Pore type variations account for complex velocity-porosity relationship and intensive permeability heterogeneity and consequently low oil and gas recovery in carbonate reservoir. However, it is a challenge for geologist and geophysicist to quantitatively estimate the influences of pore type complexity on velocity variation at a given porosity and porosity-permeability relationship. A new rock physics-based integrated approach in this study was proposed to quantitatively characterize the diversity of pore types and its influences on wave propagation in carbonate reservoir. Based on above knowledge, permeability prediction accuracy from petrophysical data can be improved compared to conventional approach. Two carbonate reservoirs with different reservoir features, one is a shallow carbonate reservoir with average high porosity (>10%) and another one is a supper-deep carbonate reservoir with average low porosity (<5%), are used to test the proposed approach. Paleokarst is a major event to complicate carbonate reservoir pore structure. Because of limited data and lack of appropriate study methods, it is a difficulty to characterize subsurface paleokarst 3D distribution and estimate its influences on reservoir heterogeneity. A method by integrated seismic characterization is applied to delineate a complex subsurface paleokarst system in the Upper San Andres Formation, Permian basin, West Texas. Meanwhile, the complex paleokarst system is explained by using a carbonate platform hydrological model, similar to modern marine hydrological environments within carbonate islands. How to evaluate carbonate reservoir permeability heterogeneity from 3D seismic data has been a dream for reservoir geoscientists, which is a key factor to optimize reservoir development strategy and enhance reservoir recovery. A two-step seismic inversions approach by integrating angle-stack seismic data and rock physics model is proposed to characterize pore-types complexity and further to identify the relative high permeability gas-bearing zones in low porosity reservoir (< 5%) using ChangXing super-deep carbonate reservoir as an example. Compared to the conventional permeability calculation method by best-fit function between porosity and permeability, the results in this study demonstrate that gas zones and non-gas zones in low porosity reservoir can be differentiated by using above integrated permeability characterization method.

The phenomenon of plume persistence was observed for five federal Superfund sites by analysis of historical groundwater-withdrawal and contaminant-concentration data collected from long-term pump-and-treat operations. The potential factors contributing to plume persistence are generally recognized to include incomplete isolation of the source zone, permeability heterogeneity, well-field hydraulics, and non-ideal (rate-limited, nonlinear) desorption. However, the significance of each factor, especially the site-specific contribution is undetermined, which is very important for site development and management. One objective of this study is to quantify the impacts of different factors on mass-removal efficiency. Three-dimensional (3D) numerical models were used to simulate the impact of different well-field configurations on pump-and-treat mass removal. The relationship between reduction in contaminant mass discharge (CMDR) and mass removal (MR) was used as the metric to examine remediation efficiency. Results indicate that (1) even with effort to control the source, residual impact of source can still be a factor causing plume persistence, (2) the well-field configuration has a measurable impact on mass-removal efficiency, which can be muted by the influence of permeability heterogeneity, (3) in terms of permeability heterogeneity, both variance and correlation scale influence the overall mass-removal behavior, (4) the CMDR-MR relationship can be used to quantify the impacts of different factors on mass-removal efficiency at the plume scale. It has been recognized that the use of pump and treat for groundwater remediation will require many decades to attain site closure at most complex sites. Thus, monitored natural attenuation (MNA) and enhanced attenuation (EA) have been widely accepted as alternatives because of their lower cost and sustainable management for large, complex plumes. However, the planning and evaluation of MNA/EA applications require greater levels of characterization data than typically collected. Advanced, innovative methods are required to characterize specific attenuation processes and associated rates to evaluate the feasibility of MNA/EA. Contaminant elution and tracer (CET) tests have been proposed as one such advanced method. Another objective of this study is to investigate the use of modified well-field configurations to enhance the performance of CET tests to collect critical site-specific data that can be used to better delineate attenuation processes and quantify the associated rate coefficients. Three-dimensional numerical models were used to simulate the CET test with specific well-field configurations under different conditions. The results show that the CET test with a nested (two-couplet) well-field configuration can be used to characterize transport and attenuation processes by eliminating the impact of the surrounding plume. The results also show that applying select analytical mass-removal functions can be an efficient method for parameter estimation, as it does not require the use of mathematical transport modeling and does not require the attendant input data that are costly and time-consuming to obtain.

L’objet de cette thèse est de développer des méthodologies permettant d’identifier la distribution spatiale des valeurs de perméabilité dans des échantillons de roches. Nous avons tout d’abord développé en laboratoire des expériences d’injection de fluide miscible très visqueux dans des échantillons initialement saturés par une saumure peu visqueuse. Pendant l’injection, l’évolution au cours du temps de la pression différentielle entre les deux faces de l’échantillon a été enregistrée par des capteurs de pression. En outre, des mesures scanner ont fourni une carte 3D de la porosité ainsi que des cartes 3D décrivant la distribution spatiale des concentrations dans l’échantillon à différents temps. Nous avons mis en place une méthode d’interprétation donnant directement le profil 1D de la perméabilité le long de la direction d’écoulement à partir de la pression différentielle mesurée au cours du temps. Cette méthode a été validée numériquement et expérimentalement. Puis, afin d’affiner la description de l’agencement des valeurs de perméabilité dans l’échantillon, c’est à dire d’obtenir un modèle 3D de perméabilité représentatif de l’échantillon, nous avons développé une méthodologie itérative de calage des pressions et des concentrations. Cette méthode passe par deux étapes : une optimisation simple pour capturer l’hétérogénéité dans la direction de l’écoulement et une optimisation complexe pour capturer l’hétérogénéité transverse. Cette méthode a été validée à partir de tests numériques. La méthode a été appliquée à deux des expériences d’injection de fluide visqueux. Nous avons pu alors déterminer des modèles de perméabilité capables de reproduire assez bien les données de pression et de concentration acquises pendant l’injection / The objective of this study is to develop new methodologies to identify the spatial distribution of permeability values inside the heterogeneous core samples. We developed laboratory viscous miscible displacements by injecting high viscosity glycerin into the core samples initially saturated by low viscosity brine. The pressure drop across the samples was measured as a function of time until breakthrough. Meanwhile, CT scan measurements provided a 3D porosity map plus several 3D maps of concentration distribution inside the core samples at different times. A simple permeability mapping technique was developed deducing a one-dimensional permeability profile along the flow direction from the measured pressure drop data. The method was validated with both numerical and laboratory experiments. To go beyond one-dimensional characterization of permeability into cores, we developed an iterative process for matching pressure and concentration data. This method consisted of two steps: a simple optimization for capturing the permeability heterogeneity along the flow direction axis and a complex optimization for capturing transversal permeability heterogeneities. The methodology was validated by numerical data. It was also applied to the data collected from two laboratory viscous miscible displacements. We showed that the final 3D permeability models reproduce well the measured pressure drop and concentration data