An evaluation of permeability of statistically reconstructed three-dimensional pore structures with lattice boltzmann simulations

Water flow and related processes at the pore scale essentially occur in three dimensions (3D). Unfortunately, it is often difficult and expensive to obtain reliable "images" of the 3D pore structure. Several techniques are available to statistically generate 3D pore structures from spatial information derived from 2D microscope images of thin sections of rock and soil. The question remains, however, whether the reconstructed media are functionally identical to the 3D originals. In this study we try to answer this question by reconstructing pore structures of idealized media. Lattice Bolzmann simulations are carried out to compare the permeabilities of the original and reconstructed 3D media.