E. Abousrafa/Pet.

Eng, HWU
A hydraulic unit is defined as the units of
reservoir rock that have similar averages of
rock properties, which affect fluid and
electric flow
(Amaefule et al, 1993)
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Definition:
The concept of petrophysical hydraulic unit is used
to classify the rocks based to their pore size
attributes
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Kozeney-Carman equation relates permeability,
effective porosity, mean hydraulic radius and
tortuosity as follows:
( )
2
2
2
2
2 2 2
mh
r
r
k

=
|
.
|

\
|
=
Hydraulic unit classification of core data is
based on Kozeney-Carman equation
Capillary tube model
E. Abousrafa/Pet.Eng, HWU
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
The mean hydraulic radius is related to surface area
per unit grain volume and effective porosity as
follows:
|
|
.
|

\
|

1
1
gr
mh
S
r
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Substituting the mean hydraulic radius in Kozeny-
Carman equation, the equation becomes:
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
2 2 2
3
1
1
g g
S F
k

E. Abousrafa/Pet.Eng, HWU
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
If the new Kozeny-Carman equation is divided by
and taking the square root of both sides, then:
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|

=
g g
S F
k

1
1
Fg for real rocks differ from 2, however it is 2 for a
perfect cylindrical tube
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Applying field units for permeability {mD) and by
taking the logarithm of both sides of the modified
Kozeny-Carman equation:
( )
|
|
.
|

\
|
+

=
g g
S F
k

1
log
1
log 0314 . 0 log
Or
FZI z RQI log log log + =
E. Abousrafa/Pet.Eng, HWU
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Plot of RQI vs z on log-log plot will yield a straight
line with unit slop and an intercept equals to FZI
FZI z RQI log log log + =
FZI is the parameter which characterizes a
hydraulic unit
0.01
0.1
1
10
100
0.01 0.1 1
R
Q
I

z
HU1
HU2
HU3
HU4
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Identification of the number of hydraulic unit:
It is always not possible to identify the number of
hydraulic units within conventional core analysis
data set.
Probability analysis of FZI values help identify the
number of hydraulic unit that may exist in a
formation
E. Abousrafa/Pet.Eng, HWU
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Identification of the number of hydraulic unit:
Assuming that FZI is log normally distributed, the
log values of FZI are calculated for each sample
and sorted in ascending order. The empirical and
normal probabilities are then calculated using the
following expressions:
J
j
x P
j
5 . 0
) (

=
(
(

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
2
2
5 . 0 exp
2
1
) , , (

j
j
x
x P
mean
Standard
deviation
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Identification of the number of hydraulic unit:
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Observed cumulative probability
E
x
p
e
c
t
e
d

c
u
m
u
l
a
t
i
v
e

p
r
o
b
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
HU1
HU2
HU3
HU4
HU5
E. Abousrafa/Pet.Eng, HWU
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Identification of the number of hydraulic unit in
sandstone reservoir:
0.01
0.1
1
10
0.01 0.1 1
Normalised porosity
R
e
s
e
r
v
o
i
r

q
u
a
l
i
t
y

i
n
d
e
x

(
R
Q
I
)
,

u
m
Well A
Well B
Well C
HU1
FZI=13.1
HU2
FZI=8.3
HU3
FZI=3.8
HU4
FZI=1.9
HU5
FZI=0.7
The Concept of Hydraulic Unit
Porosity-permeability relation for different
hydraulic units:
0.01
0.1
1
10
100
1000
10000
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30
Fractional porosity
K
l
i
n
k
e
n
b
e
r
g

p
e
r
m
e
a
b
i
l
i
t
y
,

m
d
Well A
Well B
Well C
HU1
FZI=13.1
HU2
FZI=8.3
HU3
FZI=3.8
HU4
FZI=1.9
HU5
FZI=0.7
E. Abousrafa/Pet.Eng, HWU
Grain size attributes in different hydraulic units
y = -0.1531x + 3.0005
R
2
= 0.8219
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Grain size attributes (Sorting/Mode(mm))
L
o
g

k
Hydraulic unit 1
Hydraulic unit 2
Hydraulic unit 3