1. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia
Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department
of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000..
Capillary controls on brine percolation
in rock salt
Marc Hesse and Maša Prodanović
(Soheil Ghanbarzadeh)
University of Texas at Austin
Washington, DC
September 7-9, 2016
3. Fluid percolation in ductile rocks
3
Glacier ice Planetary interiors Rock salt
Ductile deformation
Accumulation of large and permanent strains without macroscopic
fracturing ⟹ very active microstructure accommodating deformation
Implication of this active microstructure for pore fluid distribution?
NASA Earth ObservatoryIPGP Antoine PitrouGlobal Science
4. Evolution to textural equilibrium
4
Alloys Temperate ice Rock salt
Definition
Pore geometry evolves to minimize the energy of the liquid-solid interfaces,
while maintaining a constant dihedral angle at slid-solid-liquid contact lines.
Partial melts
Smith (1948) Nye & Mae (1972) van Bargen & Waff
(1986)
Lewis & Holness
(1996)
5. Theory of textural equilibrium
5
Mechanical
Equilibrium
Surface energy
minimization
Equilibrated
pore space
Definition
Pore geometry evolves to minimize the energy of the liquid-solid interfaces,
while maintaining a constant dihedral angle at slid-solid-liquid contact lines.
+ =
Pore network controlled by 2 Parameters: dihedral angle q and porosity f
6. Simulated pore networks
Developed a Level-set method for texturally equilibrated pore networks.
Pore network controlled by 2 Parameters: dihedral angle q and porosity f
Regular grains Irregular grains
Ghanbarzadeh, Hesse & Prodanović (2015) J Comp Phys
7. Percolation threshold
Ghanbarzadeh, Hesse & Prodanović (2016) in review for Nat Geosci
q=10°q=7𝟎°q=9𝟎°
f = 2% f = 5% f = 10%
0 155 2010 3025
porosity: f [%]
120
80
60
20
40
100
0
dihedralangle:q[°]
Percolation threshold (real grains
)
8. Percolation threshold
Ghanbarzadeh, Prodanović & Hesse (2014) Phys Rev Lett
Ghanbarzadeh, Hesse & Prodanović (2016) in review for Nat Geosci
0 155 2010 3025
porosity: f [%]
120
80
60
20
40
100
0
dihedralangle:q[°]
Percolation threshold (real grains
)
Ideal grains Real grains
Percol
ation
th
reshold(idealgrains)
9. Testing theory in lab
9
Laboratory experimentsEffect of P & T
Lewis & Holness (1996) Geology Jim Gardner’s lab at UT
18. Well and mud logs
0 25(API)
G-Ray
102 105(ohm.m)
Resistivity
1 103(unit)
Gas HC Max
1 106(ppm)
Gas Chromatography
(m)
55 75(°)
θ
Fluoresce
Oil Stain
Dead Oil
Oil Cut
2200
2700
3200
3700
4200
4700
5200
5700
6200
Mud Log
CH4
C2H6
C3H8
C4H10
C5H12
18
Ghanbarzadeh, Hesse & Prodanović (2015) Science
19. Well and mud logs
0 25(API)
G-Ray
102 105(ohm.m)
Resistivity
1 103(unit)
Gas HC Max
1 106(ppm)
Gas Chromatography
(m)
55 75(°)
θ
Fluoresce
Oil Stain
Dead Oil
Oil Cut
2200
2700
3200
3700
4200
4700
5200
5700
6200
Mud Log
CH4
C2H6
C3H8
C4H10
C5H12
19Good agreement between field data and theoretical prediction
20. Comparison for 150km’s of salt
1 2 3 4 5 96 87 10 1412 1311
AT MCGC KC WR
(°)estimated
70
65
55
60
Fluoresce
Oil Stain
Dead Oil
Oil Cut
Salt Extent
20
21. Effect of deformation?
21
Bruhn et al. (2000)
Nature
Partially molten rocks
Schenk & Urai (2005)
J Metamorphic Geol
Deformation in rock salt
25. Large porosities in experiments
25
f = 0.5% f = 1.0% f = 3.0%
Both theory and simulations suggest percolation at
very low porosities for dihedral angles below 60 degrees.
Ghanbarzadeh, Prodanović & Hesse (2014) Phys Rev Lett
