Pore level imaging of fluid transport using synchrotron X-ray microtomography

Coles, M.E.; Hazlett, Randy; Spanne, P.; Soll, W.E.; Muegge, E.L.; Jones, Keith

doi:10.1016/s0920-4105(97)00035-1

Cited by 120 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…As best practice, macroscopic properties obtained from computer modeling are often used as validation criteria, whereby the calculated pore structure-related values like porosity (Iassonov et al 2009;Vogel et al 2005), permeability , and capillary pressure curves (Silin et al 2010), are compared to experimental data. Permeability can be derived from Lattice-Boltzmann (LBM) single-phase flow simulations on the segmented images (Chen et al 1991;Coles et al 1998;Ferreol and Rothmann 1995;Lehmann et al 2008;Vogel et al 2005;Zhang and Kwok 2006). Capillary pressure curves can be obtained from quasi-static two-phase flow simulation using a pore morphological approach.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast X-ray Micro-Tomography of Multiphase Flow in Berea Sandstone: A Sensitivity Study on Image Processing

et al. 2014

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Synchrotron-based fast micro-tomography is the method of choice to observe in situ multiphase flow and displacement dynamics on the pore scale. However, the image processing workflow is sensitive to a suite of manually selected parameters which can lead to ambiguous results. In this work, the relationship between porosity and permeability in response to systematically varied gray-scale threshold values was studied for different segmentation approaches on a dataset of Berea sandstone at a voxel length of 3 µm. For validation of the image processing workflow, porosity, permeability, and capillary pressure were compared to laboratory measurements on a larger-sized core plug of the same material. It was found that for global thresholding, minor variations in the visually permissive range lead to large variations in porosity and even larger variations in permeability. The latter is caused by changes in the pore-scale flow paths. Pore throats were found to be open for flow at large thresholds but closed for smaller thresholds. Watershed-based segmentation was found to be significantly more robust to manually chosen input parameters. Permeability and capillary pressure closely match experimental values; for capillary pressure measurements, the plateau of calculated capillary pressure curves was similar to experimental curves. Modeling on structures segmented with hysteresis thresholding was found to overpredict experimental capillary pressure values, while calculated permeability showed reasonable agreement to experimental data. This demonstrates that a good representation of permeability or capillary pressure alone is not a sufficient quality criterion for appropriate segmentation, but the data should be validated with both parameters. However, porosity is the least reliable quality criterion. In the segmented images, always a lower porosity was found compared to experimental values due to micro-porosity below the imaging resolution. As a result, it is recommended to base the validation of image processing workflows on permeability and capillary pressure and not on porosity. Decane-brine distributions from a multiphase flow experiment were modeled in a thus validated µ-CT pore space using a morphological approach which captures only capillary forces. A good overall correspondence was found when comparing (capillary-controlled) equilibrium fluid distributions before and after pore-scale displacement events.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fast X-ray Micro-Tomography of Multiphase Flow in Berea Sandstone: A Sensitivity Study on Image Processing

et al. 2014

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“…Increased resolution has enabled even a tomographic insight into such materials together with the possibility to analyze the structure with respect to geometrically characteristic parameters [16]. Its application to reticulated structures can therefore give the most extended view into its details and has even been used recently to generate high resolution geometrical representations for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) calculations [17][18][19]. Additionally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and light microscopy (LM) were used for the characterization of the resulting transparent sponge structure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Application of Transparent Glass Sponge for Improvement of Light Distribution in Photobioreactors

Jacob¹,

Bucharsky²,

GuenterSchell³

2012

J Bioproces Biotechniq

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A new concept for improving light dilution and light distribution in photobioreactors by applying transparent, openpored sponges was realized during cultivation experiments. A manufacturing process based on the polymer replica technique was established. A polyurethane template is impregnated with a nanoscaled SiO 2 powder suspension (solids loading of 60 wt% at around pH 10) and dried. The green body is prepared by burning-out the polymer at 800°C. Subsequently the sintering of the remaining SiO 2 structure to transparent cellular bodies is carried out at 1330°C. Many different factors influence the process. The slurry stabilization (viscosity, zeta-potential, pH) is important to generate a stable and self-supporting SiO 2 shell around the template and achieve appropriate green bodies. The sintering temperature determines the transition of amorphous (transparent) into crystalline silica. The 8 ppi sponge has a porosity of 0.9, the specific surface area of 568 m -1 means an increase of the (inner) surface to volume ratio of the reactor. Porous glass has a very high surface to volume ratio (about 0.26 m 2 /g of glass at 10 µm pore size). Because of multiple and complex reflection of light into the porous glass, the algae can obtain light energy at any location of the total volume. First cultivation experiments in special designed Miniplate reactors show an increase in growth rate (about +25%) at low cell densities. The photo conversion efficiency was enlarged from 4.9% for the empty reactor to 5.6% and 5.9% for the 8 and 15 ppi sponge filled reactor. The effect and the improved efficiency of biomass build-up per applied light will be more apparent at high cell densities. Therefore concentration of the standard Tris-Phosphate (TP) medium (2.5 fold) and feeding are necessary.

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“…Already in the early days of synchrotron Xray micro-CT the technique was used to directly image the 3D pore structure of rocks at micrometers resolution. Coles et al (1998) already tried to visualise fluid transport at a pore level using synchrotron X-ray micro-CT, while Coles et al (1998; and Spanne et al (1994a;1994b) studied not only soil-water-root processes but also topology and transport of porous media by synchrotron X-ray micro-CT.…”

Section: X-ray Micro-ct Used In Geosciencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Arns et al (2005a;2005b) performed petrophysical analysis from reservoir core fragments and pore-scale characterization of carbonates by micro-CT. Uchida et al (2000) examined the occurrences of natural gas hydrates beneath the permafrost in the Mackenzie Delta. Synchrotron experiments for studying core samples has previously been shown to provide excellent two-and threedimensional high resolution descriptions of pore structure and mineral distributions of core material (Coenen et al, 2004;Coles et al, 1998).…”

Section:  3d Grain Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since it has become more feasible to perform a selective range of experiments directly on the X-ray CT scanner, such that disturbance from transportation can be avoided and registration issues are simplified (Wildenschild & Sheppard) many fluid flow experiments are being performed directly an a X-ray CT scanner to monitor the dynamics. Fluid-flow in building stones Coles et al, 1998;Wennberg et al, 2009;Xin et al, 2010) can be studied by means of X-ray CT together with their weathering resistance (Navarre-Sitchler et al, 2009) against frost-thaw (Ingham, 2005, thermal shock (Török and Prikryl, 2010), salt (Charola, 2000), etc. Based on these studies one can provide advice on the application of building stones and their use as restoration product (Hanley and Pavía, 2008;Lanas et al, 2004;Maravelaki-Kalaitzaki et al, 2005;Rizzo and Megna, 2008;SzemereyKiss and Török, 2011).…”

Section:  Fluid Flow Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-resolution X-ray computed tomography in geosciences: A review of the current technology and applications

Cnudde

Boone

2013

Earth-Science Reviews

1,266

700

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Please cite this article as: Cnudde, V., Boone, M.N., "High-resolution X-ray computed tomography in geosciences: a review of the current technology and applications", Earth Science Reviews (2013Reviews ( ), doi: 10.1016Reviews ( /j.earscirev.2013 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.A C C E P T E D M A N U S C R I P T AbstractHigh-resolution X-ray Computed Tomography (HRXCT) or micro-CT (µCT) is a frequently used non-destructive 3D imaging and analysis technique for the investigation of internal structures of a large variety of objects, including geomaterials. Although the possibilities of X-ray micro-CT are becoming better appreciated in earth science research, the demands on this technique are also approaching certain physical limitations. As such, there remains a lot of research to be done in order to solve all the technical problems that occur when higher demands are put on the technique. In this paper, a review of the principle, the advantages and limitations of X-ray CT itself are presented, together with an overview of some current applications of micro-CT in geosciences. One of the main advantages of this technique is the fact that it is a non-destructive characterization technique which allows 4D monitoring of internal structural changes at resolutions down to a few hundred nanometers. Limitations of this technique are the operator dependency for the 3D image analysis from the reconstructed data, the discretations effects and possible imaging artefacts. Driven by the technological and computational progress, the technique is continuously growing as an analysis tool in geosciences and is becoming one of the standard techniques, as is shown by the large and still increasing number of publications in this research area. It is foreseen that this number will continue to rise, and micro-CT will become an indispensable technique in the field of geosciences.

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Pore level imaging of fluid transport using synchrotron X-ray microtomography

Cited by 120 publications

References 20 publications

Fast X-ray Micro-Tomography of Multiphase Flow in Berea Sandstone: A Sensitivity Study on Image Processing

Fast X-ray Micro-Tomography of Multiphase Flow in Berea Sandstone: A Sensitivity Study on Image Processing

The Application of Transparent Glass Sponge for Improvement of Light Distribution in Photobioreactors

High-resolution X-ray computed tomography in geosciences: A review of the current technology and applications

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