RECO3D : Development of a tool for fractures characterization on 3D outcrop.
Soon : Petrophysics, a database for petrophysical properties of rocks.
Soon : magnetism for Archeology.
RECO3D : Development of a tool for fractures characterization on 3D outcrop.
The scientific context
Fractures are discontinuities in the rocks that can be formed by multiple geological processes and play an important role in numerous geological contexts. They have a main impact on rock in slope or boreholes stability, are the host of mineralization explored for some mining ores, or are important flow conduits in many applications from geothermal to oil & gas reservoirs. It is especially the case for the so-called « unconventional » reservoirs for which the hydraulic and mechanical modelling have to take into account these elements to be predictive.
To characterize and include the fractures in the geological models, the classical analysis methods are with fracture maps or scan lines at the outcrop or with borehole imagery. These analyses help to determine fracture organization in space, their orientation and length distribution, fracture network connectivity… More the collected data are statically robust, more the models integrate different properties, more the representation of the geological object will be accurate and the modelling results will be predictive. However, two main difficulties are encountred when the measured properties have to be transfered to numerical modelling:
- The fracture network is a complex 3D object and the link between measures on maps (2D) or on scan lines (1D) is not obvious and needs hypothesis or simplification that bring uncertainities in the model.
- Fractures are present from the scale of the grain of the rock to kilometric surfaces that it is never possible to study as a whole. The fractures with length from decameter to hectometer are particularly undersampled while they play a first order role at the scale of geological reservoir.
The RECO3D project
The objectives of the RECO3D project is to take advantage of the development of UAVs and LIDAR technologies to characterize the fracture network on outcrops with three main purposes:
- The characterization of fractures with decametric to hectometric length on cliffs and quarries.
- Lay the foundation of a tool for fractures analysis in 3D, in order to reduce the uncertainities in fracture network modelling.
- Automate the detection and analysis of the fracture planes to increase the efficiency of the study.
The proposed Workflow works in three main steps, from the 3D data acquisition on outcrop to the fracture properties analysis:
This tool can now be used in our geological studies in which fracture network analysis is necessary. Do not hesitate to contact us for more informations.
The development of this tool was founded by BPI France, in collaboration with the start up Tessael, specialized in numerical modeling of geological objects. It is a first step of a complet tool development for explicit fracture modeling for flow and geomechanical analysis.