Lattice-Boltzmann simulation of permeability in granular rocks

William J. Bosl, Jack Dvorkin, Amos Nur

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

Our goal is to explicitly calculate absolute (single-phase) permeability in high-porosity granular rocks. To meet this goal we model rock as a dense random pack of identical spherical grains with diagenetic cement deposited in the pore space. The position of the sphere centers in our numerical model are taken from experimental measurements (the Finney pack). The diagenesis is simulated in various ways: uniform cement deposition on the surface of each grain (uniform growth of the grains); cement deposition at grain contacts; and cement deposition away from grain contacts. Permeability is computed by explicitly modeling Stokes flow in the simulated pore space. The numerical method used is the lattice Boltzmann method. This method allows for simulating viscous fluid flow for pore geometries of arbitrary complexity. Our simulations produce distinctively different permeability-porosity relationships depending on the cement deposition pattern. Cement deposited in the pore space away from grain contacts has the most dramatic effect on permeability. A similar effect is observed in natural rocks.

Original languageEnglish
Pages999-1000
Number of pages2
DOIs
StatePublished - 1997

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 1997 SEG Annual Meeting. All rights reserved.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics

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