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  4. Pressure-dependent elastic and transport properties of porous and permeable rocks: Microstructural control
 
research article

Pressure-dependent elastic and transport properties of porous and permeable rocks: Microstructural control

Pimienta, Lucas Xan  
•
Sarout, Joel
•
Esteban, Lionel
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2017
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

Although several studies aimed at linking electrical and hydraulic transport properties in rocks, the existing models remain at most incomplete. Based on this observation, in addition to the transport properties, this contribution investigates the pressure dependence of P wave velocities and porosity for three porous rocks. Apart from hydraulic conductivity, all physical properties show an important dependence to the confining pressure. In particular, electrical resistivity reaches an asymptote at low confining pressures. Using the measured P wave velocities and effective medium theories, the microcrack density and its evolution with confining pressure are estimated. For the three rocks, the microcrack density at which electrical resistivity reaches a plateau is of 0.13. This value corresponds to the threshold for crack percolation in media containing microcracks exclusively. This suggests that in porous and microcracked rocks, electrical resistivity is controlled by two independent hydraulic pathways of tubes and cracks acting in parallel. In contrast, this percolation threshold is not observed in the permeability data. A simple conceptual model is finally introduced that explains the fundamental differences between transport properties.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1002/2017JB014464
Web of Science ID

WOS:000419102700019

Author(s)
Pimienta, Lucas Xan  
Sarout, Joel
Esteban, Lionel
David, Christian
Clennell, Michael B.
Date Issued

2017

Publisher

Amer Geophysical Union

Published in
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
Volume

122

Issue

11

Start page

8952

End page

8968

Subjects

transport and elastic properties

•

confining pressure

•

microstructure

•

porous networks

•

conceptual model

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LEMR  
Available on Infoscience
November 1, 2017
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/141706
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