4D Synchrotron X-ray Imaging of Grain Scale Deformation Mechanisms in a Seismogenic Gas Reservoir Sandstone During Axial Compaction

Understanding the grain-scale processes leading to reservoir compaction during hydrocarbons production is crucial for enabling physics-based predictions of induced surface subsidence and seismicity hazards. However, typical laboratory experiments only allow for pre- and post-experimental microstructural investigation of deformation mechanisms. Using high-resolution time-lapse X-ray micro-tomography imaging (4D mu CT) during triaxial deformation, the controlling grain-scale processes can be visualized through time and space at realistic subsurface conditions. We deformed a sample of Slochteren sandstone, the reservoir rock from the seismogenic Groningen gas field in the Netherlands. The sample was deformed beyond its yield point (axial strain > 15%) in triaxial compression at reservoir P-T-stress conditions (100 degrees C, 10 MPa pore pressure, 40 MPa effective confining pressure). A total of 50 three-dimensional mu CT scans were obtained during deformation, at a spatial resolution of 6.5 mu m. Time lapse imaging plus digital volume correlation (DVC) enabled identification of the grain-scale deformation mechanisms operating throughout the experiment, for the first time, both at small, reservoir-relevant strains (< 1%), and in the approach to brittle failure at strains > 10%. During small-strain deformation, the sample showed compaction through grain rearrangement accommodated by inter-granular slip and normal displacements across grain boundaries, in particular, by closure of open grain boundaries or compaction of inter-granular clay films. At intermediate and large strains (> 4%), grain fracturing and pore collapse were observed, leading to sample-scale brittle failure. These observations provide key input for developing microphysical models describing compaction of the Groningen and other producing (gas) reservoirs.

Automated summary

High-resolution time-lapse X-ray micro-tomography imaging allows visualization of grain-scale deformation mechanisms during triaxial deformation of reservoir rock, providing important input for developing microphysical models describing compaction of gas reservoirs.