Simulating stress-dependent fluid flow in a fractured core sample using real-time X-ray CT data

Various geoscientific applications require a fast prediction of fracture permeability for an optimal workflow. Hence, the objective of the current study is to introduce and validate a practical method to characterize and approximate single flow in fractures under different stress conditions by using a core-flooding apparatus, in situ X-ray computed tomography (CT) scans and a finite-volume method solving the Navier–Stokes–Brinkman equations. The permeability of the fractured sandstone sample was measured stepwise during a loading–unloading cycle (0.7 to 22.1 MPa and back) to validate the numerical results. Simultaneously, the pressurized core sample was imaged with a medical X-ray CT scanne…

Fracture flow due to hydrothermally induced quartz growth

Abstract Mineral precipitations are a common feature and limitation of initially open, permeable rock fractures by forming sealing structures or secondary roughness in open voids. Hence, the objective of this numerical study is the evaluation of hydraulic properties of fractures sealed by hydrothermally induced needle and compact quartz growth. Phase-field models of progressive syntaxial and idiomorphic quartz growth are implemented into a fluid flow simulation solving the Navier–Stokes equation. Flow simulations for both quartz types indicate an obvious correlation between changes in permeability, fracture properties (e.g. aperture, relative roughness and porosity) and crystal growth behav…

Porphyroblast crystallization kinetics: the role of the nutrient production rate

The mechanisms that govern porphyroblast crystallization are investigated by comparing quantitative textural data with predictions from different crystallization models. Such numerical models use kinetic formulations of the main crystallization mechanism to predict textural characteristics, such as grain size distributions. In turn, data on porphyroblast textures for natural samples are used to infer which mechanism dominated during their formation. Whereas previous models assume that the rate-limiting step for a porphyroblast producing reaction is either transport or growth, the model advanced in this study considers the production of nutrients for porphyroblasts as a potentially rate-limi…

Real-time 3D imaging of Haines jumps in porous media flow.

Newly developed high-speed, synchrotron-based X-ray computed microtomography enabled us to directly image pore-scale displacement events in porous rock in real time. Common approaches to modeling macroscopic fluid behavior are phenomenological, have many shortcomings, and lack consistent links to elementary pore-scale displacement processes, such as Haines jumps and snap-off. Unlike the common singular pore jump paradigm based on observations of restricted artificial capillaries, we found that Haines jumps typically cascade through 10–20 geometrically defined pores per event, accounting for 64% of the energy dissipation. Real-time imaging provided a more detailed fundamental understanding o…

Characterization of major discontinuities from borehole cores of the black consolidated marl formation of Draix (French Alps)

A quantitative description of rock discontinuities present in subsurface cores that were drilled (down to 20 m) in the marls of the Laval and Moulin catchments near Draix (France) is presented. Three kinds of discontinuities are studied: those fully open, those open but filled with clay rich material and those sealed with calcite. With a laser profiler, the topography of facing sides of typical discontinuities was measured with a normal resolution of 1 µm. The probability distribution of the elevation of each surface are obtained and shown to be normal. Possible self-affine scaling invariance of the topography were explored. The mineralogical content of an interface between the marl bulk an…

Multi-scale characterization of porosity in Boom Clay (HADES-level, Mol, Belgium) using a combination of X-ray μ-CT, 2D BIB-SEM and FIB-SEM tomography

Abstract The Oligocene age Boom Clay is a potential host material for radioactive waste disposal in Belgium. To better understand the physical basis of transport mechanisms of radionuclides, we aim to characterize the pore space and its connectivity at nm-scale in 3D. In the present study, X-ray μ-CT and FIB-SEM (focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy) tomography were combined, to investigate the 3D pore space of a Boom Clay sample from the Mol-1 borehole (depth corresponding to the level of the HADES-URF – ‘high activity disposal experimental site underground research facility’) at the Mol–Dessel research site for radioactive waste disposal (Belgium). BIB-SEM (broad ion beam scannin…

Reply to Higgins, M.D., 2012. Comment on Berger A., Herwegh M., Schwarz J.-O., Putlitz B., 2011. Quantitative analysis of crystal/grain sizes and their distributions in 2D and 3D

Quantitative analysis of crystal/grain sizes and their distributions in 2D and 3D

Abstract We review methods to estimate the average crystal (grain) size and the crystal (grain) size distribution in solid rocks. Average grain sizes often provide the base for stress estimates or rheological calculations requiring the quantification of grain sizes in a rock’s microstructure. The primary data for grain size data are either 1D (i.e. line intercept methods), 2D (area analysis) or 3D (e.g., computed tomography, serial sectioning). These data have been used for different data treatments over the years, whereas several studies assume a certain probability function (e.g., logarithm, square root) to calculate statistical parameters as the mean, median, mode or the skewness of a cr…