Multi-scale Image-Based Pore Space Characterisation and Pore Network Generation: Case Study of a North Sea Sandstone Reservoir

Scott, Gilbert; Wu, Kaihua; Zhou, Yingfang

doi:10.1007/s11242-019-01309-8

Cited by 14 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Three main approaches 8,10,[18][19][20][21][22][23] have been proposed to extract the geometrical and topological properties of pore bodies and throats from 2D and 3D images. The first is the medial axis method which starts by constructing the medial axis or skeleton of the pore space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Three main approaches ,,− have been proposed to extract the geometrical and topological properties of pore bodies and throats from 2D and 3D images. The first is the medial axis method, which starts by constructing the medial axis or skeleton of the pore space. , Junctions in the medial axis are then identified as nodes, and the residual parts of the medial axis are identified as bonds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A New Method for Pore Structure Quantification and Pore Network Extraction from SEM Images

Wang

Scott

et al. 2019

Energy Fuels

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The structure of porous media is complex yet fundamental to the understanding of transport processes including single and multi-phase fluid flow. Pore network modelling is a valuable tool for studying these processes in many diverse porous media. This paper presents a new method of discretizing the pore space into connected pore elements which capture the pore geometry and topology. This method discards the difference between pore bodies and throats, instead treats them equally as pore elements which captures the features of pore structure from the widest to the narrowest part of the pore space (pore body to pore throat), honours the topology and does not over-segment the pore space. The method is a higher level discretization of the pore space compared to other traditional methods which construct pore throats explicitly. Pore networks were extracted from three test images using the method and the computed flow properties are compared with finite element simulation in terms of absolute permeability. A reasonable agreement with finite element simulation is achieved, demonstrating the value and functionality of the new pore structure quantification method.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Method for Pore Structure Quantification and Pore Network Extraction from SEM Images

Wang

Scott

et al. 2019

Energy Fuels

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“…In further research, we plan to extend this work to investigate fracture/matrix flow by coupling FPNM with pore network modeling (Scott et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020). The inclusion of the fracture roughness model will also be considered.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improvements to the fracture pipe network model for complex 3D discrete fracture networks

Wang

Scott³

2020

Preprint

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Fractures are widely existed in subsurface. They dominate the fluid flow in many types of media and have a huge impact on many subjects such as environmental engineering, groundwater engineering, geothermal energy and etc (Council, 2001;Rouchier et al., 2012;Watanabe et al., 1998). Hydraulic fracturing techniques are frequently used to improve the productivity of tight reservoirs to make the production of shale gas and oil possible (Medeiros et al., 2007;Roussel & Sharma, 2011). Hence, fractures dominate the geo-mechanical and hydrological behavior of many hydrocarbon reservoirs.A well known and successful method to characterize fractures is the Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) model. This technique was proposed in the 1980s and developed afterward with various applications in civil, environmental and reservoir engineering (Berre et al., 2018;Long & Billaux, 1987;Robinson, 1984). DFN models are a reconstruction of the geometry of real fracture networks which preserve topology and use regular shapes to represent real fractures. The commonly used shapes include rectangular, disc, ellipse etc. The geometry of real fractures are simplified as fracture aperture, length and width (rectangular) or major and minor axes (ellipse). Generally, geometrical properties of fractures can be obtained on the basis of observations and measurements and from techniques such as X-ray micro-Computed Tomography or downhole tools like high resolution resistivity logging and borehole radar techniques (

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“…8: 202036 increases by degrees, and the peak value also increases significantly. In other words, with increasing porosity, the larger the pore size, the higher the permeability [42,43] . The larger the bore diameter, the more obvious the effect of the pore on the fluid migration in the uranium-bearing sandstone.…”

Section: Determination Of the Full-scale Psd By Combining N 2 Ga And Nmr Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Full-scale pore size distribution features of uranium-bearing sandstone in the northwest of Xinjiang, China

Zeng

Zhang

et al. 2021

R. Soc. open sci.

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As an important nuclear fuel, uranium in sandstone uranium deposits is mainly extracted by in situ leaching. The porosity of sandstone is one of the important indexes determining in situ leaching efficiency. Moreover, the microscopic pore size distribution (PSD) of the uranium-bearing layer has an important effect on porosity. It is necessary to feature the pore structure by various techniques because of the different pore types and sizes in the uranium layer. In this paper, combined with nitrogen gas adsorption, nuclear magnetic resonance techniques and scanning electron microscopy, the full-scale PSD features of uranium-bearing sandstone in the northwest of Xinjiang are effectively characterized. The results show that pores structure of uranium-bearing sandstone include dissolution pores ( d ≤ 50 nm), intergranular pores (50 nm < d ≤ 200 µm) and microfractures. Intergranular pores of 60 nm and 1 µm are the significant contributors to pore volume. The effects of the pore volume of two pore types (dissolution pores and intergranular pores) on the porosity of uranium-bearing sandstone are analysed. The results show that intergranular pores have the greater influence on the porosity and are positively correlated to the porosity. Dissolution pores have little effect on the porosity, but it is one of the key factors for improving uranium recovery. Moreover, the greater the difference of PSD between sandstones, the stronger the interlayer heterogeneity of uranium-bearing sandstone. This kind of interlayer heterogeneity leads to the change of permeability in the horizontal direction of strata. It provides a basis for a reasonable setting of well type and well spacing parameters.

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Multi-scale Image-Based Pore Space Characterisation and Pore Network Generation: Case Study of a North Sea Sandstone Reservoir

Cited by 14 publications

References 39 publications

A New Method for Pore Structure Quantification and Pore Network Extraction from SEM Images

A New Method for Pore Structure Quantification and Pore Network Extraction from SEM Images

Improvements to the fracture pipe network model for complex 3D discrete fracture networks

Full-scale pore size distribution features of uranium-bearing sandstone in the northwest of Xinjiang, China

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