Microstructure Study on Barnett Shale

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2012-05

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Abstract

This thesis presents the discussion of the microstructure of the Barnett Shale as studied using the combined technology of the Focus Ion Beam (FIB) and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). This study mainly focuses on 12 core samples from the Barnett Shale reservoir. Theoretical models, which could be used to calculate the effective stiffness tensor of gas shale, require different types of input data. I used the FIB-SEM to find support for input parameters required for theoretical models, such as cracks connectivity, aspect ratio, mineral alignment, porosity, etc., since the pictures taken from the FIB-SEM offer us a way to analyze what is going on in the nano – scale world. This paper also discusses obtaining the other input data using various methods. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) was used to get the mineral compositions. The result of XRD indicates that the core samples are mainly comprised by quartz and clay minerals. Total Organic Carbon (TOC) contents of 12 samples were measured with the average around 4.5%.

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Keywords

Barnett Shale, Gas shales, Focus Ion Beam, Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction

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