Patent ID: 9372162
Filing Date: 2016-06-21
CPC Classification: G01N

Claim Text:
1. A method to characterize subterranean formations, comprising: a) extracting drill cuttings from a used drilling fluid at the Earth's surface, wherein the drilling fluid transports the drill cuttings to the Earth's surface after use of the drilling fluid in a drilling of a wellbore in a subterranean reservoir; b) grouping the drill cuttings into a group of cuttings based on a time of arrival of the drill cuttings at the Earth's surface; c) repeating steps a) and b) at least once to provide a plurality of groups of drill cuttings that arrive sequentially at different recorded times at the Earth's surface, wherein the plurality of groups of drill cuttings are placed in separate respective containers in a sequential arrangement thereof, wherein different containers are used to store different groups of drill cuttings having different times of arrival; d) measuring a bulk density of at least one of the plurality of groups of drill cuttings of c) to provide a measured bulk density; e) performing a multi-energy X-ray CT scan of the at least one group of drill cuttings of d) to generate digital images of the drill cuttings of the group of drill cuttings; f) estimating an estimated bulk density and effective atomic number as data pairs for each of the cuttings of the at least one group of cuttings scanned in e), wherein the estimating of the estimated bulk density further comprises using the measured bulk density measured in step d) in calibrating and adjusting estimated density values determined for the cuttings of the at least one group of cuttings scanned in e); g) assembling a reconstituted core using at least of a portion of the at least one group of drill cuttings; and h) determining at least one rock or formation parameter associated with a subterranean location in the subterranean reservoir using the reconstituted core.