Abstract
Solute transport processes are influenced by pore-scale heterogeneity. To study this, transient micron-scale solute concentration fields were imaged by fast laboratory-based X-ray micro-computed tomography. We performed tracer injection experiments in three types of porous material with increasing levels of heterogeneity (sintered glass, Bentheimer sandstone and Savonnières limestone). Different Peclet numbers were used during the experiments. For each sample and Peclet number, datasets of 40 to 74 3D images were acquired by continuous scanning with a voxel size of 13.4 to 14.6 µm and a temporal resolution of 15 to 12 seconds. To determine the measurement uncertainty on the obtained concentration fields, we performed calibration experiments under similar circumstances (temporal resolution of 12 seconds and voxel size of 13.0 µm). Here, we provide a systematic description of the data acquisition and processing and make all data, a total of 464 tomograms, publicly available. The combined dataset offers new opportunities to study the influence of pore-scale heterogeneity on solute transport, and to validate pore-scale simulations of this process in increasingly complex samples.
Highlights
Understanding how dissolved substances are transported through liquids in porous media is a key issue in a wide range of natural and engineering applications, such as remediation of contaminated groundwater[1,2,3], waste management[4], CO2 sequestration[5] and building stone performance[6,7]
Solute transport is closely linked to solute spreading and mixing, which is impacted by pore-scale heterogeneities[11]
The combined dataset is uniquely useful to study the influence of pore-scale heterogeneity on mixing and spreading and to validate image-based pore-scale modelling methods, those designed for complex multi-scale porous media[17,18,19,20]
Summary
Understanding how dissolved substances are transported through liquids in porous media is a key issue in a wide range of natural and engineering applications, such as remediation of contaminated groundwater[1,2,3], waste management[4], CO2 sequestration[5] and building stone performance[6,7]. Van Offenwert et al.[14] extended this by quantifying and analysing transient micro-CT concentration fields to investigate solute spreading and mixing in sintered porous glass and in a homogeneous sandstone. The data acquired in these studies covers a range of material heterogeneity (from very homogeneous porous glass to a heterogeneous carbonate rock with multi-scale porosity) at different flow conditions. The data of the calibration experiments in a sintered glass sample was used to determine the relation between gray value and tracer concentration[14]. All raw projection data with the metadata are provided in a separate project on Digital Rocks Portal[24]. This allows for reconstructing the data with different reconstruction software and comparing these reconstructed data with the reconstructions we provide[22,23]
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