Establishment of an empirical correlation for estimating the thermal conductivity of igneous rocks

Conference · Fri Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1989 · International Journal of Thermophysics; (USA)

OSTI ID:6014422

Garcia, A; Contreras, E ^[1]; Viggiano, J C ^[2]

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1. Instituto de Investigaciones Electricas, Cuernavaca (Mexico)
2. Gerencia de Proyectos Geotermoelectricos, Michoacan (Mexico)

A correlation to predict the thermal conductivity of andesitic igneous rocks is developed from measured data on drill cores from wells from the Los Azufres geothermal field, Mexico. The correlation was developed from density, porosity, and thermal conductivity. Seventeen determinations were made on drill cores extracted at varying depths from 12 wells. Thermal conductivity varied from 1.05 to 2.34 W {center dot} m{sup {minus}1} {center dot} K{sup {minus}1}, while bulk density varied from 2,050 to 2,740 kg {center dot} m{sup {minus}3} and grain density varied from 2,610 to 2,940 kg {center dot} m{sup {minus}3}. Total porosity varied from 1.9 to 24.7%. Two polynomial regressions, one linear and one quadratic, were tested on the thermal conductivity-times-bulk density product, with total porosity as the independent variable. The correlation coefficients and residual mean square deviations were 0.83 and 0.00491 for the linear fit and 0.87 and 0.00425 for the quadratic model, respectively. For porosities up to about 18%, both models showed very close predictions, but for larger values, the quadratic model appeared to be better and it is recommended for the porosity range from 0 to 25%. Furthermore, density and porosity may be determined from drill cuttings, which are more readily available than cores.

• OSTI ID: 6014422
• Report Number(s): CONF-880606-; CODEN: IJTHD
• Journal Information: International Journal of Thermophysics; (USA), Vol. 10:5; Conference: 10. symposium on thermophysical properties, Gaithersburg, MD (USA), 20-23 Jun 1988; ISSN 0195-928X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
GEOTHERMAL SYSTEMS
GEOPHYSICAL SURVEYS
IGNEOUS ROCKS
THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY
MEXICO
GEOTHERMAL FIELDS
ACCURACY
CORRELATIONS
DENSITY
DRILL CORES
FORECASTING
GEOTHERMAL FLUIDS
GEOTHERMAL WELLS
HYDROTHERMAL ALTERATION
POLYNOMIALS
POROSITY
PROBES
REGRESSION ANALYSIS
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
TEMPERATURE GRADIENTS
TEMPERATURE LOGGING
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
FLUIDS
FUNCTIONS
LATIN AMERICA
MATHEMATICS
NORTH AMERICA
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
ROCKS
STATISTICS
SURVEYS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
WELL LOGGING
WELLS
150301* - Geothermal Exploration & Exploration Technology- Geophysical Techniques & Surveys