Success !  We have managed to find a stable mathematical way of identifying the ‘cluster ratio’ for a particular samples, by means of which those voids that are likely to be clusters of smaller voids can be identified. A new PoreXpert operation and user interface have been designed and implemented by our programmer.

The patented, world leading PoreXpert cluster analysis is very powerful, but currently requires trial and error to find out how many voids are likely to be clusters. We are therefore busy automating it.

We are using the University of Plymouth’s world-leading Focussed Ion Beam Scanning Electron Microscope (FIB-SEM) as part of a major on-going consultancy project for a client.

We presented a poster (available from the downloads page) and summary oral presentation at the Annual Symposium of the Society of Core Analysts in Pau, France on 26-29th August 2019. The talk was entitled ‘Inverse modelling of nano- to macro-scale voidage within tight-oil shale’.

Percolation measurements – mercury porosimetry, porometry and soil water retention – do not reveal the volumes of large voids surrounded by smaller connections.  The new and exciting PoreXpert cluster analysis now identifies features which are likely to be clusters of smaller voids within larger void zones, and estimates the sizes of the smaller voids  inside each cluster, see Transport in Porous Media September 2018.