Inversion of fracture aperture distribution from permeability-velocity relations
Name
segam2020-3425965.1.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.04 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
3e22ab4571844460062084255dc06227
Author(s)
Ma, Joseph Ho Yin
Qiu, Yu
Elita Li, Yunyue
Fu, Bo-Ye
Cheng, Arthur
Date Issued
September 30, 2020
Journal
SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2020
Publisher
Society of Exploration Geophysicists
Citation
Joseph Ho Yin Ma, Yu Qiu, Yunyue Elita Li, Bo-Ye Fu, Arthur Cheng; September 1, 2020. "Inversion of fracture aperture distribution from permeability-velocity relations." Proceedings of the SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2020. SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts 2020. (pp. pp. 2402-2406). ASME.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
The distribution of fracture apertures is resulted from the relative roughness between fracture surfaces. While the connectivity and size of apertures controls the fracture flow capability, both the open apertures and closed contacts contribute to fracture elasticity. For their implicit linkage, the relation between flow and elastic properties of fractures reflects the distribution of spaces in the medium. We present a workflow to obtain a description of the aperture distribution from its permeability-velocity relation, incorporating experimental measurements and simulations on synthetic fractures. From an artificial-induced granite fracture, we have measured its steady-state flow rate under various confining pressures. P-wave velocities are estimated based on the fracture surface topographies obtained through laser altimetry scanning. Subsequently, forward simulations are conducted on numerical synthesized apertures with various heterogeneity. A description of the aperture distribution is inverted through comparing for the most consistent permeability-velocity profiles. The result of inverted roughness parameters are in reasonable agreement with those obtained from statistical analysis of fracture topography profiles. Hence it is shown that fracture aperture characterization from permeability-velocity relations could be feasible and applicable.
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Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1190/segam2020-3425965.1
