Hydraulic and Mechanical Impacts of Pore Space Alterations within a Sandstone Quantified by a Flow Velocity-Dependent Precipitation Approach.

ABSTRACT: Geochemical processes change the microstructure of rocks and thereby affect their physical behaviour at the macro scale. A micro-computer tomography (micro-CT) scan of a typical reservoir sandstone is used to numerically examine the impact of three spatial alteration patterns on pore morphology, permeability and elastic moduli by correlating precipitation with the local flow velocity magnitude. The results demonstrate that the location of mineral growth strongly affects the permeability decrease with variations by up to four orders in magnitude. Precipitation in regions of high flow velocities is characterised by a predominant clogging of pore throats and a drastic permeability reduction, which can be roughly described by the power law relation with an exponent of 20. A continuous alterati

SUBMITTER: Wetzel M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7411822 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature