About Ingrain's Digital Rock Physics Lab
Ingrain's digital rock physics lab computes the physical properties and fluid flow characteristics of oil and gas reservoir rocks. We provide advanced rock properties analysis for clastics, shales, carbonates (including micritic), tight gas sands and oil sands.
Using whole core, core plugs or drill cuttings, Ingrain can deliver accurate results as fast as 14 days. Ingrain can even provide accurate results using samples from core repositories that have been altered by drilling fluids.
Where whole core is available, Ingrain's digital rock physics workflow includes four major steps:
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CoreHD® high-definition Ct scanning and logging of whole core to identify rock units and select locations for sampling
- Selection, preparation and 3-D imaging of the selected rock samples
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Image processing to discriminate between pore space, grains and matrix, and creation of vRock® digital reservoir rocks
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Using vRocks®, computation of basic and advanced rock properties by simulating physical processes
The sample material for imaging can come from core, sidewall plugs, or drill cuttings.
The process begins with a CoreHD® high definition CT scan of the whole core at a resolution of 625 microns per voxel. Ingrain's specialized approach to whole core CT scanning produces over 1500 digital cross-sections per meter of core, as well as CT Borehole Image and CT Density and Atomic Number logs. These results are used to identify locations for sampling for high resolution CT scanning.
Next, a degreed geologist removes the samples from the core and prepares them for imaging using Ingrain's industrial-grade CT scanners. These scanners produce a 3-D reconstruction from hundreds of tomographic slices. Most conventional samples are imaged using a Micro CT system that provides a range of resolutions down to one micron. For microporous carbonates, Ingrain uses a Nano CT system which delivers resolution to 0.05 microns.
The Nano CT machine cannot resolve the very small and very important features of shales, which are rapidly becoming a major source of hydrocarbons. This is where an imaging technique called FIB-SEM (focused ion beam combined with scanning electron microscope) comes in. The FIB–SEM tool allows users to physically slice materials and to view them at very high magnification. The FIB system directs a high-energy focused beam at the mounted rock sample and cuts away material in a precise manner. The removed layer can be as thin as 2.5 nanometers. After a slice is removed, the SEM is used to acquire a high-resolution image of the newly exposed material. These consecutive slices comprise a 3-D image.
The reconstructed 3D images are then processed using Ingrain's proprietary segmentation technology to differentiate pores from grains and matrix. The final result is a vRock® digital reservoir rock. A vRock® digital reservoir rock preserves the pore space in its complete detail in a format that allows for computation of basic and advanced rock properties.
The final step includes computations where fluid flow, electrical current, and elastic deformation are simulated at the desired conditions using selected transport agents. The results describe permeability, electrical conductivity, and elastic properties of the rock. They are then compared to one another and also to the mineralogy and porosity of the sample to understand and quantify relations among these different attributes of rock.
Ingrain's multiphase flow simulations provide relative permeability and capillary pressure. These algorithms handle fluid phases of drastically different viscosity and surface tension.
