Investigation of Fractures Hydrodynamics by Reconstructing the Rock Surface using Image Processing

Fractures are the vital arteries of the reservoir. In the low permeability formations such as tight carbonates and shale gases, fracture conductance plays an undeniable role. In the present study a computational method in rock surface reconstruction has been presented in order to consider the effect of rock roughness in the fracture permeability. Using magnified digital images of rock surface and a written code in MATLAB® software leads to present a reconstruction of the rock surface which is noticeably similar to initial digital two dimension images. This modeled surface can be related to rock roughness especially in the cases such as fractures which the reservoir fluid is macroscopically flowing on the rock surface. Finally, a comparison has been presented between the smoothed surface fractures, reconstructed surface beside correlations and the sinusoidal roughness surfaces.