Simulation and Validation of Porosity and Permeability of Synthetic and Real Rock Models Using Three-Dimensional Printing and Digital Rock Physics

Abstract

A standard digital rock physics workflow aims to simulate petrophysical properties of rock samples using few millimeter size subsets scanned with X-ray microtomography at a high resolution of around 1 μm. The workflow is mainly based on image analysis and simulation procedures at a subset scale leading to potential uncertainties and errors that cannot be quantified experimentally. To overcome the gap between scales, we propose to integrate three-dimensional (3D) printing technology to generate enlarged subsets at a scale where experimental measurements are feasible to validate simulated results. In this study, we 3D printed synthetic and real samples and compared digital and experimental rock properties. The most challenging phase in the workflow consists of the difficulties encountered while cleaning the 3D printed samples to remove the support material. Results for subsets extracted from synthetic, sandstone, and carbonate samples showed good agreement between digital and experimental measurements for porosity values less than 12% and a range of permeability values between 100 and 2000 mD.