A STUDY OF THE THERMAL EVOLUTION OF PERMEABILITY AND POROSITY OF POROUS ROCKS BASED ON FRACTAL GEOMETRY THEORY

Tongjun Miao, Aimin Chen, Richeng Liu, Peng Xu and Boming Yu
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Tongjun Miao: School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Xinxiang University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan, P. R. China
Aimin Chen: School of Chemistry and Material Engineering, Xinxiang University, Xinxiang 453003, Henan, P. R. China
Richeng Liu: State Key Laboratory of Intelligent Construction and Healthy Operation and Maintenance of Deep Underground Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu 221116, P. R. China
Peng Xu: College of Science, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou 310018, P. R. China
Boming Yu: Vebleo Fellow, School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, P. R. China

FRACTALS (fractals), 2024, vol. 32, issue 03, 1-16

Abstract: The temperature effect on the permeability of porous rocks continues to be a considerable controversy in the area of reservoirs since the thermal expansion of mineral grains exhibits complicated influence on pore geometries in them. To investigate the degree of effect of pore structures on the hydro-thermal coupling process, a study of the thermal evolution of permeability and porosity of porous rocks is performed based on fractal theory and on thermal as well as stress effects. This work can provide a general physical explanation on some arguments in this area. The proposed models for permeability and porosity can be associated with temperature and the pore-structural parameters as well as physical parameters of porous rocks, such as the initial porosity (ϕ0), the initial fractal dimension (Df,0), the fractal dimension for tortuosity (DT,T) and the thermal expansion coefficient of pore volume (αT). The validity of the proposed models for temperature-dependent permeability and temperature-dependent porosity is validated by comparing them with the available experimental results. The investigations are performed in detail considering the essential effects of pore-structural parameters and physical parameters of porous rock on the dimensionless temperature-dependent permeability and temperature-dependent porosity as well as the fractal dimensions for pore areas and tortuosity. It is found that the pore distribution scale range ratio (λmin,T/λmax,T), and pore thermal expansion coefficient (αT) have significant effects on the dimensionless temperature-dependent permeability and temperature-dependent porosity of porous rock as well as the fractal dimensions for pore areas and tortuosity. The proposed models may provide a fundamental understanding of the coupled hydro-thermal process of rocks.

Keywords: Temperature; Permeability; Porosity; Fractal Geometry; Rocks (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1142/S0218348X24500518

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