Predicting permeability and electrical conductivity of sedimentary rocks from microgeometry

Conference · Fri Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5839145

Schlueter, E M; Cook, N G.W. ^[1]; Zimmerman, R W; Witherspoon, P A ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA) California Univ., Berkeley, CA (USA). Dept. of Materials Science and Mineral Engineering
2. Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)

The determination of hydrologic parameters that characterize fluid flow through rock masses on a large scale (e.g., hydraulic conductivity, capillary pressure, and relative permeability) is crucial to activities such as the planning and control of enhanced oil recovery operations, and the design of nuclear waste repositories. Hydraulic permeability and electrical conductivity of sedimentary rocks are predicted from the microscopic geometry of the pore space. The cross-sectional areas and perimeters of the individual pores are estimated from two-dimensional scanning electron micrographs of rock sections. The hydraulic and electrical conductivities of the individual pores are determined from these geometrical parameters, using Darcy's law and Ohm's law. Account is taken of the fact that the cross-sections are randomly oriented with respect to the channel axes, and for possible variation of cross-sectional area along the length of the pores. The effective medium theory from solid-state physics is then used to determine an effective average conductance of each pore. Finally, the pores are assumed to be arranged on a cubic lattice, which allows the calculation of overall macroscopic values for the permeability and the electrical conductivity. Preliminary results using Berea, Boise, Massilon and Saint-Gilles sandstones show reasonably close agreement between the predicted and measured transport properties. 12 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76SF00098; AC22-89BC14475
• OSTI ID: 5839145
• Report Number(s): LBL-30298; CONF-910728--13; ON: DE91011882
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300 -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
052002 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
58 GEOSCIENCES
580000* -- Geosciences
CAPILLARY FLOW
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DARCY LAW
DESIGN
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ENERGY SOURCES
ENGINEERING
ENHANCED RECOVERY
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FLUID FLOW
FLUIDS
FORECASTING
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOMETRY
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
MASS TRANSFER
MATHEMATICS
MICROSCOPY
MICROSTRUCTURE
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OHM LAW
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLANNING
POROSITY
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS