NSF Award
9529800
9529800 Boitnott Many fundamental bulk properties of rock such as permeability, electrical resistivity, and elastic constants are highly dependent on details of the pore structure. Attempts to infer properties such as permeability from measurements of electrical resistivity and acoustic velocities (common in borehole geophysics) require a thorough understanding of the inter-relationships between these and other bulk properties and the underlying pore structure which controls them. While a number of models have been developed which predict the inter-relationships between fundamental bulk properties and pore structure, validation and routine use of these models require a means of making a large number of diverse measurements on core in a routine fashion. Permeability and electrical resistivity are two of the most important properties for understanding pore structure. While laboratory measurement techniques for these properties are well developed, simultaneous measurement of permeability and electrical resistivity has been difficult to perform, inhibiting routine and integrated measurement. In addition, permeability measurement during sample deformation has been difficult for a number of reasons. Here newly developed methods for permeability measurement will be applied in order to construct an apparatus for routine and automated measurement of permeability, specific storage, electrical resistivity, and deformation. The apparatus and techniques to be developed here are well suited for routine measurements as well as experimental studies of pore structure and its relationship to the fundamental bulk properties of rock. The project has commercial potential in the petroleum and geotechnical industries and perhaps in the rock-testing service industry.
