EarthCube IA: Digital Rocks Portal: a Sustainable Platform for Sharing, Translation, and Analysis of Volumetric Data of Porous Media

高分辨率成像技术的最新进展提供了丰富的3D数据集，揭示了岩石和土壤的微观结构。现在可以进行数值实验并构建详细的模型来模拟这些材料的孔隙空间中的流体流动或机械变形等现象。这个研究框架通常被称为数字岩石物理学，可以为环境、土木工程和石油工程中的重要决策提供信息，并解决关键的地质问题。例如：遏制流域中毒素或有害细菌的传播；设计安全的堤坝；提高碳氢化合物的回收，以及了解岩石形成的历史。然而，由于这些数据集的大小以及缺乏描述图像类型和相关信息的标准，研究人员在存储和共享这些数据集方面存在困难。这阻碍了模拟方法的科学交叉验证，并限制了跨度从微米(百万分之一米，构成岩石的单个孔隙和颗粒的大小)到千米(地质盆地或含水层的水平)的研究的发展。跨长度尺度的研究对于表征千米尺度上的岩石和流动特性非常重要，这些特性通常依赖于微米尺度上的复杂过程。该项目将继续开发一个可持续、开放和易于使用的资源库，称为数字岩石门户(https://pep.tacc.utexas.edu/).该门户将：a)组织各种多孔材料的图像和相关实验测量；b)为更广泛的地球科学和工程研究人员提供更多获取多孔介质分析结果的机会，这些研究人员不一定受过计算机科学或数据分析方面的培训；以及c)提高生产力、科学研究和以数据为基础的工程决策。该门户将纳入软件工具和管道，使来自EarthCube和其他地方的研究人员更容易组织、发布和重复使用数据，并让教育工作者快速可视化和向广大受众说明概念。为了实现数据的可持续性和持续访问，该门户在由德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的德克萨斯高级计算中心(TACC)部署和维护的可靠高性能计算基础设施中实施，该中心由德克萨斯大学系统研究网络基础设施(UTRC)倡议提供支持。我们将与德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校(UTCT)的高分辨率X射线计算机断层扫描设施(UTCT)协调开发和数据集成，该设施是美国最大的学术成像设施之一。最后，一个重要的贡献将是开发一种商业模式，以维持从研究投资获得的重要数据集的长期保存。

Recent advances in high-resolution imaging techniques have provided a wealth of 3D datasets that reveal the microstructure of rocks and soil. It is now possible to conduct numerical experiments and construct detailed models to simulate phenomena such as fluid flow or mechanical deformation in the pore spaces of these materials. Popularly called digital rock physics, this research framework can inform important decisions in environmental, civil and petroleum engineering, as well as address key geological questions. Examples include: containing the spread of toxins or harmful bacteria in watersheds; designing safe dams; improving recovery of hydrocarbons, and understanding the history of rock formation. Researchers, however, have trouble storing and sharing these datasets due to their large sizes and the lack of standards to characterize image types and associated information about them. This impedes scientific cross-validation of the simulation approaches, and limits the development of studies that span length scales from a micrometer (a millionth of a meter, the size of individual pores and grains making up a rock) to a kilometer (the level of a geological basin or aquifer). Studies spanning length scales are important to characterize rock and flow properties at the kilometer scale that often depend on complex processes on the micrometer scale.This project will continue the development of a sustainable, open and easy-to-use repository called the Digital Rocks Portal (https://pep.tacc.utexas.edu/). The portal will: a) organize the images and related experimental measurements of diverse porous materials; b) improve access to porous media analysis results for a wider community of geoscience and engineering researchers not necessarily trained in computer science or data analysis; and c) enhance productivity, scientific inquiry, and engineering decisions founded on a data-driven basis. The portal will incorporate software tools and pipelines that make it easier for researchers from EarthCube and beyond to organize, publish and reuse data, and for educators to quickly visualize and illustrate concepts for a wide audience. For data sustainability and continuous access, the portal is implemented within the reliable High Performance Computing Infrastructure deployed and maintained at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin, which is supported by The University of Texas System Research Cyberinfrastructure (UTRC) initiative. We will coordinate development and data integration with the High-Resolution X-ray Computed Tomography Facility at The University of Texas at Austin (UTCT), one of the largest academic imaging facilities in the nation. Finally, an important contribution will be the development of a business model for sustaining long-term preservation of important datasets obtained from research investments.