oldkingnearby / pnextract

Pore network extraction from micro-CT images of porous media

pnextract -- pore-network extraction

This code extracts a conventional pore network from a micro-CT image. It is a re-write of the maximal-ball network extraction algorithm by Dong and Blunt, 2009. It is used as a base for the generalized network extraction code Raeini, Bijeljic and Blunt 2017, sponsored by TOTAL. However, here the modules for extracting the generalized network elements (corners) are not included.
The network parameters has been calibrated to reproduce single-phase flow properties, and water-wet relative permeability for a set of sandstone rocks. The code uses a new scale-independent shape factor definition to characterize pores and throats, published in Bultreys et al. 2018.

Instructions

A sample input file, Image.mhd, is provided in the doc folder, in ascii (text) format. Please use this file together with a 8-bit micro-CT image, similar to the Images on our website.

To extract a pore network, decompress the bin/pnextract.exe.7z and run, in a Windows Command Prompt:
bin\pnextract.exe Image.mhd

See the pnextract wiki for more instructions!

Build instructions:

The code is already compiled to bin/pnextract.exe, a Win64 executable, using mingw compilers.

The compilation can be done in Linux by running './AllMake' bash script.

The './AllMakeMinGW' bash script compiles the code for Windows machines. Run './AllClean' beforhand, to avoid mixing the intermidiate Linux and Windows object files.

Dependencies

The included voxelImage library is the main prerequisite. voxelImage itself can optionally be linked to libz and libtiff to support reading .raw.gz and 3D .tif files. Stripped down versions of both of these libraries are provided in the thirdparty directory for compatibility and ease of compilation.

Licence

The code and executables are provided as is, without any kind of warranty; use at your own risk.

For contact and further information see Imperial College - pore-scale consortium website, or send me an email: [email protected]

References

H. Dong and M. J. Blunt, "Pore-network extraction from micro-computerized-tomography images", Phys. Rev. E 80, 036307 (2009) https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.80.036307

A Q Raeini, B Bijeljic, and M J Blunt, "Generalized network modeling: Network extraction as a coarse-scale discretization of the void space of porous media", Phys. Rev. E 96, 013312 (2017) https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.96.013312

T Bultreys, Q Lin, Y Gao, A Q Raeini, A AlRatrout, B Bijeljic, and M J Blunt . "Validation of model predictions of pore-scale fluid distributions during two-phase flow", Phys. Rev. E 97, 053104 (2018) https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevE.97.053104