Experimental device for chemical osmosis measurement on natural clay-rock samples maintained at in situ conditions: implications for formation pressure interpretations.

In order to characterize the so-called coupled processes occurring in compacted clay rocks, the coupling coefficients must be identified. For this purpose, an original device which allows such measurement for undisturbed (natural) samples in their in situ conditions was developed. The present experimental device minimizes the fluid leaks improving the accuracy of the coupling parameter determination. Three chemical osmotic tests were performed on a cylindrical sample of Callovo-Oxfordian argilite. Room temperature variations during the chemical osmosis experiments required the implementation of temperature effects in the numerical model used for the interpretations. These variations offered the opportunity of an alternative method to estimate the compressibility of the fluid in the circuit connected to a measurement chamber located in the center of the sample. An osmotic efficiency of almost 0.2 for a concentration of 0.094 mol L(-1) is obtained for the Callovo-Oxfordian argilite. This value would explain only some part (approximately 0.10-0.15 MPa) of the overpressures (0.5-0.6 MPa) relative to the surrounding reservoirs measured in this formation. Others processes, such as thermo-osmosis, hydrodynamic boundary condition changes due to climate variations or creep behavior of the shale, could explain the remainder of the overpressures.