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SPE 94271

Improved Permeability Equation From the Bundle-of-Leaky-Capillary-Tubes Model


F. Civan, SPE, U. of Oklahoma

Copyright 2005, Society of Petroleum Engineers


This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2005 SPE Production and Operations
Symposium held in Oklahoma City, OK, U.S.A., 17 19 April 2005.
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Abstract
There is no consensus about the proper theory and equation of
permeability of porous media in spite of the numerous
investigations conducted to date. Many different expressions
have been proposed in the literature for permeability
prediction and/or correlation. The presently available and
frequently used models, including the popular KozenyCarman equation, have certain limitations and are inadequate
for applications involving the geological porous media. The
bottom-line question is just what is the equation of
permeability of the geological porous formations?
This paper provides some insights into the
relationship of the porosity and permeability. The bundle of
leaky capillary hydraulic tubes with cross-flow model of
porous media by Civan1-7 is shown to alleviate the deficiencies
of the present models. This model adequately approximates
the actual flow schemes in porous media because it allows for
interactions between the capillary hydraulic paths. The
porosity-permeability data of various core samples are
analyzed with this model. It is demonstrated that the power
law exponent of the leaky-tube model deviates significantly
from the unity. Therefore, the Kozeny-Carman8-9 equation
having a constant exponent of unity cannot describe such core
data.
Introduction
Permeability is a primary characteristic parameter of porous
materials involving fluid flow. The permeability of geological
porous formations depends on many variables in a
complicated manner. The proper modeling of the permeability
of porous materials is instrumental in the applications
involving porous materials encountered in the nature and
engineering. Predictability of permeability is essential for the
development of accurate methods for monitoring and
describing the transport of various fluid phases and species,
such as pollutants, water, oil, and gas, in large subsurface
geological porous formations, ordinarily referred to as

reservoirs. Judging by the reported studies, there appears to be


no consensus among the present approaches as to the proper
theory and the equation of permeability of porous media in
spite of numerous investigations conducted to date.
Various theoretical and laboratory studies have been
carried out to determine the functional relationships for
permeability. The conventional approaches used for
characterization of flow through porous media estimate the
permeability based on the description of flow either around the
grains (microscopic description) or through a bundle of
capillary tubes (macroscopic description) (Rajani10). Various
approaches are available for determining the permeability,
including (1) empirical models, (2) hydraulic-tube models, (3)
network models, (4) homogenization, (5) renormalization, (6)
neural networks, (7) effective medium theory, (8) fractal
representation, and (9) well-log based equations.
Consequently, many different expressions have been proposed
in the literature for permeability prediction and/or correlation.
The bottom-line question is just what is the equation of
permeability for geological porous media?
The majority of the previous approaches incorporated
both the independent and dependent variables into the
development of the equations for permeability of porous
media. Frequently, some independent variables have been
omitted and/or considered implicitly through the dependent
variables. There is a tendency of expressing permeability in
terms of the conveniently measurable parameters. However,
these parameters may not necessarily be the truely
independent variables. This results in the loss of the identity of
some independent variables and/or multiple counting of some
variables in different forms of the dependent variables. The
examples of such cases have been reported in a review limited
to only 32 of the different equations presently available for
permeability prediction and/or correlation (Babadagli and AlSaimi11). It is important to correctly identify the truly
independent variables and express the permeability in terms of
these variables.
Civan1-7 developed a new equation of permeability
based on a model of porous media considering the fractal
attributes of pores and description of the flow channels as a
bundle of tortuous capillary hydraulic tubes undergoing crossflow in between them. This formulation accounts for the
constrictions along the hydraulic tubes by means of a fractal
description of the cross-sectional area available for fluid flow.
The various hydraulic tubes interact with each other
depending on the pore connectivity. Hence, this model
represents the actual flow patterns occurring in porous media
better than the previous models. The result is a permeability-

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SPE 94271

porosity relationship conforming to a power law flow unit


equation. It expresses the mean-hydraulic tube diameter as a
power-law function of the pore volume to matrix grain
volume. The effect of the cementation and/or grain fusing and
embedment is also considered by a cement exclusion factor.
Theoretically, the power law exponent may vary from zero to
infinity. Therefore, the deviations from the Kozeny-Carman
equation as indicated by various core data and pointed out by
many studies can be represented accurately. This is a practical
and simplified lumped-parameter model offerring various
advantages. It allows for straight-line plotting, accurate
correlation, and practical interpretation of the porositypermeability data. Civan1-7 demonstrated that this model
represents the behavior of the geological porous media
accurately. Haro12 demonstrated that Civans leaky-tube
model leads to a perfect permeability transform using logs and
cores.
Most previous approaches determined the
permeability from porosity alone (Nelson13). Civan1-7 has
shown that, in addition to porosity, at the least the
coordination number and cementation factor should also be
taken into account in order to formulate a meaningful equation
of permeability. The coordination number is a measure of the
pore connectivity. It affects the cross flow between the
capillary hydraulic tubes. The cementation and grain fusing
reduce the porosity by occupying part of the pore space. These
affect the pore connectivity by obstruction of the pore throats.
The permeability equations omitting the effects of these
variables on the behavior of the fluid in an interconnected pore
structure often fail to describe the permeability in the
geological porous media. However, this is only a required
condition and not a sufficient condition for accurate prediction
of permeability. Different hydraulic flow units are
encountered when moving from point to point in
heterogeneous porous media. Hence, Civan4,6 pointed out that
the kinetic equations are also needed to express the functional
dependency of the relevant factors and to accurately account
for the variation and transformation of the hydraulic flow units
to other types of reservoir flow units in the geological porous
media.
Civan4-7 implemented the effects of the pore
connectivity, the valve action of pore throats, and the
cementation factor into a bundle of tortuous leaky capillarytubes model of porous media to derive a macroscopic equation
of permeability. Then, the parameters of the power-law
equation were related to the pore connectivity measured by the
coordination number using suitable functional relationships,
derived from the rate equations. The validity and accuracy of
this approach was confirmed by comparison with the directly
measured core data and the pore-scale simulation generated
data. The proposed approach allowed for incorporation of
various data within a single, compact, and simple power-law
equation over the full range of porosity and permeability. The
power law parameters were formulated and determined as
functions of the coordination number and/or porosity, because
the coordination number correlates well with porosity. The
analysis of the permeability vs. porosity data demonstrated
that the power law flow unit model alleviates the deficiencies
of the Kozeny-Carman equation.

From a practical point of view, the primary advantage


of the present approach is providing an accurate and practical
equation of permeability. This equation can be readily
incorporated into the modeling of the geological porous media
processes into large-scale field simulations. The majority of
the presently available simulators lack in the capability of
accurate prediction of permeability while focusing primarily
on the solution of the governing partial differential equations
using accurate and elegant numerical procedures. However,
the accuracy of the numerical results generated by such
simulators is obviously limited by the least accurate
ingredient, one of which is usually the prediction of
permeability. Therefore, the accurate equation of permeability
is instrumental in improving the capabilities of such
simulators.
The Equation of Permeability of Porous Media
Frequently, the permeability of porous media (K) is defined by
the frictional drag according to Darcys law. Permeability is
an empirical proportionality factor in Darcys law and a
characteristic property of porous media. It can be inferred
through a suitable flow description in porous media. For this
purpose, typical fluid assumptions include incompressible,
Newtonian, single-phase, and isothermal conditions. Typical
flow assumptions consider a laminar conditition and Darcian
flow regime. The internal flow along the hydraulic flow paths
is usually described as a Hagen-Poiseuille flow.
Permeability of geological formations may vary at
the spatial scale by heterogeneity and/or temporal scale by
evolution of the pore structure and alteration of pore
connectivity by various mechanisms, such as porous matrix
deformation and rock-fluid-particle interactions. Therefore,
different hydraulic flow units may be encountered at different
locations and/or time in a heterogeneous geological porous
medium.
The equation of permeability K = function
(Variables) should express the permeability as a function of
the relevant independent variables. Obviously, the effective
porosity is a primary factor. But, permeability cannot be
predicted from porosity alone (Nelson13). However, most
internal properties and parameters of porous media depend
primarily on porosity. There are several examples of such
parameters. Specific surface determines the pore surface or
wall friction effect. Tortuosity is a measure of the length of the
hydraulic flow tubes. Coordination number is a measure of the
pore connectivity affecting the extent of cross flow between
the various hydraulic tubes. Grain cementation and/or fusing
may cause a reduction of porosity and loss of pore
connectivity. Such factors have been shown to depend on the
effective porosity and therefore can be eliminated by
expressing them as functions of porosity. Such multiple affects
of porosity has been usually described by the power-law type
functions.
The difficulty in distinguishing between the variables
of permeability into one category or another is due to the
intermingled nature of some variables. For example, the welllog parameters often include the effect of several independent
variables. Also, permeability is usually formulated in terms of
the conveniently measurable variables and not necessarily by
using the truly independent variables.

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SPE 94271

The relevant variables of porous media can be


classified into two groups: a) Microscopic scale and b)
macroscopic scale. The macroscopic scale variables averaged
over the representative volume element of porous media are
preferred in most field scale simulation. This is because the
macroscopic properties can be more conveniently measured
than the microscopic properties.
The mathematical formulation of the permeability
equation is discussed here in terms of two approaches: a)
Expressing the functional relationship of the permeability by
means of the method of separation of independent variables
and b) applying a bundle of capillary and leaky tubes with
cross flow model of porous media (Civan1-7, and Civan and
Nguyen14).
Empirical Equation of Permeability via the
Separation of Variables
The equation of permeability expresses the functional
relationship of the permeability (dependent variable) by means
of the method of distinguishing and separation of independent
variables. The theoretical trends of the effects of various
independent variables can be correlated at the macroscopic
scale with the core data and their parametric sensitivity can be
determined. These relationships can be invoked into the
general permeability correlation, given as:
n

K / K o = f ( xi / xio ) .......................................................(1)
i =1

f ( xi / xio ) is a function of a scaled independent


variable (xi/ xio). It is reasonable to consider a multi-variable
power-law correlation as:
where

mi

K / K o = a ( xi / xio ) ......................................................(2)
i =1

This equation can be written as following, for convenience:


n

log ( K / K o ) = log a + mi log ( xi / xio ) .............................(3)


i =1

where a and mi are some empirically determined fitting


parameters. These parameters can be determined by a multivariable least-squares method. The number of independent
variables is denoted by the index n. The relevant independent
variables can be combined in terms of the meaningful
dimensionless groups. This can help determine the universal
equation of permeability applicable to the geological porous
media as a predictive tool.
Theoretical Equation of Permeability based on the
Leaky-Tube Model of Porous Media
The mathematical foundation is based on the representation of
porous media by a bundle of capillary and leaky tubes model
allowing cross-flow between the preferential hydraulic paths
(Fig. 1). The flow characteristics are determined by several
factors, including the coordination number, mean-pore
diameter, mean-hydraulic tube diameter, specific pore surface,
and tortuosity. The hydraulic tubes or preferential flow paths
connect the pore bodies with each other as described in Fig. 1.
These tubes can also interact because of the cross-flow
established in between them (Civan7, and Civan and
Nguyen14). The network of pore bodies connects the pore

throats acting as valves. They control the fluid flow between


the pore bodies. The permeability of porous media decreases
when the pore throats close and interrupt the continuity of the
flow.
Civan1-7 theoretically expressed the mean-pore
diameter as a three-parameter power-law function of the pore
volume to matrix volume ratio based on the fractal attributes
of the interconnected pore space in porous media as:


=
.............................................................. (4)


where K and are the permeability and porosity,
K

K represents the pore size (Leveret15).

respectively,

and are the exponent and interconnectivity parameters, and


is a cement exclusion factor. These parameters have values
defined as < 1.0 , 0 < , and 0 .
The cement exclusion factor is necessary in order to
relate the pore surface expressed per bulk volume b to the
pore surface expressed per grain volume g according to the
following equation:
b = g ( ) ................................................................. (5)
The cement exclusion factor is given by:
= 1 c ........................................................................... (6)
where c is the volume fraction of the cementation and/or
grain consolidation in bulk porous media. The cement
exclusion factor is = 1.0 when the grain consolidation by
cementing, fusing, and other means, is zero, and
therefore c = 0 .
The values of the parameters and may vary
significantly if the fluid flow through pore throats is restricted.
Civan4,6,7 derived the theoretical expressions relating the
parameters and of Eq. (4) to the phenomenological
parameters of the fluid and rock interaction processes and
parameters based upon a fractal view of porous media.
Different flow units may be encountered due to the pore
alteration and/or changing location in a heterogeneous porous
medium (Civan6). Therefore, the characteristic parameters of
Eq.(4) are variable with the porosity according to the
following relationship:
( 1 )max 1 = max C /A

(7)

1
1

)max (

)min

max

min

C /A

min

min max

; <0

The subscripts min and max indicate the minimum and


maximum values. Thus, when and vary but is
approximately constant, a convenient straight-line plot of the
core porosity-permeability data can be obtained using one of
the following linearized forms of Eq.(4):
K

(8)
( 2 )1 log 2 = log

( 2 + 1)

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= log


( )

log

(9)

SPE 94271

However, the parameter should be allowed to vary for


improved accuracy.
The best estimate values of the parameters , ,

min , max ,

( )
1

min

( )
1

max

, min , max , and (C/A) of

Eqs.(7) and (8) or (9) are estimated by means of the leastsquares method to match the measurements of the
permeability and porosity of the core samples. Then, the
fractal dimension d (dimensionless) is calculated by
(Civan4,6,7):
d = 3(1 + 2 ) .......................................................................(10)
The value of d depends on the constriction of the hydraulic
tubes in a porous medium. The value is d < 3 for a porous
medium containing constricted tubes. The value is close to the
value d = 3 for a porous medium containing non-constricted
tubes.
Applications
The above-mentioned parameters of the leaky-tube model of
porous media are correlated in order to develop an accurate
equation of permeability. The core data of Sakurai et al.16,
Archie17, and Cinar et al.18 are analyzed in order to
demonstrate the application and accuracy of the equation of
permeability based on the leaky-tube model. Applications of
Eq. (8) are provided elsewhere by Civan7. Equation (9) is used
here. The results obtained by these equations are identical for
the same data. However, the coefficient of the least-squares
linear regression is closer to 1.0 for Eq.(9) than Eq.(8).
Veracruz Basin Formation. As described by Sakurai et al16,
the lithologies in the Veracruz Basin in Mexico include sand,
shale, conglomerate, limestone, and igneous rock. Fig. 2
shows the linear regression of these data with the power-law
flow unit equation using Eq.(9). Fig. 3 shows that the powerlaw flow unit equation satisfactorily represents the data trends
except for a few outliers. The best estimates of the parameter
values input to Fig. 2 and the coefficient of regression R 2 are
presented in Table 1, column 2. The value of d = 2.2 implies
that the porous medium is effectively open for flow. This
fractal porous medium is very close to the theoretical case of d
= 3 for a non-fractal 3-dimensional medium. Fig. 4 shows the
variation of and with described by Eq.(7). The
interconnectivity function varies in the range of 0 200 .
The cement exclusion factor is = 0.5 . This is an indication
that the formation contains some permeability- and porosityreducing constituents and/or features. The power-law
exponent varies in the range of 1.55 < .
Upper Wilcox (Mercy) Sandstone Formation. Archie17
describes the upper Eocene Wilcox formation in Mercy, Texas
as friable and partly cemented sandstone, containing poorly
sorted grains and grading to shaly sandstone in the lowpermeability range. Figure 5 shows the linear regression of
these data with the power-law flow unit equation using Eq.(9).
Figure 6 shows that the power-law flow unit equation
represents the data trends satisfactorily. The best estimates of
the parameter values input to Fig. 5 and the coefficient of
regression R 2 are presented in Table 1, column 3. The value

of d = 1.4 implies that the area open for flow belongs to a


fractal porous medium, partly constricted with cement. This
fractal porous medium deviates significantly from the
theoretical case of d = 3 for a non-fractal 3-dimensional
medium. Fig. 7 shows the variation of and with as
described by Eq.(7). The interconnectivity function varies in
the range of 0 270 . The cement exclusion factor
= 0.422 is significantly lower than the unity for this partly
cemented sandstone. The power-law exponent varies in the
range of 2.51 < .
Nacatoch (Bellevue) Fine Grained Sandstone Formation.
Archie17 describes the Nacatoch sandstone formation in
Bellevue, Louisiana as being friable, shaly, and calcareous
sandstone, containing poorly sorted grains and having
comparatively high porosity for permeability. Figure 8 shows
the linear regression of these data with the power-law flow
unit equation using Eq.(9). Figure 9 shows that the power-law
flow unit equation represents the data trends satisfactorily. The
best estimates of the parameter values input to Fig. 8 and the
coefficient of regression R 2 are presented in Table 1, column
4. The value of d = 1.5 implies that the area open for flow
belongs to a partly constricted fractal porous medium. The
fractal porous medium deviates significantly from the
theoretical case of d = 3 for a non-fractal 3-dimensional
medium. Figure 10 shows the variation of and with
described by Eq.(7). The interconnectivity function varies in
the range of 0 106 . The cement exclusion factor
= 0.6 is lower than the unity for this comparatively high
porosity sandstone for permeability. The power-law exponent
varies in the range of 4.5 < .
Compacted Salt Granulates. Cinar et al18 present the data on
an artificially compacted sodium chloride salt granulates.
Figure 11 shows the linear regression of these data with the
power-law flow unit Eq.(9). Figure 12 shows that the powerlaw flow unit equation represents the data trends accurately.
The best estimates of the parameter values input to Fig. 11 and
the coefficient of regression R 2 are presented in Table 1,
column 5. The value of d = 0.6 implies that the area open for
flow belongs to a highly constricted fractal porous medium.
Figure 13 shows the variation of and with according
to Eq.(7). The range of 0 0.00006 indicates that the
interconnectivity of the pores is very limited to almost none.
The best estimate of the cement exclusion factor = 0.248 is
significantly lower than the unity. This is because the
compacted sodium chloride salt granulates are strongly fused
together. The power-law exponent varies in the range of
1.75 < .
Discussion and Conclusions
It has been shown that the leaky-tubes model can adequately
represent the flow units and accurately correlates the
permeability-porosity relationship of actual geological porous
formations. The permeability-porosity relationships of the
geological porous formations differ significantly from the
Kozeny-Carman equation. The power-law exponent varies in a

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SPE 94271

wide range for all the data analyzed and is much greater than
the constant = 1.0 value indicated by the Kozeny-Carman
equation. Therefore, the Kozeny-Carman equation cannot
represent the data analyzed in this paper. It is concluded that
the leaky-tube model provides a practical and accurate
equation of permeability.
The present applications of the equation of
permeability based on the leaky-tube model resorted to the
determination of the relevant parameter values by the leastsquares linear regression method. Because the present model
is nonlinear, the uniqueness of the determined parameter
values may be questioned. This inverse parameter estimation
approach has been applied here because the only information
available for the core samples consisted from the porositypermeability cross-plots. However, the uniqueness in the
parameter values can be achieved by direct measurements of
their values. This requires the special core analysis using the
tedious and expensive petrographical and petrophysical
techniques. For example, the cementation factor, the fractal
dimension, and the minimum and maximum values of the
porosity can be determined directly by means of the wellestablished computer-aided tomography and thin-section
analysis methods. Such detailed analyses are recommended
for future studies. Nevertheless, the present least-squares
linear regression method provides a reasonable correlation of
the porosity-permeability data of the various core samples.

3.

Nomenclature
a = empirical constant, dimensionless
C/A = combined parameter
d = fractal dimension
K = permeability, L2
Ko = reference permeability, L2
mi = exponent, dimensionless
n = number of independent variables
= cement exclusion parameter, fraction
c = fractional bulk volume occupied by cementation
materials, fraction
= exponent, dimensionless
= exponent, dimensionless
= interconnectivity function, L
= interconnectivity coefficient, L
= porosity, fraction
o = reference porosity, fraction
b = total pore surface per bulk volume, L2/L3
g = total pore surface per grain volume, L2/L3
o =
reference value
min= minimum value
max= maximum value

12.

References
1.

2.

Civan, F., A multi-purpose formation damage model, SPE


31101. Proceedings of the SPE Formation Damage Symposium,
Lafayette, Louisiana, (February 14-15, 1996), p. 311.
Civan, F., Predictability of porosity and permeability
alterations by geochemical and geomechanical rock and fluid
interactions, Paper SPE 58746, Proceedings of the SPE
International Symposium on Formation Damage held in
Lafayette, Louisiana, (23-24 February, 2000) p. 359-370.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.
9.

10.

11.

13.
14.

15.
16.

17.

18.

Civan, F., Reservoir Formation Damage- Fundamentals,


Modeling, Assessment, and Mitigation, Gulf Publ. Co., Houston
(2000) 742 p.
Civan, F., Scale effect on porosity and permeability- kinetics,
model, and correlation, AIChE J. (2001) vol. 47, No. 2, p. 271287.
Civan, F., Fractal formulation of the porosity and permeability
relationship resulting in a power-law flow units equation- a
leaky-tube model, Paper SPE 73785, Proceedings of the SPE
International Symposium on Formation Damage held in
Lafayette, Louisiana (23-24 February, 2002).
Civan, F., Relating Permeability to Pore Connectivity Using A
Power-Law Flow Unit Equation, Petrophysics Journal
(November-December 2002) Vol. 43, No. 6, pp. 457-476.
Civan, F., Leaky-Tube Permeability Model for Identification,
Characterization, and Calibration of Reservoir Flow Units, SPE
84603, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held
in Denver, Colorado (5 - 8 October 2003) 14p.
Carman, P.C., Flow of Gases through Porous Media,
Butterworths, London (1956).
Kozeny, J., Uber kapillare leitung des wasser im boden,
Sitzungsbericht der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien (1927)
v. 136, p. 271-306.
Rajani, B.B., A simple model for describing variation of
permeability with porosity for unconsolidated sands, In Situ
(1988) vol. 12, n. 3, p. 209-226.
Babadagli, T. and Al-Salmi, S., A Review of PermeabilityPrediction Methods for Carbonate Reservoirs Using Well-Log
Data, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering (April 2004)
pp. 75-88.
Haro, C. F., The Perfect Permeability Transform Using Logs
and Cores, Paper SPE 89516, presented at the SPE Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Houston, Texas,
USA (26-29 September 2004) 17p.
Nelson, P.H., Permeability-porosity relationships in sedimentary
rocks, The Log Analyst (1994) p. 38-62, May-June.
Civan, F. and Nguyen, V., Modeling Particle Migration and
Deposition in Porous Media by Parallel Pathways with
Exchange, Chapter 11, Handbook of Porous Media, Second
Edition, Vafai, K. (Ed.), Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York, New
York (2005).
Leverett, M.C., Capillary behavior in porous solids, Trans.
AIME (1941) vol. 142, pp. 152-169.
Sakurai, S., Ambrose, W.A., Jennette, D.C., Holtz, M.H.,
Dutton, S.P., Fouad, K., Wawrzyniec, T.F., Dunlop, D.B., and
Guevara, E.H., and Grimaldo-Suarez, F.M., Aguilera-Gomez,
L.E., and Rodriguez-Larios, J.A., Petrophysical Evaluation of
Miocene-Pliocene Gas Reservoirs: Veracruz and Macuspana
Basins, Mexico, Petrophysics Journal (March-April 2003),
Vol. 44, No. 2, pp. 116-125.
Archie, G.E., Introduction to Petrophysics of Reservoir Rocks,
Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists
(May 1950), Vol. 34, No. 5, 943-961.
Cinar, Y., Pusch, G., and Reitenbach, V., Analysis of the Pore
Structure of Compacted Salt Material Based on the
Measurement of Hydraulic Properties, Technical Paper
presented at the Solution Mining Research Institute, Spring 2001
Technical Meeting, Orlando, Florida (2001).

SI Metric Conversion Factors


E01 = m
ft 3.048*
2
*
ft 9.290 304 E02 = m2
psi 6.894 757 E+00 = kPa
darcy 9.869 233 E01 = m2 = 1012m2
cp 1.0*
E03 = Pa.s

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SPE 94271

TABLE 1- BEST ESTIMATE VALUES OF THE


PARAMETERS OF THE EQUATION OF
PERMEABILITY BASED ON THE LEAKY-TUBE
MODEL OF POROUS MEDIA.
Parameters

Sakurai
et al.16
Veracruz
Basin

Archie17
Upper
Wilcox
(Mercy)

Archie
Nacatoch
(Bellevue)

Cinar et
18
al.
Compacted
Salt

-0.14

-0.27

-0.25

-0.40

2.2

1.4

1.5

0.6

0.5

0.422

0.6

0.248

min

0.0001

0.00047

0.0001

0.00005

max

( )

min

( )

max

0.645

0.398

0.222

0.571

min

max

200

270

106.

0.00006

C/A

70

100

50.

50.

R2

0.85

0.66

0.88

0.94

17

Fig. 1- The leaky-tube model of porous medium


consisting from the interacting bundle of preferential
capillary hydraulic paths formed in the horizontal
flow direction over a network of interconnected
pores. A different pattern of hydraulic paths would
be formed in other flow directions.

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SPE 94271

0.5

1.0

y=x
R = 0.8465

0.8
or / max

0.0

max

-0.5

-1

0.4

-1

-1.0

0.2

-1.5
-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.0
0.00

0.5

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.00

Porosity, , fraction

log10 [/()]

Fig. 2- Straightline plot of the data of Sakurai et al.16


using Eq. 9.

Fig. 4- Variation of the interconnectivity parameter


and exponent with porosity for the data of Sakurai et
al.

1.0E+03

0.5

y=x
2
R = 0.6612
(2+1) 1 log10 {K/[()2]}

1.0E+02

Permeability, K, mD

0.6

(2+1)1 log10 {K/[(-)2]}

1.0E+01

1.0E+00

1.0E-01

0.0

-0.5

1.0E-02

1.0E-03
0.00

-1.0

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

0.30

-1.0

Porosity, , fraction

Fig. 3- Cross-plot of the data of Sakurai et al.

-0.5

0.0

0.5

log10 [/()]

Fig. 5- Straightline plot of the Upper Wilcox (Mercy)


data of Archie17 using Eq. 9.

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SPE 94271

0 .4

1.0E+03

y= x
(2+1 ) 1 log10 {K/[( ) 2]}

0 .3

Permeability, K, mD

1.0E+02

1.0E+01

1.0E+00

R2 = 0.879

0 .2

0 .1

0 .0

- 0 .1

1.0E-01

- 0 .2

1.0E-02
0.05

- 0 .2

0.10

0.15

0.20

0.25

- 0 .1

0 .0

Fig. 6- Cross-plot of the Upper Wilcox (Mercy) data


of Archie.

0 .2

0 .3

0 .4

log10 [/ ( )]

0.30

Porosity, , fraction

0 .1

Fig. 8- Straightline plot of the Nacatoch (Bellevue)


data of Archie16 using Eq. 9.

1.0E+03

1.0

1.0E+02
Permeability, K, mD

-1 -1
/ max or /max

0.8
0.6
0.4

1.0E+01

1.0E+00

0.2
1.0E-01
0.20

0.0
0.00

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.00

0.30

0.35

0.40

0.45

Porosity, , fraction

Porosity, , fraction
Fig. 7- Variation of the interconnectivity parameter
and exponent with porosity for the Upper Wilcox
(Mercy) data of Archie.

0.25

Fig. 9- Cross-plot of the Nacatoch (Bellevue) data of


Archie.

www.petroman.ir

SPE 94271

1.0E-11

1.0

Permeability, K, mD

0.8
-1 -1
/ max or /max

1.0E-12

0.6

0.4

1.0E-13
1.0E-14
1.0E-15
1.0E-16

0.2
1.0E-17
1.0E-18
0.00

0.0
0.00

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.00

0.05

0.10

0.15

0.20

Porosity, , fraction

Porosity, , fraction

Fig. 12- Cross-plot of the data of Cinar et al.


Fig. 10- Variation of the interconnectivity parameter
and exponent with porosity for the Nacatoch
(Bellevue) data of Archie.

0.5

1.0

0.8
or / max

0.0

-1
max

-0.5

0.6

0.4

-1

(2+1) 1 log10 {K/[()2]}

y=x
2
R = 0.9405

-1.0

0.2

-1.5

0.0
0.00

-1.5

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.00

Porosity, , fraction

log10 [/()]

Fig. 11- Straightline plot of the data of Cinar et al.18


using Eq. 9.

Fig. 13- Variation of the interconnectivity parameter


and exponent with porosity for the data of Cinar et
al.

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