Effect of temperature and fluid on rock microstructure based on an effective-medium theory

Abstract

Abstract Temperature and pressure variations during the geologic diagenesis process can lead to complex pore structures in tight rocks. The effective-medium theory, based on the stress–strain relationship in combination with pore structure parameters, can be used to describe the elastic-wave responses of rocks. In this work, the differential effective medium (DEM) and self-consistent approximation (SCA) models are combined to invert the pore-crack spectrum. The Voigt–Reuss–Hill average is used to estimate the elastic moduli of the minerals. Then, based on SCA, the pore structures are incorporated into the rock matrix to create a new host phase. Subsequently, the DEM theory is used to add cracks with different volume fractions and aspect ratios to the host phase. To predict the structure of pores and cracks (crack density and aspect ratio), an objective function is defined as the sum of variances between experimentally measured and predicted wave velocities. The results show that the modeling predictions of P- and S-wave velocities at different temperatures and pressure ratios agree well with the experimental measurements. Variations in pore structure are determined at a zero effective pressure and different temperatures. We analyze the characteristics of how cracks change with variations in temperature and confining pressure, providing a theoretical basis for characterizing the structure of tight rocks.