A percolation model for the permeability of kaolinite-bearing sandstones

  • G. Korvin

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

A new model for the permeability of shaly sandstones containing discrete particle (kaolinite) clays is developed. The experimentally found decrease in permeability for sufficiently high clay contents and low but non-zero porosities is recognized as a percolation phenomenon, due to the blocking of a critical fraction of throats between the pores by kaolinite particles. The main results is an expression for permeability in terms of grain size, porosity and kaolinite volume fraction. The expression contains a percolation factor which is identified with the divergence of the tortuosity near the percolation threshold. The model was applied to compute the permeability of 229 kaolinite-bearing sandstone samples from Jurassic to Early Cretaceous fluvial and lacustrine reservoirs of the Eromanga Basin, South Australia. -from Author

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)177-209
Number of pages33
JournalGeophysical Transactions - Eotvos Lorand Geophysical Institute of Hungary
Volume37
Issue number2-3
StatePublished - 1992

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Environmental Science
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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