Investigation of rock porosity using vibroacoustography

Abstract

The porosity of materials influences several physical parameters, such as resistance to fractures, thermal conductivity, and fluid flow permeability. The quantification of porosity is important in various fields, ranging from industry to biomedicine. Although various techniques are available to quantify porosity in laboratory environments, its analysis applied in the context of nondestructive tests in industry or biomedical protocols can be challenging. To contribute to the development of alternative methods for measuring the porosity of a material, this paper investigated the feasibility of using vibroacoustography, a low-cost, nondestructive, and noncontact technique, to estimate the porosity of rock samples. The study examined the vibroacoustic response as a function of porosity in synthetic ceramic samples produced using the same material with controlled porosity percentages. Then, the vibroacoustography technique was applied to a realistic case of sandstone rocks with varying porosities. The results showed that the new protocol can be used to estimate the porosity as it demonstrates a relationship between the amplitude of vibroacoustic signals and the porosity of rock samples. These findings could be valuable in exploring and characterizing oil reservoir rocks.