Replicating carbonaceous vug in synthetic porous media

This paper presents an alternative method of creating vuggy glass-bead core proxies, which can be used to investigate the effects of pore-scale features on carbonate petrophysical properties. Carbonates are complex rocks having a widespread variation in pore type, size, distribution, and porosity. With this method we can control vug shape, size, and position. Homogeneous glass bead core proxies are sintered using 1.0 mm diameter glass beads in a muffle furnace. Vugs are 3D-printed in plastic and used to make a mold in Play-Doh^®; which is cast in gypsum cement and used as a placeholder during the sintering process. The gypsum vug dissolves during acid flood, leaving an empty space inside the glass matrix. Computed tomography (CT) scans are made of the acid washed vug space and compared to the 3D model.