Characterization of Pore Space and Fines

Knowledge of the size, shape, and other characteristics of pores and of the fine particles is essential to the understanding of the various processes that occur in the release and migration of fines in porous media. This knowledge can be obtained by pertinently characterizing the fines and the porous media. A detailed characterization of this complex system is extremely difficult and will not be attempted in this chapter. Instead, we intend to discuss only the most relevant aspects of migration, such as the size of fines, size of pore constrictions, surface charge of fines and porous surface, and the interactions between the permeating liquid and the porous media. Furthermore, in order to keep the task manageable, we confine our attention to migratory fines in two important classes of porous media: sandstones and soil. The procedures and the other aspects of this characterization, nevertheless, can be applied to fines migration in a number of other porous media such as ground water flows.