TY - JOUR
TI - Topological representation of the porous structure and its evolution of reservoir sandstone under excavation-induced loads
AU - Ju Yang
AU - Yang Yongming
AU - Zhao Xi
AU - Gao Feng
AU - Song Wei
AU - Wang Jianguo
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2017
VL - 21
IS - 11
SP - 285
EP - 292
PT - Article
AB - The porous structure of a reservoir rock greatly influences its evolutive  deformation and fracture behavior during excavation of natural resources  reservoirs. Most numerical models for porous structures have been used to  predict the quasi-static mechanical properties, but few are available to  accurately characterize the evolution process of the porous structure and  its influence on the macroscopic properties of reservoir rocks. This study  reports a novel method to characterize the porous structure of sandstone  using its topological parameters and to determine the laws that govern the  evolutive deformation and failure of the topological structure under various  uniaxial compressive loads. A numerical model of the porous sandstone was  established based on the pore characteristics that were acquired using  computed tomography imaging techniques. The analytical method that  integrates the grassfire algorithm and the maximum inscribed sphere  algorithm was proposed to create the 3-D topological model of the deformed  porous structure, through which the topological parameters of the structure  were measured and identified. The evolution processes of the porous  structure under various loads were characterized using its equivalent  topological model and parameters. This study opens a new way to characterize  the dynamic evolution of the pore structure of reservoir sandstone under  excavation disturbance.