Digital Rock Analysis

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263). This special issue belongs to the section "Geomechanics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 September 2022) | Viewed by 5733

Special Issue Editor

School of Minerals and Energy Resources Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Interests: computational rock physics; pore-scale modelling; X-ray computed tomography; digital core analysis; flow in porous media; fractured media; carbon geosequestration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Digital rock physic (DRP), digital rock analysis, or computational rock physic techniques are becoming a standard tool in special core/sample analysis in many areas, including enhanced hydrocarbon recovery, mineral exploration, geothermal energy, groundwater resources, hydrogen storage, CO2 sequestration, geomechanics, and others. The numerical simulation of various physical and chemical processes in digital rock samples allows for pore-scale analysis and upscaling of rock properties, such as electric resistivity, permeability, elastic moduli, etc. Moreover, DRP allows for the non-destructive assessment of different scenarios at in situ and ex situ conditions. For examples, CO2 sequestration or the injection of non-condensable gases into geothermal fields causes rock matrix dissolution or mineral precipitation, changing all the macroscopic properties of rocks, thus requiring detailed preliminary numerical study before applying this to real aquifers.

Digital rock physics deals with all physical processes, including coupled non-linear problems at several spatial and temporal scales. Thus, a wide range of mathematical models and numerical methods are used. At the scale of micrometers, continuum-based models can be applied (Stokes, Navier–Stokes, Maxwell equations) using grid-based numerical methods such as finite volumes, finite differences, finite elements, or discontinuous Galerkin. At the nanoscale, particle-based models and numerical methods dominate, for example, the molecular dynamics used to estimate contact angles or to simulate the fluid flow in nanopores directly. The rapid development of graphic processor units has made it possible to perform DRP simulations using a single or a small number of GPUs, thus allowing for DRP methods in any lab.

We wish to invite you to contribute a manuscript to a Special Issue of Geosciences devoted to advancements in digital rock physics, including but not limited to 3D imaging, image processing, mathematical modeling, numerical modeling, and case studies.

Dr. Hamed Ramandi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Geosciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • digital rock physics
  • computational rock physics
  • pore-scale modeling
  • flows in porous media
  • multiphase flow
  • petrophysical analysis
  • rock dissolution and mineral precipitation
  • CO2 sequestration
  • enhanced hydrocarbon recovery
  • hydrogen storage
  • X-ray computed tomography
  • dual-energy scanning
  • image processing
  • image segmentation
  • numerical modeling

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

17 pages, 6381 KiB  
Article
Stereolithography 3D Printer for Micromodel Fabrications with Comprehensive Accuracy Evaluation by Using Microtomography
by Anindityo Patmonoaji, Mohammmad Azis Mahardika, Muhammad Nasir, Yun She, Weicen Wang, Muhammad Akhsin Muflikhun and Tetsuya Suekane
Geosciences 2022, 12(5), 183; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/geosciences12050183 - 24 Apr 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2866
Abstract
Micromodels are important for studying various pore-scale phenomena in hydrogeology. However, the fabrication of a custom micromodel involves complicated steps with cost-prohibitive equipment. The direct fabrication of micromodels with a 3D printer can accelerate the fabrication steps and reduce the cost. A stereolithography [...] Read more.
Micromodels are important for studying various pore-scale phenomena in hydrogeology. However, the fabrication of a custom micromodel involves complicated steps with cost-prohibitive equipment. The direct fabrication of micromodels with a 3D printer can accelerate the fabrication steps and reduce the cost. A stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer is one of the best options because it has sufficient printing performance for micromodel fabrication and is relatively inexpensive. However, it is not without drawbacks. In this report, we explored the capability of an SLA 3D printer for micromodel fabrication. Various parameters affecting the printing results, such as the effects of geometries, dimensions, printing axis configurations, printing thickness resolutions, and pattern thicknesses were investigated using microtomography for the first time. Eventually, the most optimal printing configuration was then also discussed. In the end, a complete micromodel was printed, assembled, and used for fluid displacement experiments. As a demonstration, viscous and capillary fingerings were successfully performed using this micromodel design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Rock Analysis)
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 2266 KiB  
Article
Numerical Modelling of Reactive Flows through Porous Media
by Gerald G. Pereira
Geosciences 2022, 12(4), 153; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/geosciences12040153 - 28 Mar 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1808
Abstract
We consider a lattice Boltzmann (LB) model to solve the coupled Navier–Stokes and advection–diffusion equation with reactive boundary conditions at the interface between fluid and solid domains. The reactive boundary condition results in the position of the boundary changing continuously, and so boundary [...] Read more.
We consider a lattice Boltzmann (LB) model to solve the coupled Navier–Stokes and advection–diffusion equation with reactive boundary conditions at the interface between fluid and solid domains. The reactive boundary condition results in the position of the boundary changing continuously, and so boundary nodes may be partially filled with fluid at any instant. We develop the LB boundary conditions for both the velocity and concentration fields in the presence of partially filled boundary nodes and then validate this algorithm on some test cases—the Stefan problem for diffusion-dominated dissolution and kinetic-dominated dissolution. It is shown that the developed model agrees well with analytic results, so that they can be used for more general boundaries of arbitrary shape. Numerical simulations in three dimensions are then carried out on demonstration problems at various Peclet numbers to elucidate the transport mechanisms and their influence on solid grain dissolution. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Digital Rock Analysis)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop