Heavy oil production depends on the understanding of mechanical and flow properties of unconsolidated or weakly consolidated sands under different loading paths and boundary conditions. Reconstituted bitumen-free Athabasca oil-sands samples were used to investigate the geomechanics of a steam injection process such as the Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD). Four stress paths have been studied in this work: triaxial compression, radial extension, pore pressure increase and isotropic compression. Absolute permeability, end-point relative permeability to oil & water (kro and krw), initial water saturation and residual oil saturation were measured while the samples deformed. Triaxial compression is a stress path of increasing mean stress while radial extension and pore pressure increase lead to decreasing mean stress. Pore pressure increase experiments were carried out for three initial states: equal axial and confining stresses, axial stress greater than confining stress and confining stress greater than axial stress. Pore pressure was increased under four boundary conditions: 1) constant axial and confining stress; 2) constant axial stress and zero radial strain; 3) zero axial strain and constant confining stress; and 4) zero axial and radial strain. These experiments were designed to mimic geologic conditions where vertical stress was either S1 or S3, the lateral boundary conditions were either zero strain or constant stress, and the vertical boundary conditions were either zero strain or constant stress. Triaxial compression caused a decrease in permeability as the sample compacted, followed by appreciable permeability enhancement during sample dilation. Radial extension led to sample dilation, shear failure and permeability increase from the beginning. The krw and kro increased by 40% and 15% post-compaction respectively for the samples corresponding to lower depths during triaxial compression. For these samples, residual oil saturation decreased by as much as 40%. For radial extension, the permeability enhancement decreased with depth and ranged from 20% to 50% while the residual oil saturation decreased by up to 55%. For both stress paths, more shear-enhanced permeability was observed for samples tested at lower pressures, implying that permeability enhancement is higher for shallower sands. The pore pressure increase experiments showed an increase of only 0-10% in absolute permeability except when the effective stress became close to zero. This could possibly have occurred due to steady state flow not being reached during absolute permeability measurement. The krw curves generally increased as the pore pressure was increased from 0 psi. The increase ranged from 5% to 44% for the different boundary conditions and differential stresses. The kro curves also showed an increasing trend for most of the cases. The residual oil saturation decreased by 40-60% for samples corresponding to shallow depths while it increased by 0-10% for samples corresponding to greater depths. The reservoirs with high differential stress are more conducive to favorable changes in permeability and residual oil saturation. These results suggested that a decreasing mean stress path is more beneficial for production increase than an increasing mean stress path. The unconsolidated sands are over-consolidated because of previous ice loading which makes the sand matrix stiffer. In this work, it was found that over-consolidation, as expected, decreased the porosity and permeability (40-50%) and increased the Young’s and bulk moduli of the sand. The result is sand which failed at higher than expected stress during triaxial compression. Overall, results show that lab experiments support increased permeability due to steam injection operations in heavy oil, and more importantly, the observed reduction in residual oil saturation implies SAGD induced deformation should improve recovery factors. / text

Parmi les options en cours d’investigation, le stockage souterrain de l'hydrogène dans les formations sédimentaires comme les grès pourrait offrir un potentiel unique pour stocker de grandes quantités d'énergie. L'évaluation des modalités de stockage souterrain de l'hydrogène nécessite donc à la fois une connaissance précise des transformations minéralogiques dues à la présence de l'hydrogène et l’acquisition de données sur le comportement hydrodynamique des fluides. Par conséquent, cette étude se composera de trois parties : 1- Etude des interactions géochimiques de l’hydrogène dans des formations sédimentaires gréseuses : Les produits expérimentaux portent la marque d'une réaction très limitée entre les minéraux du grès et l'hydrogène. Si les résultats expérimentaux sont combinés aux résultats numériques, l’étude démontre que l'hydrogène, une fois injecté, peut être considéré comme relativement inerte. De façon globale, nos résultats renforcent la faisabilité du confinement de l'hydrogène dans des réservoirs géologiques comme les grès. 2- Etude de la migration de l'hydrogène dans les grès : détermination de la perméabilité relative et de la pression capillaire du système hydrogène-eau : Afin de fournir des données quantitatives pour le développement du stockage souterrain de l'hydrogène, la pression capillaire et la perméabilité relative ont été mesurées pour le système hydrogène-eau en deux conditions potentielles. Les résultats indiquent que les données obtenues sont applicables à l’ensemble des conditions de stockage de l'hydrogène. 3- Modélisation numérique d’un site de stockage géologique d’hydrogène : La simulation numérique a été effectuée pour caractériser l'évolution dynamique d’un site de stockage d'hydrogène pur. Une fluctuation saisonnière du fonctionnement du réservoir et l'effet des fuites d'hydrogène dus aux réactions ont été pris en compte. / Underground hydrogen storage has been introduced as storage solution for renewable energy systems as it offers a unique potential to store large amounts of energy, especially in sedimentary formations such as sandstones. However, evaluating the underground hydrogen storage requires a precise knowledge of the hydrodynamic behavior of the fluids and of mineralogical transformations due to the presence of hydrogen that may affect the storage properties. Therefore, this study is consists in three parts: 1- Study of geochemical reactivity of hydrogen in sandstone sedimentary formations: The experimental products bear the mark of only very limited reaction between sandstone minerals and hydrogen. Taken together with the numerical results, this study demonstrates that hydrogen, once injected, can be considered as relatively inert. Overall, our results support the feasibility of hydrogen confinement in geological reservoirs such as sandstones. 2- Study of the migration of hydrogen in sandstone: determination of relative permeability and capillary pressure of hydrogen-water system: To provide quantitative data for the development of underground hydrogen storage, capillary pressures and relative permeabilities of hydrogen-water system have been measured at two potential conditions. The interpretation of the results would suggest that the obtained data are applicable for the entire range of hydrogen storage conditions. Interfacial tensions and contact angles for the hydrogen-water system have been also derived. 3- Numerical simulation of a geological hydrogen storage site: The numerical simulation was performed to characterize the evolution of pure hydrogen storage, by considering the seasonal fluctuation of renewable energy and the effect of hydrogen loses due to the biotic reactions.

Les réservoirs dits « tight gas » sont constitués de grès de faible perméabilité ayant des propriétés petro-physiques susceptibles de nuire à la productivité du gisement. Une importante zone de transition est observée in situ dans laquelle ni l’eau ni le gaz ne sont suffisamment mobiles pour permettre une extraction industrielle : c’est ce que l’on appellera le « permeability jail ». Cette étude vise principalement à caractériser l’influence du chargement mécanique (via l’utilisation de différentes pressions de confinement) et de la nature des roches (roches provenant de différents puits et prélevées à différentes profondeurs) sur les courbes de perméabilité relative au gaz et les caractéristiques poro-mécaniques de ces roches. La porosité accessible à l’eau mesurée est de 2 à 12%. La perméabilité intrinsèque au gaz a mis en évidence de fortes disparités sans lien avec la porosité des échantillons. Une grande sensibilité de la perméabilité relative au confinement a été observée dès l’application de pressions de confinement de 15 à 30 MPa. Deux familles d’échantillons ont ainsi été identifiées. Les échantillons les plus perméables (perméabilité compris entre 100 – 1000 μD), sont peu sensibles au confinement et leur perméabilité relative ne chute qu’à partir de saturations de l’ordre de 50%. Les échantillons les moins perméables apparaissent beaucoup plus sensibles à la fois au confinement et à la saturation.Des méthodes classiquement utilisées dans le domaine pétrolier reposant sur l’interprétation d’essais de porosimétrie par intrusion mercure, ont également été mise en œuvre pour évaluer les perméabilités relatives et les comparer aux mesures expérimentales / So-called tight gas reservoirs are constituted of low permeability sandstones, which petro-physical properties may interfere with proper gas recovery. They have a low absolute permeability (below 0.1 mD under ambient conditions), a porosity lower than 10%, and a strong sensitivity to in situ stresses as compared to conventional reservoirs. Moreover, an important transition zone is observed in situ, where partial water saturation is present, and which may extend over several hundred meters over the free water table. In such zone, where water saturation is on the order of 40-50%, neither gas nor water seems sufficiently mobile for industrial extraction: this is the permeability jail. Our aim is to assess their actual petro-physical properties, namely porosity, gas permeability under varying hydrostatic stress and water saturation level, in relation with sandstone microstructure. Accessible water porosity measured is between 2 to 12%. The intrinsic permeability to gas did not appeared related to the porosity of samples. A high sensitivity of gas permeability to confinement was observed. Two families of samples were identified. The more permeable samples (permeability between 100-1000 μD), are relatively insensitive to confinement and their relative permeability decrease for water saturation higher than 50%. Less permeable samples appear much more sensitive to mechanical loading and saturation.Methods classically used in oil and gas industry based on the interpretation of mercury intrusion porosimetry tests have also been used to evaluate relative permeability and compared with experimental measurements

[pt] Estima-se que 50 por cento das reservas mundiais de petróleo e gás sejam mantidas em reservatórios carbonáticos naturalmente fraturados. Um dos maiores desafios neste tipo de formações é a sua heterogeneidade. Além da presença de fraturas que conectam longitudinalmente o meio poroso, vugs em diferentes escalas e distribuições estão espalhados por toda a matriz porosa. Essas cavidades tornam as características do escoamento de fluidos significativamente diferentes daquelas dos reservatórios convencionais de estrutura porosa homogênea, e trazem a necessidade de avaliar propriedades petrofísicas equivalentes para o meio heterogêneo. Neste estudo, uma abordagem microfluídica é usada para determinar as curvas de permeabilidade relativa de água e óleo e os perfis de distribuição das fases em micromodelos 2D de meios porosos vugulares. Experimentos de injeção simultânea de água-óleo em estado estacionário foram realizados a diferentes fluxos fracionários de água, monitorando a dinâmica da queda de pressão e visualizando o deslocamento de fluidos na escala de poros. A aquisição de imagens em tempo real por microscopia de fluorescência permitiu examinar a evolução da saturação das fases. A comparação direta entre as curvas de permeabilidade relativa dos meios porosos vugulares com aquela da matriz porosa mostrou que a incorporação de vugs leva a (i) maior permeabilidade absoluta equivalente, especialmente com cavidades mais longas e em maior número, (ii) aumento da ocupação de óleo na matriz porosa, devido à invasão de água menos eficiente, e (iii) maior permeabilidade relativa à água, que flui preferencialmente pelo espaço vugular. Esses resultados são consistentes com a natureza molhável ao óleo dos micromodelos, uma vez que os vugs oferecem menor resistência capilar ao fluxo da fase não molhante. Nossa abordagem microfluídica de baixo custo provavelmente nos permitirá estudar sistematicamente configurações mais complexas de meios porosos heterogêneos / [en] It is estimated that 50 percent of world s oil and gas reserves are held in naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs. One of the biggest challenges in this type of formation is its heterogeneous nature. Besides the presence of fractures that longitudinally connect the porous medium, vugs at different scales and distributions are scattered throughout the porous matrix. These cavities cause fluid flow characteristics to significantly differ from those of conventional homogeneous pore structure reservoirs and bring the need to evaluate equivalent petrophysical properties of the heterogeneous medium. In this study, a microfluidic approach is used to determine the water and oil relative permeability curves and phase distribution profiles in 2D micromodels of vugular porous media. Steady-state water-oil injection experiments were performed in these devices at different fractional flows, while monitoring the dynamics of the pressure drop and visualizing the fluid displacement at the pore scale. Live-image acquisition through fluorescence microscopy made it possible to examine the evolution of the saturation of water and oil phases. The direct comparison between the relative permeability curves of well-characterized vugular porous media and their porous matrix showed that the incorporation of vugs leads to (i) higher equivalent absolute permeability, especially with longer cavities and higher vug density, (ii) increased oil occupancy in the porous matrix, due to less efficient water invasion into the porous matrix, and (iii) higher relative permeability to water, which flows preferentially through the vugular space. These results are consistent with the oil-wet nature of micromodels, since the vugs are offering less capillary resistance to the flow of the non-wetting phase. Our low-cost microfluidic approach will likely allow us to systematically study more complex vugular-fractured systems.

In this master thesis, the magnetic properties of SiFe laminations after cutting and welding are studied. The permeability and the iron loss density are investigated since they are critical characteristics for the performance of electrical machines. The magnetic measurements are conducted on an Epstein frame for sinusoidal variations of the magnetic ux density at frequencies of 50, 100 and 200 Hz, according to IEC 404-2. Mechanical cutting with guillotine and cutting by means of ber and CO2 laser are performed. The inuence of the ber laser settings is also investigated. Especially the assisting gas pressure and the power, speed and frequency of the laser beam are considered. In order to increase the cutting e ect, the specimens include Epstein strips with 1, 2 and 3 additional cutting edges along their length. It is found that mechanical cutting degrades the magnetic properties of the material less than laser cutting. For 1.8% Si laminations, mechanical cutting causes up to 35% higher iron loss density and 63% lower permeability, compared to standard Epstein strips (30 mm wide). The corresponding degradation for laser cut laminations is 65% iron loss density increase and 65% permeability drop. Material of lower thickness but with the same Si-content shows lower magnetic deterioration. Additionally, laser cutting with high-power/high-speed characteristics leads to the best magnetic characteristics among 15 laser settings. High speed settings have positive impact on productivity, since the cutting time decreases. The inuence of welding is investigated by means of Epstein measurements. The test specimens include strips with 1, 3, 5 and 10 welding points. Experiments show an iron loss increase up to 50% with a corresponding 62% reduction in the permeability. A model that incorporates the cutting e ect is developed and implemented in a FEMbased motor design software. Simulations are made for a reference induction motor. The results indicate a 30% increase in the iron losses compared to a model that does not consider the cutting e ect. In case of laser cut core laminations, this increase reaches 50%. The degradation prole considers also the deteriorated magnetizing properties. This leads to increased nominal current up to 1.7% for mechanically cut laminations and 3.4% for laser cut la / I detta examensarbete studeras hur de magnetiska egenskaperna hos SiFe-plat paverkas av skarning och svetsning. Permeabilitet och jarnforlustdensitet undersoks eftersom de ar kritiska variabler for elektriska maskiners prestanda. De magnetiska matningarna genomfordes pa en Epstein ram med en odesfrekvens pa 50, 100 och 200 Hz, enligt IEC 404-2. E ekterna av mekanisk skarning med giljotin samt skarning med ber- och CO2-laser studerades. Inverkan av olika berlaserinstallningar undersoktes ocksa genom att variera gastrycket, skarhastigheten samt frekvensen och e ekten av laserstralen. For att oka skare ekten inkluderades Epsteinremsor med ytterligare 1, 2 och 3 langsgaende skarsnitt. Det visas att mekanisk skarning har en mindre paverkan pa de magnetiska egenskaperna hos materialet an vad laserskarning har. Matningar pa plat med 1.8% Si visar att da prov med tre extra langsgaende giljotinklipp anvands kan permeabiliteten reduceras med upp till 63% och jarnforlusterna kan oka med upp till 35%. Motsvarande resultat for laserskurna platar visar en permeabilitetsreduktion pa upp till 65% och en jarnforlustokning pa upp till 65%. Ur studien av de tva studerade skarprocesserna framkommer aven att tunnare plat paverkas mindre negativt an tjockare plat. Ett antal olika installningar har provats for att utreda hur olika parametrar paverkar e ekterna av laserskarning. Studien indikerar att skarning med hog e ekt och hog hastighet ger den minsta paverkan pa materialets magnetiska egenskaper. Vilket aven har en positiv inverkan pa produktiviteten vid laserskarning. Epsteinprover har aven utforts for att undersoka vilka e ekter som introduceras da SiFe-plat svetsas. Provstyckena bestod av remsor med en, tre, fem och 10 svetspunkter. Experimenten visar en jarnforlustokning med upp till 50% samt en permeabilitetsreduktion upp till 62% da platarna svetsats samman tva och tva. En modell for att studera e ekterna av de forandrade materialegenskaperna vid skarning pa en induktionsmotor utvecklas och implementeras i en FEM-baserad mjukvara. Resultaten tyder pa en jarnforlustokning med 30% da skare ekten orsakad av giljotin beaktas. Vid simulering av laserskuren plat kan denna okning vara sa stor som 50%. Det framkommer aven att laserskarningen kan reducera e ektfaktorn sa mycket som 2.6%.