This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will adapt a new method for permeability measurement to allow for simultaneous measurements of electrical resistivity and deformation. Many fundamental bulk properties of rock such as permeability, electrical resistivity, and elastic constants are highly dependent on details of the pore structure. Attempts to infer properties such as permeability from measurements of electrical resistivity and acoustic velocities (common in borehole geophysics) require a thorough understanding of the inter-relationships between these and other bulk properties and the underlying pore structure which controls them. While a number of models have been developed which predict the inter-relationships between fundamental bulk properties and pore structure, validation and routine use of these models requires a means of making a large number of diverse measurements on core in a routine fashion. Permeability and electrical resistivity are two of the most important properties for understanding pore structure. While laboratory measurement techniques for these properties are well developed, simultaneous measurements of permeability and electrical resistivity have been difficult to perform, inhibiting routine and integrated measurement. The proposal work will adapt a new method for permeability measurement in order to construct an apparatus for routine and automated measurement of permeability, specific storage, electrical resistivity, and deformation. The apparatus and technique to be developed will be well suited for routine measurements as well as experimental studies of pore structure and its relationship to the fundamental bulk properties of rock.
