𝐼𝐿𝐿−𝐸𝑆𝑆 𝑈𝑠𝑒𝑟 𝑀𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 2022

Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of

porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron
tomography
Fernando Vieira Limaᵃ, Stephen Hallᵃ, Jonas Engqvistᵃ, Erika Tudiscoᵃ,
Robin Worcekᵇ, Alessandro Tengattinic, Cyrille Couturec
ᵃ Lund University
ᵇ European Spallation Source (ESS)
c Institute Laue-Langevin (ILL) and Université Grenoble Alpes
 1. INTRODUCTION 2

Tracking the fluid movement Radiographies in

Localized Effects on in unsaturated rock using 3D Deformed Samples
Deformations Permeability of Rocks neutron tomography

Masschaele et al. (2004)

Hall (2013)
High-speed neutron
In-situ Deformation + Flow
Oil Extraction CO2 Storage tomography
Radiographies

Laboratory
Traditional Tests Advanced Tests
(bulk measurements) (full-field measurements)
Tudisco et al. (2017) Tudisco et al. (2019)

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
 1. INTRODUCTION 3

X-RAY AND NEUTRON IMAGING

Woracek (2021)

This contrast makes possible fluid front tracking with

close to a ”single phase” condition

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 4

Neutron EuroTrip (June 2021)

Source: Tengattini et. al (2020)

NeXT

Neutrons

X-rays Source: Tengattini et. al (2020)

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 5

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

FLOW SYSTEM PORTABLE LOADING SYSTEM

CONFINING PRESSURE
SYSTEM
TRIAXAL CELL
Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 6

EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

Flow
System

Confining
Pressure
System

X-RAY SCAN POSITION NEUTRON SCAN POSITION

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
2. METHODOLOGY 7

EXPERIMENT OUTLINE

H2O into the D2O

saturated sample
Flow rate = 0.07 ml/min
Maximum displacement of 1 pixel per
scan

SAMPLE: IDAHO GRAY SANDSTONE (d = 25 mm and h = 50 mm)

Conventional Triaxial Conventional
Confining Pressure = 1 MPa
Test Scheme Permeability Test
Axial compression in 3 steps (Sample 1) and 2 Steps (Sample 2) Scheme
Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 8

What can we get from the in-situ experiments?

FROM BULK MEASUREMENTS (TRADITIONAL)

Stress-Strain Curves Permeability-Axial Strain Curves

Volumetric-Axial Strain Curves Young’s Module-Axial Strain Curves

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 9

What can we get from the in-situ experiments?

FROM FULL-FIELD MEASUREMENTS (ADVANCED)

*No cell

Instability in the device’s *not the same slices

rotation table + conic beam

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 10

What can we get from the in-situ experiments?

FROM FULL-FIELD MEASUREMENTS (ADVANCED)

Binarized Images
Grain Segmentation Pore Network Models Porosity Maps (3D)

*No cell

Voxel Size (15μm) 20x Grain Size (300μm)

Grain Resolution Source: Boccardo et. al (2020)

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 11

What can we get from the in-situ experiments?

FROM FULL-FIELD MEASUREMENTS (ADVANCED)
Accumulated Volumetric Strain Fields

DIGITAL
VOLUME
HETEROGENOUS
BLURRY D2O
CORRELATION
SATURATION

Voxel Size (~50μm) 6x Grain Size (300μm)

“Texture” Resolution
Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
1. INTRODUCTION 12

What can we get from the in-situ experiments?

FROM FULL-FIELD MEASUREMENTS (ADVANCED)
Time series of Front Advance Field (3D) Flow Speed Field (3D)
tomograms (3D)

From:
- Front advance
binarization
- Distance maps (Euclidian
Distance) / Acquisition
Time
Voxel saturation time - Filtering
(fitting sigmoid curve)

Voxel Size (170μm) 2x Grain Size (300μm)

Only Fluid flow tracking

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 13

Q1 - HOW CAN SAMPLE HETEROGENEITY AFFECT THE FLUID FLOW (UNDEFORMED

STATE)?

Q2 - HOW CAN SAMPLE HETEROGENEITY INFLUENCE THE DISTRIBUTION OF

DEFORMATION THROUGHOUT DEVIATORIC COMPRESSION?

Q3 - HOW DOES FLUID FLOW EVOLVE ALONG DEVIATORIC COMPRESSION?

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
 3. RESULTS 14

Q1 - HETEROGENEITY VS FLUID FLOW

PORE NETWORK MODEL (PNM) SIMULATION
OpenPNM Thresholded image from
Binarized image from final tomography showing
PNM Injection Simulation
X-ray tomo saturated regions
showing saturated regions

Gostick, J et al., (2016) Gostick, J et al., (2016)

Sample 1

Pore-throat sorting
SIMPLE Vs
PHYSICS Entry Pressure
Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
3. RESULTS 15

Q1 - HETEROGENEITY VS FLUID FLOW

Highest
speed

Flow Direction
High
Porosity
Concentration
Region
of
Large Pores
Preferential
Inlet Path
(Bottom)

Flow Speed Field (3D) Pore Network Model Thresholded Porosity Map

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 16

Q1 - HOW CAN SAMPLE HETEROGENEITY AFFECT THE FLUID FLOW (UNDEFORMED

STATE)?

Q2 - HOW CAN SAMPLE HETEROGENEITY INFLUENCE THE DISTRIBUTION OF

DEFORMATION THROUGHOUT DEVIATORIC COMPRESSION?

Q3 - HOW DOES FLUID FLOW EVOLVE ALONG DEVIATORIC COMPRESSION?

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
 3. RESULTS 17

Q2 – HETEROGENEITY VS DEVIATORIC DEFORMATION DISTRIBUTION

IG24 IG16
Contractive Dilative Shear Contractive Dilative Shear
HIGHEST POROSITY VOXELS (FROM

Porosity Strain Strain Strain Porosity Strain Strain Strain

Map Map

ε𝑧𝑧
= 0.34 ε𝑧𝑧
ε𝑧𝑧𝑓 = 0.61
ε𝑧𝑧𝑓
POROSITY MAPS)

ε𝑧𝑧
= 0.51 Small deformation
ε𝑧𝑧
ε𝑧𝑧𝑓
spread
ε𝑧𝑧𝑓
= 1.00 uniformly

throughout the sample

Contraction
Localization suddenly occurs
Volumetric Strain

occurs mostly
ε𝑧𝑧
Shear Strain

= 1.00
in the high-
ε𝑧𝑧𝑓

porosity zone Dilation starts to dominate,

(one side of and shear increases
the sample) Localization occurs
Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
3. RESULTS 18

Q2 – HETEROGENEITY VS DEVIATORIC DEFORMATION DISTRIBUTION

STATISTICS - FOUR GROUPS OF POROSITY: THE STRAIN EVOLUTION COMPARED TO THE SAMPLE’S AVERAGE
Contractive Dilative
Strain Strain

Most porous region -> 30% more contraction

Less porous region -> 80% more dilation
IG24 Most porous region -> 37% less dilation

Less porous region -> 40% less contraction

Most porous region -> 17% more contraction

IG16 Most porous region -> 23% less dilation

Less porous region -> 15% more dilation
Less porous region -> 20% less contraction

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
3. RESULTS 19

Q2 – HETEROGENEITY VS DEVIATORIC DEFORMATION DISTRIBUTION

DIGITAL VOLUME CORRELATION VS POROSITY MAPS FROM HIGH-RESOLUTION X-RAY IMAGES

SHEAR BAND VS HIGH-POROSITY CONCENTRATION

Φ2 ≈ 63° The interface

between high
porosity region and
low porosity region

IG16
IG24

Φ1 ≈ 72° Φ ≈ 62°

HIGHEST POROSITY VOXELS

Dual Slope (FROM POROSITY MAPS)
SHEAR BAND (FROM DVC
THRESHOLDED VALUES)

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
2. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 20

Q1 - HOW CAN SAMPLE HETEROGENEITY AFFECT THE FLUID FLOW (UNDEFORMED

STATE)?

Q2 - HOW CAN SAMPLE HETEROGENEITY INFLUENCE THE DISTRIBUTION OF

DEFORMATION THROUGHOUT DEVIATORIC COMPRESSION?

Q4
Q3 - HOW DOES FLUID FLOW EVOLVE ALONG DEVIATORIC COMPRESSION?

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Characterization of triaxial deformation and hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones through in-situ testing with X-ray and neutron tomography.
ILL-ESS User Meeting 2022.
 3. RESULTS 21

Q3 – FLUID FLOW EVOLUTION ALONG THE DEVIATORIC COMPRESISION

FLOW SPEED FIELDS VS CROSS-SECTION VOLUMETRIC STRAINS
ε𝑧𝑧 ε𝑧𝑧
= 0.34
= 0.00 ε𝑧𝑧𝑓 ε𝑧𝑧 ε𝑧𝑧
ε𝑧𝑧𝑓 = 0.51 = 1.00
Contractive Dilative Contractive Dilative ε𝑧𝑧𝑓 Contractive Dilative ε𝑧𝑧𝑓
Strain Strain Strain Strain Strain
Strain

k = 0.33 D k = 0.36 D
k = 0.15 D k = 0.15 D

Contraction Contraction Contraction

Dilation Dilation Dilation in the
in the in the around the
around around preferential
preferential Wider flow preferential Wider flow preferential Narrower
preferential preferential path zone and
path zone cross- path zone cross- path zone flow cross-
path zone path zone shear-band
section section section

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Understanding the influence of triaxial deformation and heterogeneity on the hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones from in-situ testing with x-ray
and neutron tomography. Alert Geomaterials Workshop, 2022.
 3. RESULTS 22

Q3 – FLUID FLOW EVOLUTION ALONG THE DEVIATORIC COMPRESISION

Shear Band
Influences
But doesn’t
DETERMINE
the Fluid Flow
Path

Initial Pore
Distribution
still plays an
important role

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Understanding the influence of triaxial deformation and heterogeneity on the hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones from in-situ testing with x-ray
and neutron tomography. Alert Geomaterials Workshop, 2022.
 5. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER DEVELPMENTS 23

• A novel testing system for rock's hydromechanical investigation

• 4D imaging of flow and deformation under a triaxial state of stress .

• Bulk measurements Q1 – FLOW PATH AND SPEED DEPEND ON PORE SIZE AND CONNECTIVITY
• Porosity maps Q2 - HETEROGENEITY INFLUENCES THE DEFORMATION PATTERN AND SHEAR BAND
GEOMETRY
• DVCs
Q3 - FLUID FLOW PATH AND SPEED DEPEND ON DEFORMATION AND ON
• Compaction and Dilation (all steps) INITIAL PORE DISTRIBUTION
• Strain localization
• Fluid front tracking and z-speed field

Help to understand the

hydromechanics of the samples

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Understanding the influence of triaxial deformation and heterogeneity on the hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones from in-situ testing with x-ray
and neutron tomography. Alert Geomaterials Workshop, 2022.
 4. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS 24

WE CAN DO IT BETTER!
X-ray High-Resolution Scan with a Laboratory Tomography
Inside the cell

14 μm

GRAINS TRACKING?
CRACKS TRACKING?
DAMAGE TRACKING?
Acquisition time = 3x15 mins PNM INJECTION SIMULATION
FOR EVERY LOAD STEP?

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Understanding the influence of triaxial deformation and heterogeneity on the hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones from in-situ testing with x-ray
and neutron tomography. Alert Geomaterials Workshop, 2022.
 5. REFERENCES 25

• Masschaele, B., et al. (2004), “The use of neutrons and monochromatic X-rays for non-destructive testing in geological materials”,
in: Environmental Geology, Vol. 46, No. 3-4, pp. 486–492.
• Hall, S. A. (2013), “Characterization of fluid flow in a shear band in porous rock using neutron radiography”, in: Geophysical
Research Letters, Vol. 40, No. 11, pp. 2613–2618.
• Tudisco, E., Hall, S. A., Athanasopoulos, S., and Hovind, J. (2017), “Neutron imaging and digital volume correlation to analyse the
coupled hydro-mechanics of geomaterials”, in: Rivista Italiana di Geotecnica, Vol. 51, No. 4, pp. 60–68.
• Tudisco, E. et al. (2019), "Fast 4-D Imaging of Fluid Flow in Rock by High-Speed Neutron Tomography," J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth,
vol. 124, no. 4, pp. 3557–3569, doi: 10.1029/2018JB016522.
• Woracek, R. (2021), LINXS Neutron Course Notes
• Etxegarai, M. (2019), "Coupled hydro- mechanics of reservoir rocks studied by quantitative in-situ neutron imaging,".
• Woracek, R. (2015), "Energy selective neutron imaging for the characterization of polycrystalline materials".
• Etxegarai, M., et. al. (2021). Characterisation of single-phase fluid-flow heterogeneity due to localised deformation in a porous
rock using rapid neutron tomography. Journal of Imaging, 7(12), 275.
• Stamati et al., (2020). spam: Software for Practical Analysis of Materials. Journal of Open Source Software, 5(51), 2286,
https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.02286
• Gostick, J et al., (2016) OpenPNM: a pore network modeling package. Computing in Science & Engineering.
doi:10.1109/MCSE.2016.49.
• Boccardo, G et al. (2020) Nanomaterials for the Detection and Removal of Wastewater Pollutants. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-
0-12-818489-9.00013-X

Vieira Lima et al (2022). Understanding the influence of triaxial deformation and heterogeneity on the hydraulic behavior of porous sandstones from in-situ testing with x-ray
and neutron tomography. Alert Geomaterials Workshop, 2022.
THANK YOU 26

ANY QUESTIONS? fernando.vieira_lima@solid.lth.se

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Stephen Hall Jonas Engqvist Erika Tudisco

Robin Woracek

Alessandro Tengattini Cyrille Couture