SPE
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SPE 236’70
X-Ray Tomography Application in Porous Media Evaluation
R. Angulo and N. Ortiz, Intevep, S,A.
cof@ght
w&?,
Sodsty
d f4voMIM
Engtmus,w
ABSTRACT
With the development of a simple and more ade.
quate macroscopic functional representation for the atten-
uation coefilcient, more mnuate quantitative and semi-
quantitative analysis can be made on X-my tomography
daW Numerkal as well as visuaJ informaticmoartbe gea-
ertttedon the descriptionof the phenomenaoccmringwithin
the porOuaInedi& This work presents the results of aNal-
ysis and numerical modeling of tomogmphy data whom a
polynomial representation is used to estimate the aaenua.
tion coefficient. In addition, its application to the analysis
of porous media and substances that are normally found in
oil reservoirs is considered
A polynomial representationis used for estimatingthe
dcnsikyand average atomic number of the substances oc-
cupying a volume clement. ‘llese properties are also dis-
played for a better analysis of the system under consider-
ation.
INTRODUCTION
The X-ray computed tomography (~ technique has
improved the analysis capacity in many areas of research,
especially those related to Uteoil industry. Nevertheless,
the majority of these applications have been limited to a
qualitative level rather ~an a quantitative use through the
visual evaluation of’the images generated by CT scanner
data processing.
References and illustrations at end of paper.
Efforts have been carried out to broaden the quantita-
tive ievel of this technique and several studies have been
presented in which the developmas have been applied.
For example, Viigar and Wellington 1 repated the ap-
plication of the @chniqueto porous media saturated with
three differentfluids. Wing, I’hlangPemiraandChy& and
Wang, Ayraland Gryte9 have done studies to evaluate the
fluid distribution the porous media, Likewise, WithJack’
_ the results of studies in that direction.
Severalproblemsappear wherethe CT scannerdata am
used to make quantitative analysis. ?lwse Imaicallylie in
the relativistic quantum nature of the X-mys emission and
reception procwes. Thus terms like “beam hardening”,
thttt indicates the diffcfencein the interactionmagnitudeof
the matter with the poiychnmnaticphotons that compose
the X-my beam, noise, etc., have been httxoduccd and ,
extensively discussed i!!the bibliograph~~718! 9D10.
On the other hand, several authors have studied the
possibility of using ftmtional representationsof the X- ray
attenuation coefficient to evaluate physical properties like
the atomic number and the dendty of the substances;thus,
Weber y Van Den Bctgell in 1%9 irttroduoeda mass at-
tenuation C43eMcient representationin tams of the density,
atbmic number md ekctron fmctionaof the substance that
compose the sample and the X-ray photon emrgx the at-
tenuath coefficientrepresentationis an additive conaibu-
tion of the C!ompton,photoelectricand coherent effects12.
McCullough]3 obsewed that this rq)resentation shows a
great deviation when results are compared to the attenu-
ation cocflicient values reported in the literatd’” ls.

“2 x-RAy mhffOORApHY ApPLIcAmONs IN pOROUs MEDIA EValUatiOn
in this paper a methodology to evaluate density and
average atomic number, developed through a polyaoiniai
,approximatiotls, is describ4 also, certain ways of over-
wxning inconveniences,that could appear when CT scan
data is used. FinalIy, the results of applying this method-
ology, to the analysis of porous media and substances that
are normally found in oil xwervoirs, are discussed using
the experimentaland numerical modeling of CT images.
BASIC THEORY
The methodology is based on a polynomial represen-
tation of the maw attenuationcoefficient’6,for the case of a
pure substanceand monochromaticX-say radiationresultx
(f) = ao -1-al z + az .22+C3323..’
.................... (1)
here the coefficientsof the polynomial expansion, aj, are
functionsof X-ray photon energy p is the mass attenuation
coefficien~ p is the mass density of the element whose
atomic number isz.
For the case of a compound, mixtum or solution, the
mass attenuation coefficient is:
($), = z fi(:),...........................*...
............ (2)
w~ ($)C-n~ the mass atuxmationcoefficient of
the compound, ($)i the mass attenuation Coemcient of
the i-th mmponent and ~i the m fraction of the i-th
component to the total compound mass. Defining the set
of ~i as a discrete distribution functions, the average value
of the differem power of the atomic number is:
w=~fizf
.................................................(3)
Similarly, the average mass attenuation coefficient is
given by
~= X f~($)i........................................... (4)
by WtliCiE
m=(;). .................................................... (f))
then
($)C = ao+al%+ az=+a3~ .................... (6)
‘Ilte standard deviation of the ato~ic number, a, can be
infexredfrom the values of T and ZZof the last equation:
~=~fi(Zi-%)2 ......................................... (7)
188
.
SPE 23670
b
in other words
r = p_@ .................................................... (8)
This value is useful to estimate tie interval in which the
atomic numbersof the elements that compose a sample arc
found.
The fact that the- mass attenuation cocfticicnt is a
functionof the energy througha polynomial expansiWwith
coefficients,aj$ introducesan additional advantageto SOIVC
the problem stated by equation (6): obtain tht? values of
7 and the mass density, p. In this case, four equations
are required, which ake.obtained when the equation (6) is
evaluated at four different enezgylevels.
Experimentally,data of the attenuation coe~lcient can
be obtained with the used of techniques based on X-rays.
An example is the X-ray CT scanner, which alIows nor:
realized dam known as CT values, that can be obtained to
a small volume named voxel (volume element), its mea-
surement d~ds on the piece of equipm~t used.
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD AND IMAGES MODEL-,
ING
The vahm of the X-ray attenuationcoefficientused in
this paper,were acquiredthrough a secondgenerationmod-
ifiedCT scanner. The cantrol and data acquisitionis carried
out through8 microc4xnputeJadapted to the equiprncsltand
coupled to the INTEVEP computer network. TWOughthis
System thsdata setcttn beaenttomofe powerful corn”
putera for its reconstructionand post-processing. A post-
processing system called Wfaden, was developed at IN-
llWEP, as well as the scanner modification. This software
was implemented in a work station and is a powerful tool
for performing image analysis.
The computers can reconstruct the raw data using
back-projectionand ARI’S910algorithms. llwre are avail-
able differtmtstypes of filters to improve the qbality of the
images.
The work station, likewise, has a software which al-
lows the processingof reconstructeddata to obtain volume
element properties. Whh this software can be cakulated
pomaity, satumtions up to three phases, density, and atomic
num~ gcmemtingin this way imagesof each of the mcn-
$ioncdproperties. Modelingof phantomsand porous media, ‘
to later analysis,can b done, if -RtiC~ or ex@men@l
data are available, using a software designed and imple-
mented for this purpose.
The images that have been reconstructed and pro-
cessed are then evaluated through Wfadrm,which permits
 SPE 23670 X-RAY 10MOGRAPHY “APPLICATKXWIN POROIJS MEDIA EVALUATION
#
visual and numerical analysis to be carried out by voxel
of the represented properties in the images. The “post-
processing System cansists of four methods of visualiza-
tion and analysis and which have different characteristics
and the capability to perform a complete evaluation of the
images.
To obtain the data of the studied substances, phan-
toms, “designedand built for this purpose, were exp&imen-
tally evaluated. The ~ values obtained using the scanner
quipment wem optimizt!dduring its reconstructionand av-
eragcd to produce a representativeattenuation value of the
substance. Afterward,they were processedto obtain the av-
erage density and atomic number values of the substance
funhennore these CT values served to model imagesof the
~phantomsand the substance&Theoretkxdand experimental
~values of the different,propertiesthat wwe analyzedcan be
tom@ in Tables 1 and 2. For data post-processing,the,
theoreticalvalue of the lineal W,enuationcoefficientof wa-;
ter, pw, itcalcui#ect from equation 2 and the pure element”
attenuation data reporiedin the literature14’ls, was used to;
invert the CT value to the lineal attenuation coefficientof
the substance, /4,: :
:’
CT= 1000 x
(,),
v
,’
................................. (9)
The CT data qbtained with the normal medical
scanner equipmen~ besides having at certain noise and
artifac@,’@n~t .of ‘different,nature, ~sent deviations
due to their polychrornatism. In s@e of thm are numeric
algorithms that co@X this prpblem on the images,the CT
value resultants are nht in comespondingwith the energy
level’initially set and if the data is not adjusted at this
point, errors are introduced,
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 1 shows the density and average tttomic num-
ber values obtained when the CT scanner lineal attenuation
cdficient data we~ processed. ‘IhMe2 presents the the-
oretical w%es corresponding to those of ‘Ihble 1j which
were obtk.d using the Iimxd attenuation data reported
..: in W literature14* ls. Besides the deviation introduced by
the pcdynomiidapproximationof the attenuationcoefficient,
(whichcan rewh 10%dependingon the chemicalelement),’
the intrinsk devi@on of the CT data, (dueprincipallyto the
,. polychromatimt of the x-ray Ilea@, perturbs the results,
‘. AMhoughthe data present these deviations, @eyare ir@@a-
tive that there am different substances in the sample, since
differ@ results correspond to different substanc& From
* aforementionefl,the present methodology can be uscd~
in a serniquant@tive way, in a sense that tie results doh’t~
‘, II&e a gotMaccur#y; so on qne hand, density and average
ammic’number dak ~ generatdd, and on the other, the
,,
:, :’ ,,
,,
189
3“’”
differems between voxel values can be observ~ Which
is useful in establishing the heterogeneityof a medium, or
the variations in porosity values due to density and atomic
number,differtmceson changes in volume fraction of the
substances that is filling the voxcdsof the medium, For
examp~ it can used to determine the different compaction
level of a unconsolidated_ ‘media,
Fig 1 shows an image of density values corresponding
to a phantom filled with a potassium chloride solution at
20%. Such an image is presented through a visualization
and analysis system, Wfaden, using the Texatra mfuhod.
me softwareallows the facility to use the computer mouse
in order to select and reading sane voxel wherever of the
@wge.Th iscanbes& mindetailin thesecmd wbtdowto ,’
the right of the figure,in which the’property value appears
beside the words 4’VOXELVAI~”, in this cwe is 1.178
g/cc, s;hwethe reading is equiv@nt to 1000 times die real
value., Fig 2 shows the sanw imhge, the voxel readin~
correspondsto the containermateridlvalue,aluminum,and
its value is 2.443 g/w.
Fig 3 shows an image of avctage atomic number val-
ues of a phantom filled with a NaCl solutionat 25%. ‘Amp
cut over the imige volume was made by the visualkation
system. llw cuqing plane can be analyzxx$on the visual-
ization window at righ~ here it is possible to observed the
average atcxnic number by voxel in this plane, the voxel,
value correspondsto the air surr&nding the container, the
re@ng is 8.17 since thetwtnlkz that can be mad i$,quiva- ,,,. ,,
kmt to I(XItimes tlm real value. In Fig 4, one @ the central
vOXdS thttt COI’IWp(MdS to tkl NK!l SOhltiOll Wh& VLihlC
is 8,69 is ewduated.
I
Fig 5 showsan image analyzedby other m&hodof the
Wfaden system, tilefi “Sombreado Densid#. Whh this
method, seudo cobra can be tu$signedby value intervrdsof,
the pmptwty. The image cor&spbncisto a phantom filled
with distilled water the container is an aluminum cylinder.
Flg 6 shows a density image of a cell containing a
potius medium, whose characteristicsm found in Thble3
and where an Mental voxel is @ii evahated through the ,.
“Textura”method, the correspondingdensity value is 2.887
g/cc. Inside this medium there are property variations, in
both fluid satumtiorts and porosity change!from voxtd to
v~~l, The fluids am oil and wat& -hi Fig 7, a voxel of
the sameimage with a valueequiva@ttto the density of air,
0.001 @c, is cwthiatd @g 8 $howj the fornwi mapping
as seen with %3@nbreado~sidad” method The zanes
occupied by. air, the aluminum cylin~r and the potbus
medium can be ~rv$d th~gh their visual dificre~.
In the case of the,poroys medium,~the last is indicative of
the porosity variatiqn by voxel; as well:as the tituratiorl
variation of fluids that are filling the porous medium.
., ,, ,.
,< ,,
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. . .

4 X-RAY 7UMOGRAPHY APPLICATIONSIN PORCXJSMEDIA EVALUATION SPE 23670

Figs 9 and 10 show the ssme average atomic number
image seen with the “’l&mm” method. In the first one,
a voxel comsprdng to porous medium was selected, its
reading fs 7$5; and in the secutd one, the voxel value
is equivalent to the average atomic number of the air
surmnding the container, 8.17. Fig 11 ShOWS the before
mapping seen with the %ombmado Densidad” method. A
step slke has bees done to obtain abetter perspectiveof the
medium. It should be pointed out that even though in the
image seenwiththe’’’Rxttxa” meth@Figs9and lo, thete
arenovisual differencesthat would allow discrirldnationof
tlwexisting phases, the zone$occupkd by them are visually
identified in the equivalent image to the dtmsity mapping
showed in I@ 6 and 7. Nmmthckss, both kind of imases
can be compktcdy discriminated through the “SOmbreadO
Dmsidad” method, for which a _ition is to know
the interval of propelty Vtduesin order to adjust the color
contrasts.
From theaformentl “oned,it can be inferred that the
resulting density and average atomic number images from
the data processing with the used of polynomial represen-
tation of the mass attenuation coefficientare compkmen-
taries, since if the Voxelvalues belonging to one of * are
_ at vCrYtiucd intcxval,the existing phases can
be diff&e@ated when analyzing the image comesponding
tothemapping of theotherpropwty.
CONCLUSIONS
With the polynomial model of the mass attenuation I
coefficientof X-rays, a quantitative analysis of CT images
Canb edone.
The methodologyprcwmtedhem can be used to evalu-
ate, through the density and average atomic number maps,
physical _ varktkms of reservoir fluids and porous
media su@ KOdetermine hetaogeneities in this kind of me-
dia.
llw density and averageatomk numberimages gener-
ated when processingCT scannerdata hold complementary
information.
lb minimize the deviation of the density and average’
atomic number values is required the improvement of the
rawand CTdatain order tocomect theefWtscausod by
the X-ray polychromatism and others distortion sources.
NOMENCLATURE
P = Lineal attenuation coefficient
P = Mass density
(~) = Maw attenuation coefficient
$
a~ i-th expansion coefficient in the mass attenuation
=
polynomial representation
($)e= Compound mass attenuation coefficient
($),= Mass atteauation coefficientof the i-th component
z = Atomic number
z? = n-th power of the i-th element atomic numlxr
~i = Weight fraction of the i-th element
7 = Average n-th power of atomic number
~= Averagemass attenuation coefficient
up = Standard (kViftth
p, . &Ibsm lineal attenuation coefficient
flW = Water lineal atfcmation coefficient
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to thank the help of Larry Chacon fw
his Iabmtoq SSSiSf2UlCC.
REFERENCES
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Imagingof Three-PhaseFlow Experiments”,Rev. Sci-
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C. C.: “A@kation of (bmputed ~y to oil
Recovery from Porous Media”, Applied Optics, 24,
@cc. 1985) 4021-4027.
3. Wang, S. Y., Ayral, S. and &yte, C. C.: “Computer
Assistd lbmogqhy fm the observation of oil Dis-
placement in Mow Media”, Sot. PC% Eng* J., @b.
1984) 53-55.
4. Withjack, E. M; “Computed ~y fw Rock-
Prcqmty Determinationand Fluid-Flow viSUSbtkXl”,
SPE 16951, (&p. 1987) 183-1%.
5. Herman, G. T.: Image Rewnstruction from Projec-
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Y- (1988) 329.
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Atomic Number and the Calculation of the Compoai-
,.
190
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SPE 23670 X-RAYl’OMOORAPHYAPPLICATIONSIN POROUS MEDIA EVALUATION 5

don of Phantoms Mat@als”, Br. J. Radiol.,.42,(1%9)

378-383. -
12. Beresletski,V. B., Lifshitz, E. M. and Pita&ski, L. P.: ‘
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191
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 TAItLE !—KXPERIMWWAI. DENSITY AND TABLE 2- THEORETICAL DENSITY AND
AVERAGE ATOMIC NUMIWX VAI.UF3 AVERAGE ATOMIC NUMBER VALUES

Dcnsil) Average ammic Densily Average alomic

Substance Substance
(g/cc) number Q/cc 20 c) number

Wa[cr I .059 8.6$ water I .Oooo 7.2167

air 0.001 8.17 air 0.9012 7.2100

‘aluminum 2.443 8.29 aluminum 2.7020 13.ooOo

methanol 0.848 9.30 methanol 0.791-4 6.3995

ethanol ().850 9.54 ethanol 0.7900 6.0382

n-hexane 0.730 10.07 n-hexane 0.6603 5.1813

n-decane 0.802 10.08 n-decane 0.73(M 5.2207

potassium pot+wium
1.178 8.75 1.1328 9.3831
chloride at 20% chloride at 20%

sodium chloride sodium chloride

1.120 8.67 1.0707 7.9590
at 10% at 10%

sodium chloride sodium chloride

1.186 - 8.69 1.1478 8.7013
at 20% at 20%

sodkm chloride sodium chloride

1.221 8.69 TABLE 3- POROUS MKI)IUM 1,1887 9.0725
at 25% at 25%
PROPERTIF3

qumlz 2.546 7.64 Container volume quartz 2.6S00 !O.8(M)

6000
(cc)

Porosily o.175

Waler saurraliwr 0.15

Qil Saturation 0.85

011 density
0.9065
Q/cc)
 Fig l— Density image of M phantom filled wirh potassium chloride solution
at 20%, “Texture” m-. ~ ~sity f=W of ~ $-@utionis I •17~ ti~”

,.

Fig 2— Density image of the phantom filled with @ssium chlorkic ,SOIUILion
at 20%, “Textura” method. ” The density reading o? Ute container mata :iaL
aluminum, is 2.443 gee.

. .
. .. .
193
,.
,. -,
=’. , ,. ,, ,.. .
-.
. .
SPE 23670

. .

Fig 3— Average atomic number image of the p~toq filled with NaCl solutwn
—
at 25%. A‘ Lop CU[ over, tic image volume was made. Ilw VOXCI value
correspondsLOthe air surrounding the container, the rcuding is 8.17. “Tcxturij”
method.

. . -.

Fig 4-Average atomic number Image 01 @@antom ttileu w:ih N&l wmh 011
at 25%. One of the central voxel whose value is S.69 is evaluaux! and il
corresponds to the NaCl solution .“Textura” method.
—
sp~2367()

._
Fig 5— diza.
tion me Im.

mkd. The VOXCIv~ue is 2.287 @c and comsponds 10 quartz beans wetted

by waler and oil.

195
 .,.,

I~ ““
s= 23670 “

““mmlm
Fig 7— WIMIIY image of the cell that contains a DOrrjMSmedium. “Texumi”
method. The VOX61
vatueis 0.1301 gkc andcomcsqkmds to air.

,. .,

Fig S- b}
“Sombrcado Densidad” method, showing the porous medium heterogekities;

1*.

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