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Volume 72, Issue 2
  • E-ISSN: 1365-2478

Abstract

Abstract

Unconsolidated sandstones are attractive targets for underground storage of carbon due to their high porosity and permeability. Monitoring of injection and movement of CO in such formations using elastic waves requires an understanding of the acoustic properties of the sandstone. Current approaches often use the so‐called soft‐sand model in which a Hertz–Mindlin model of the acoustic properties at high porosity is mixed with the acoustic properties of the mineral phase to predict the acoustic properties over the entire porosity range. Using well‐log data from two unconsolidated sand formations of interest for CO storage, we discuss the limitations of this model and provide an alternative approach in which the mechanical properties of grain contacts are obtained by inversion, and the properties of infill material lying within the pore space are estimated. The formations considered are the Paluxy Formation in Kemper County, Mississippi, and the Frio Formation near Houston, Texas. The ratio of the normal to shear compliance of the grain contacts is found to be significantly less than unity for both formations. This implies that the grain contacts are more compliant in shear than in compression. However, the grain contact compliance is higher and the ratio of the normal to shear compliance is lower for the Frio example than for the Paluxy case, and this may lead to sliding at grain contacts with low shear compliance and transport of grains during fluid flow, particularly if CO acts to weaken any cement that may be present at the grain contacts. Such transport was suggested by Al Hosni et al. in explaining why the magnitude of the time‐lapse effect due to the injection of CO at the Frio CO injection site is greater than predicted using conventional rock physics models. A simple model of the mechanical properties of infill material lying within the pore space suggests that the bulk and shear moduli of infill material in the Paluxy case are significantly higher than the Frio case, consistent with the lower grain contact compliance in the Paluxy case.

© 2024 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers. © 2023 European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers.
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2024-01-30
2025-06-19

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Elastic properties of unconsolidated sandstones of interest for carbon storage
Geophysical Prospecting 72, 617 (2024); https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2478.13438
/content/journals/10.1111/1365-2478.13438
/content/journals/10.1111/1365-2478.13438
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): elastic; reservoir geophysics; rock physics; sand reservoir; sandstone

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