EGU2020-8821
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-8821
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Experimental imaging of focused fluid flow through a viscous porous rock-analogue.

Reinier van Noort and Viktoriya Yarushina
Reinier van Noort and Viktoriya Yarushina
  • Institute for Energy Technology, Kjeller, Norway (reinier@ife.no)

Seismic chimneys have been observed in sediments overlying reservoirs containing different fluids, such as water, hydrocarbons, or CO2. Furthermore, such chimneys have been linked to pockmarks and gas seepages on the seafloor. Visco-plastic models show how these chimneys can form by focused fluid flow through viscous, porous materials. However, the mechanisms that cause fluid flow to focus along such relatively narrow pathways with transiently elevated permeability have not been investigated thoroughly in experiments.

We present analogue experiments carried out in a transparent Hele-Shaw cell, in which a fluid is injected into an aggregate of viscous grains, leading to transient focused fluid flow. Fluid flow is imaged using a digital camera, and our observations are compared to models describing chimney formation.

How to cite: van Noort, R. and Yarushina, V.: Experimental imaging of focused fluid flow through a viscous porous rock-analogue., EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-8821, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-8821, 2020

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