Visualizing Fluid Flow in Reservoir Rocks with Dynamic Micro-CT

Fluid flow through reservoir rocks is shaped by the complex dynamics of pore geometry, connectivity, mineral composition, and fluid interactions. Traditional methods often fail to capture these processes.

• Lack of Temporal Insight: Static imaging cannot show how fluids move, displace, or become trapped over time.

• Scale Disconnect: Fine pore-scale behavior often doesn’t translate well to core-scale predictions.

• Incomplete Porosity Characterization: Average metrics miss key aspects like true pore connectivity or actual fluid pathways in heterogeneous materials.

• Undetected Trapping Mechanisms: Without 4D data, phenomena such as residual saturation, fingering, and capillary trapping remain hidden.

To support better energy resource management, researchers need real-time, multiscale visualization — something dynamic micro-CT is uniquely equipped to deliver.

Capture Unsteady-State Flow in Real Time

Track how fluids move through rock pores during injection and displacement, ideal for oil recovery and gas storage studies.

Understand Heterogeneous Rock Behavior Across Scales

Visualize pore networks, grain structures, and fracture interactions from the millimeter to micrometer range.

Link Core Experiments to Reservoir Models

Extract pore network properties and fluid transport metrics directly from 3D rock volumes to support predictive simulations.

Observe Complex Recovery and Trapping Mechanisms

See how residual oil, CO₂, or hydrogen is retained or redistributed under dynamic, realistic conditions.

TESCAN’s micro-CT workflow for dynamic pore-scale fluid analysis enables in-situ, non-destructive 4D imaging of rock samples under controlled flow conditions.

Typical Workflow Steps: 

Software tools facilitate visualization of large 4D datasets, isolate key time steps, and clearly highlight flow dynamics.

Dynamic and Multiscale Micro-CT

TESCAN’s micro-CT systems go beyond static imaging, allowing researchers to observe dynamic fluid behavior at the pore scale:

• Dynamic micro-CT Imaging (4D): Monitor real-time displacement of fluids like water, CO₂, or oil under realistic injection scenarios.

• High Spatial Resolution: Visualize pore throats, grain contacts, and microfractures with sub-micron voxel sizes.

• Multiscale Integration: Combine full-core scans with ultra-detailed imaging of selected regions for a complete reservoir picture.

• Data-Driven Property Modeling: Supports the extraction of relative permeability, capillary pressure, and saturation profiles from actual rock volumes.

This approach bridges experimental research with digital rock physics and reservoir simulation workflows.

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)

Monitor core flooding experiments with CO₂, foam, or polymers in real time. Visualize displacement fronts, track saturation changes, and understand residual oil trapping. Multiscale imaging helps link pore-level events to overall recovery efficiency.

CO₂ and Hydrogen Storage

Observe gas movement and capillary trapping during subsurface injection. Monitor hydrogen displacement in porous media and identify potential leakage or entrapment zones.

Pore Network and Fracture Modeling

Create pore-scale maps to model permeability. Capture fracture geometry and matrix-fracture interactions in both tight and fractured reservoirs.

Pollutant Transport and Environmental Studies

Follow chemical movement in contaminated cores to model pollutant dispersion or evaluate cleanup strategies in subsurface remediation.