A MATLAB approach for developing digital rock models of heterogeneous limestones for reactive transport modeling
File(s)43029-Article Text-130528-3-10-20240613.pdf (2.54 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Vafaie, Atefeh
Soler, Josep M
Cama, Jordi
Kivi, Iman R
Vilarrasa, Victor
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Porosity is a key parameter controlling the physico-chemical behavior of porous rocks. Digital rock physics offers a unique technique for imaging the inherently heterogeneous rock microstructure at fine spatial resolutions and its computational reconstruction, through which a better understanding and prediction of the rock behavior can be achieved. In this study, we propose a simple but accurate method to build a 3D porosity map of centimeter-scale carbonate rock cores from X-ray Micro Computed Tomography (XMCT) imaging data. The method consists of 3 main steps: i) decomposition of 3D volumetric XMCT data into sub-volumes, ii) processing of equidistributed 2D cross-section images in each sub-volume and iii) 2D slice-by-slice calculation of porosity and its assembly to reconstruct a 3D continuum porosity map over the whole core domain using a MATLAB code. The proposed approach significantly conserves the required memory to manipulate large image datasets. The digitized porosity representations are used to build 3D permeability maps of the cores by applying an explicit permeability-porosity relationship. The permeability maps are used as input for numerical simulation of the rock response to the percolation of reactive fluids through which the general validity of the approach is verified. The developed digital rock model paves the way for an improved understanding of reactive transport in carbonate rocks.
Date Issued
2024
Date Acceptance
2024-05-01
Citation
Geologica Acta, 2024, 22, pp.1-14
ISSN
0567-7505
Publisher
Universitat de Barcelona (UB), Geociències Barcelona (Geo3BCN), Institut de Diagnosi Ambiental i Estudis de l'Aigua (IDAEA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)
Start Page
1
End Page
14
Journal / Book Title
Geologica Acta
Volume
22
Copyright Statement
© A. Vafaie, J.M. Soler, J. Cama, I.R. Kivi, V. Vilarrasa, 2024 CC BY-SA
License URL
Identifier
https://revistes.ub.edu/index.php/GEOACTA/article/view/43029
Subjects
CARBONATE ROCKS
CO2-INDUCED DISSOLUTION
Computed tomography
Digital rock physics
FLOW
Geology
IMAGE
MICROTOMOGRAPHY
Physical Sciences
POROSITY
Porosity reconstruction
POROUS-MEDIA
Reactive transport modeling
RECONSTRUCTION
Rock heterogeneity
SANDSTONES
Science & Technology
SIMULATION
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2024-06-10