Investigation of physical properties of porous rocks and fluid flow phenomena in porous media using computer assisted tomography

Computer assisted tomography is becoming a very attractive tool for petroleum engineers. The method can give an image of a core in two or three dimensions with a very fine resolution and high accuracy. The image data can be processed to give information about the physical properties of the core (density, porosity, mineralogy, heterogeneities) and the fluids within the core (saturation and saturation profiles). This paper presents a software package that uses the CAT scanner output data as input for petrographic and dynamic modelling of a porous rock. Core samples up to 10 cm in diameter are scanned at different x-ray energy levels using an EMI CT5005 full body scanner. The scanner computer is producing an array of normalized linear attenuation coefficients per scanned slice. The resolution is 0.75 mm x 0.75 mm while the slice thickness can vary from 15 mm down to 1 mm depending on the bulk density and size of the sample. The developed package analyzes the CAT scanner data for bulk and grain density, effective atomic number, static and dynamic porosity and fluid saturations for up to three fluids present. The capabilities and limitations of the presented algorithm are discussed and characteristic examples are presented