A Pixel-Wise k-Immediate Neighbour-Based Image Analysis Approach for Identifying Rock Pores and Fractures from Grayscale Image Samples

Abstract

The purpose of the current study is to propose a novel meta-heuristic image analysis approach using multi-objective optimization, named ‘Pixel-wise k-Immediate Neighbors’ to identify pores and fractures (both natural and induced, even in the micro-level) in the wells of a hydrocarbon reservoir, which presents better identification accuracy in the presence of the grayscale sample rock images. Pores and fractures imaging is currently being used extensively to predict the amount of petroleum under adequate trap conditions in the oil and gas industry. These properties have tremendous applications in contaminant transport, radioactive waste storage in the bedrock, and CO2 storage. A few strategies to automatically identify the pores and fractures from the images can be found in the contemporary literature. Several researchers employed classification technique using support vector machines (SVMs), whereas a few of them adopted deep learning systems. However, in these cases, the reported accuracy was not satisfactory in the presence of grayscale, low quality (poor resolution and chrominance), and irregular geometric-shaped images. The classification accuracy of the proposed multi-objective method outperformed the most influential contemporary approaches using deep learning systems, although with a few restrictions, which have been articulated later in the current work.