Effects of Pore Structure on Stress-Dependent Fluid Flow in Synthetic Porous Rocks Using Microfocus X-ray Computed Tomography

Yixin Zhao, Guangpei Zhu, Shimin Liu, Yi Wang, Cun Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Based on microfocus X-ray computed tomography analyses, the relationship between the characteristics of pore structure and fluid flow behavior was investigated through the single-phase flow experiment. The macroscopic bulk fluid seepage behavior was fundamentally explained by the microscale flow mechanism considering all the porous microstructure analysis of artificial cores. The results indicate that the pore size and connectivity have significant effects on the initial permeability of the rock cores. The permeabilities obtained from different methods have a linear law relationship with porosities in tested artificial cores. The results also suggest that the permeability of core decreases exponentially with the increase in effective stress. The inner different pore structures have an important influence on the stress-dependent fluid flow in synthetic porous rocks. The polynomial equation yields well fittings of the artificial core which has the poor pore sorting characteristic. The permeabilities of the artificial core are more significantly affected by changes in the low effective stress range. The larger the pore channel of the artificial core is, the greater influence on permeability the pressure will have. The stress sensitivity of artificial core increases as the grain diameter decreases. The heterogeneous coefficient and the stress sensitivity of permeability are positively correlated.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)653-675
Number of pages23
JournalTransport in Porous Media
Volume128
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 15 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Catalysis
  • General Chemical Engineering

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