Relative permeability from tomographic images; effect of correlated heterogeneity

Ji Youn Arns, Christoph H. Arns, Adrian P. Sheppard, Rob M. Sok, Mark A. Knackstedt, W. Val Pinczewski*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    58 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We examine the calculation of relative permeability and residual saturation using networks derived from tomographic images of Fontainebleau sandstone previously used to successfully calculate single-phase transport properties. In contrast to electrical conductivity and permeability calculations, we find that that computed relative permeabilities and residual saturations for samples of the same sandstone display a high degree of variability. Randomizing pores and throats to remove all correlations almost completely eliminates the variability between samples and produces smooth numerical data sets. We conclude that correlations in rock microstructure, which appear to have little effect on the calculation of single fluid properties, have a major effect on computed relative permeability and residual saturation.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)247-259
    Number of pages13
    JournalJournal of Petroleum Science and Engineering
    Volume39
    Issue number3-4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Sept 2003

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