Permeability upscaling using cubic law based on the analysis of multi-resolution micro-CT images of intermediate rank coal

Alexandra Roslin; Dubravka Pokrajac; Yingfang Zhou

doi:10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b01625

Permeability upscaling using cubic law based on the analysis of multi-resolution micro-CT images of intermediate rank coal

Alexandra Roslin, Dubravka Pokrajac, Yingfang Zhou^* (Corresponding Author)

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

This paper presents a method for upscaling permeability of fractured coal using the cubic law to quantify permeability of the fracture system. The version of the cubic law that incorporates the length/tortuosity effect available in the literature was modified by including a connectivity parameter. All parameters of the modified cubic law (fracture aperture, porosity, length, and connectivity) were estimated for a set of coal samples using quantitative methods available in the literature. The geometry of the fracture system within the coal samples was determined from micro computed tomography scans. Parameters of the modified cubic law estimated from the scans were validated by comparison of the resulting permeability to the numerical simulation of single-phase fluid flow in fractures, which was developed at the previous stage of this study. The modified cubic law was then used for upscaling of permeability from the millimeter scale to the centimeter scale. It produced the results that match the literature data for the coal from the same region as well as the experimental data for the studied area.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	8215-8221
Number of pages	7
Journal	Energy & Fuels
Volume	33
Issue number	9
Early online date	14 Aug 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b01625
Publication status	Published - 19 Sept 2019

Bibliographical note

Acknowledgements
This paper used opportunistic coal samples and characterization data as a part of a study into multiphase flow in coal for the Southern Qinshui coal basin. The measurement of this work was
supported by the Royal Society through the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Cost Share Project, and Alexandra Roslin thanks the Ministry of Education of Russia to
support her Ph.D. work at the University of Aberdeen. The University of Aberdeen School of Engineering and School of Geosciences are thanked for their support. The authors also thank John Still from the University of Aberdeen School of Geosciences for his support regarding SEM data analysis.

Keywords

permeability
flow simulation
upscaling
cubic law
coal fractures
FRACTURE
METHANE
FLUID-FLOW
CONNECTIVITY
SCALE
VALIDITY

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Zhou_et_al_Fuels_Upscaling_AAM
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Energy and Fuels, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.9b01625
Accepted author manuscript, 650 KBLicence: Other

Cite this

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title = "Permeability upscaling using cubic law based on the analysis of multi-resolution micro-CT images of intermediate rank coal",

abstract = "This paper presents a method for upscaling permeability of fractured coal using the cubic law to quantify permeability of the fracture system. The version of the cubic law that incorporates the length/tortuosity effect available in the literature was modified by including a connectivity parameter. All parameters of the modified cubic law (fracture aperture, porosity, length, and connectivity) were estimated for a set of coal samples using quantitative methods available in the literature. The geometry of the fracture system within the coal samples was determined from micro computed tomography scans. Parameters of the modified cubic law estimated from the scans were validated by comparison of the resulting permeability to the numerical simulation of single-phase fluid flow in fractures, which was developed at the previous stage of this study. The modified cubic law was then used for upscaling of permeability from the millimeter scale to the centimeter scale. It produced the results that match the literature data for the coal from the same region as well as the experimental data for the studied area.",

keywords = "permeability, flow simulation, upscaling, cubic law, coal fractures, FRACTURE, METHANE, FLUID-FLOW, CONNECTIVITY, SCALE, VALIDITY",

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note = "Acknowledgements This paper used opportunistic coal samples and characterization data as a part of a study into multiphase flow in coal for the Southern Qinshui coal basin. The measurement of this work was supported by the Royal Society through the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Cost Share Project, and Alexandra Roslin thanks the Ministry of Education of Russia to support her Ph.D. work at the University of Aberdeen. The University of Aberdeen School of Engineering and School of Geosciences are thanked for their support. The authors also thank John Still from the University of Aberdeen School of Geosciences for his support regarding SEM data analysis.",

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N2 - This paper presents a method for upscaling permeability of fractured coal using the cubic law to quantify permeability of the fracture system. The version of the cubic law that incorporates the length/tortuosity effect available in the literature was modified by including a connectivity parameter. All parameters of the modified cubic law (fracture aperture, porosity, length, and connectivity) were estimated for a set of coal samples using quantitative methods available in the literature. The geometry of the fracture system within the coal samples was determined from micro computed tomography scans. Parameters of the modified cubic law estimated from the scans were validated by comparison of the resulting permeability to the numerical simulation of single-phase fluid flow in fractures, which was developed at the previous stage of this study. The modified cubic law was then used for upscaling of permeability from the millimeter scale to the centimeter scale. It produced the results that match the literature data for the coal from the same region as well as the experimental data for the studied area.

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Permeability upscaling using cubic law based on the analysis of multi-resolution micro-CT images of intermediate rank coal

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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