A Casting and Imaging Technique for Determining Void Geometry and Relative Permeability Behavior of a Single Fracture Specimen

A casting technique has betn developed for ding translucent replicas of the void space of natural rock measurui by means of light attenuation. Digital h g e analysis yields a virtuatly pointwise definition of fracture am. The casting technique for muring fratfractures. Amnuation of light &n& through the cast combin& with digital image analysis a pointtWe Wid space geometry has evaluated by comparison with the older profilomem a m x h * with wise definitibn of fracturt apertures. The technique has been applied to a fracture specimen from Dixie Valley, Nevada, and the measured void space geometry has been used to develop theoretical predictions of t w o ~ phase relative permeability. A strong anisotropy in relative permeabilities has been found, which is caused by highly anisotropic spatial carrelations among fractrnt apertures. aperture distributions. e definition of void geomtay obtained for a specimen from Dixie Valley, Nevada, has been a theoretical analysis of efktive fmctlllrc perty to two fluid phases flowing simultaneously. e results for fracturt relative permeabilities are comP d with earlie findings for ar&%d computcfINTRODUCTION DESCRIPTION OF ROCK SPECIMEN Fluid flow in most high-temperature geothermal or range-front normal County, Nevada. The e surface, and the 5 mm) coating of side rock sllrfaccs, km, and fault surfaces past there had been con-