Determining fracture roughness from a core

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12540884-B2
Application number	US-202318448676-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 11, 2023
Priority date	Aug 11, 2023
Publication date	Feb 3, 2026
Grant date	Feb 3, 2026

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for determining fracture roughness from a core is described. In examples, a drill core is scanned to obtain core images, and natural fractures in the core images are identified using sequential filtering. The identified natural fractures in the core images are digitized and used to obtain a fracture profile comprising a pair of sinusoids corresponding to the top wall and the base wall of the identified natural fractures. A best fitting sinusoid of the fracture profile is determined and used to calculate at least one statistical estimator. The calculated statistical estimator is used to calculate a joint roughness coefficient.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A computer-implemented method for determining fracture roughness from a drill core, the method comprising:
scanning, using at least one hardware processor, a drill core to obtain core images; identifying, using the at least one hardware processor, natural fractures in the core images, wherein the identification of natural fractures is done using sequential filtering that comprises:
excluding from further processing core images that show fractures formed by damage to the drill core;
excluding from further processing core images that show bed splitting;
excluding from further processing core images that show disking;
excluding from further processing core images that show vertical fractures with planes parallel to a direction of maximum horizontal stress when the core is obtained from a vertical borehole; and
excluding from further processing veins and other fractures of partial intersections;
digitizing, using the at least one hardware processor, the identified natural fractures in the core images to obtain a pair of ellipses corresponding to a top wall and a base wall of the identified natural fractures; unrolling, using the at least one hardware processor, the pair of ellipses into a fracture profile comprising a pair of sinusoids corresponding to the top wall and the base wall of the identified natural fractures; determining, using the at least one hardware processor, a best fitting sinusoid of the fracture profile, wherein at least one statistical estimator is calculated using a difference between the best fitting sinusoid and the fracture profile; and converting, using the at least one hardware processor, the calculated statistical estimators to a joint roughness coefficient.

2 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein excluding from further processing core images that show bed splitting is performed using a predetermined threshold to filter core splits along bed planes.

3 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , comprising excluding drill cores from scanning that do not satisfy a predetermined geometry.

4 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , comprising excluding damaged drill cores from scanning.

5 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein digitizing the identified natural fractures in the core images to obtain a pair of ellipses comprises tracing the identified natural fractures.

6 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the best fitting position of the sinusoid minimizes the joint roughness coefficient.

7 . The computer implemented method of claim 1 , comprising calculating mismatches of the top wall and the base wall of a respective natural fracture using a correlation coefficient or a standard deviation of apertures between the top wall and the base wall.

8 . An apparatus comprising a non-transitory, computer readable, storage medium that stores instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:
scanning a drill core to obtain core images; identifying natural fractures in the core images, wherein the identification of natural fractures is done using sequential filtering that comprises:
excluding from further processing core images that show fractures formed by damage to the drill core;
excluding from further processing core images that show bed splitting;
excluding from further processing core images that show disking;
excluding from further processing core images that show vertical fractures with planes parallel to a direction of maximum horizontal stress when the core is obtained from a vertical borehole; and
excluding from further processing veins and other fractures of partial intersections;
digitizing the identified natural fractures in the core images to obtain a pair of ellipses corresponding to a top wall and a base wall of the identified natural fractures; unrolling the pair of ellipses into a fracture profile comprising a pair of sinusoids corresponding to the top wall and the base wall of the identified natural fractures; determining a best fitting sinusoid of the fracture profile, wherein at least one statistical estimator is calculated using a difference between the best fitting sinusoid and the fracture profile; and converting the calculated statistical estimators to a joint roughness coefficient.

9 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein excluding from further processing core images that show bed splitting is performed using a predetermined threshold to filter core splits along bed planes.

10 . The apparatus of claim 8 , comprising excluding drill cores from scanning that do not satisfy a predetermined geometry.

11 . The apparatus of claim 8 , comprising excluding damaged drill cores from scanning.

12 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein digitizing the identified natural fractures in the core images to obtain a pair of ellipses comprises tracing the identified natural fractures.

13 . The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the best fitting position of the sinusoid minimizes the joint roughness coefficient.

14 . The apparatus of claim 8 , comprising calculating mismatches of the top wall and the base wall of a respective natural fracture using a correlation coefficient or a standard deviation of apertures between the top wall and the base wall.

15 . A system, comprising:
one or more memory modules; one or more hardware processors communicably coupled to the one or more memory modules, the one or more hardware processors configured to execute instructions stored on the one or more memory models to perform operations comprising: scanning a drill core to obtain core images; identifying natural fractures in the core images, wherein the identification of natural fractures is done using sequential filtering that comprises:
excluding from further processing core images that show fractures formed by damage to the drill core;
excluding from further processing core images that show bed splitting;
excluding from further processing core images that show disking;
excluding from further processing core images that show vertical fractures with planes parallel to a direction of maximum horizontal stress when the core is obtained from a vertical borehole; and
excluding from further processing veins and other fractures of partial intersections;
digitizing the identified natural fractures in the core images to obtain a pair of ellipses corresponding to a top wall and a base wall of the identified natural fractures; unrolling the pair of ellipses into a fracture profile comprising a pair of sinusoids corresponding to the top wall and the base wall of the identified natural fractures; determining a best fitting sinusoid of the fracture profile, wherein at least one statistical estimator is calculated using a difference between the best fitting sinusoid and the fracture profile; and converting the calculated statistical estimators to a joint roughness coefficient.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein excluding from further processing core images that show bed splitting is performed using a predetermined threshold to filter core splits along bed planes.

17 . The system of claim 15 , comprising excluding drill cores from scanning that do not satisfy a predetermined geometry.

18 . The system of claim 15 , comprising excluding damaged drill cores from scanning.

19 . The system of claim 15 , wherein digitizing the identified natural fractures in the core images to obtain a pair of ellipses comprises tracing the

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co
• The Chancellor Masters And Scholars Of The Univ Of Oxford

Inventors

• Al-Fahmi Mohammed M
• Ozkaya Sait Ismail

Classifications

• G01V2210/646

  Fractures · CPC title

• G06T7/60

  Analysis of geometric attributes · CPC title

• G01N33/24

  Earth materials (G01N33/42 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01B11/30 Primary

  for measuring roughness or irregularity of surfaces · CPC title

• E21B49/00

  Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells · CPC title