., Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

    Cyprien Soulaine, Charlotte Garing, Sophie Roman & Hamdi A. Tchelepi

  2. Géosciences Montpellier, UMR 5243 CNRS/INSU, Université de Montpellier 2, 34095, Montpellier, France

    Filip Gjetvaj, Anna Russian & Philippe Gouze

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  1. Cyprien Soulaine
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Correspondence to Cyprien Soulaine.

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Soulaine, C., Gjetvaj, F., Garing, C. et al. The Impact of Sub-Resolution Porosity of X-ray Microtomography Images on the Permeability. Transp Porous Med 113, 227–243 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-016-0690-2

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