SPE 144434

Predicting Petro-physical Properties using SEM Image

Yatin Suri, Indian School of Mines

Copyright 2011, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Reservoir Characterisation and Simulation Conference and Exhibition held in Abu Dhabi, UAE, 911 October 2011.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract

The permeability estimation of reservoir rocks using numerical methods has always been a
challenge for petrophysicist. Several models have been developed for its computation of this parameter.
As the permeability is entirely controlled by the geometry, the possibility arising of estimating the
permeability from quantifiable attributes of the space has always has been a approach.
In the present paper, a model is discussed which gives accurate prediction of the permeability
based on two dimensional SEM image of a core sample of sedimentary rock. The inputs required for the
model are the areas and perimeters measurements from the images of space. The individual
conductances are estimated using hydraulic radius approximation. Before using the data obtained
from images, stereological corrections are used to convert
geometries and various hydraulic
corrections are used to account for converging-diverging flow paths. Kirkpatrick's medium
approximation is finally used to find the value of the hydraulic conductances of the individual pores.
The method has been applied to six data sets of SEM images which include Berea sandstone,
consolidated sandstones and carbonate samples. The laboratory determined air permeabilities of these
samples ranged from 0.5-400mD. The permeability values predicted by this method are within a factor
of two of the values.
This method requires least data manipulation and computation and is more accurate than
conventional methods such as the Kozeny-Carman equation. The method holds promise of permeability
predictions on irregular rock samples like drill cuttings which cannot be in standard lab measurements.
Another possible future is to use down-hole borehole imaging technology to provide an image with the
appropriate resolution, thereby allowing in-situ permeability estimation, without the need for core
samples.
Keywords Permeability, Scanning Electron Microscope, Pore Network Modeling, Porosity,
Conductance, Sandstones and Carbonates
Introduction
Being able to relate the transport properties of rocks to their internal pore structure has long been
of great interest to hydrologists, earth scientists and petroleum engineers (Jurgawczynski, 2007).
Permeability is arguably the most important petro-physical property of a reservoir rock and the ability to
predict its value without time consuming and expensive laboratory measurement would obviously be of
great practical value (Liang et al, 1997). Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), images the sample

SPE144434

surface by scanning it with high energy beam of electrons, which interact with the atoms producing
signals that contain information about the samples surface topography, composition and other
properties such as electrical conductivity.
Petro-physical properties measurements, on samples of porous rocks, are classically performed in the
context of Core Analysis (porosity, permeability, formation factor). On the other hand, qualitative and
quantitative informations are obtained from the study of thin sections and SEM analysis of the same
materials (Adler et al, 1991).
The purpose of this paper is to present an attempt to establish a link between these two aspects, and to
try to solve a long standing problem :to deduce the transport properties of a 3-dimensional sample (plug)
from the corresponding geometrical structures of the pore space, which can be observed and
characterized in 2 dimensions(thin sections).
This problem is difficult for two main reasons:
It is hard to describe quantitatively the 3-D geometry of the medium in a realistic manner,
without introduction of artificial models and parameters (Adler, 1989).
The partial differential equations corresponding to these transport phenomena are not easy to
solve, except numerically.
Empirical permeability models such as that of Kozeny-Carman equation predict values of the
permeability using knowledge only of porosity and a mean pore diameter or mean grain size. Although
simple to implement, the Kozeny-Carman equation is often found to be insufficiently accurate for
reservoir characterization purposes. It is also known that this model, although fairly accurate for
unconsolidated sands, tends to become unreliable for consolidated sandstones. The Kozeny-Carman
approach therefore requires some means of estimating the specific surface, which can be problematic
(Berryman and Blair, 1986). The Katz-Thomson equation (1986) can yield accurate estimations of the
permeability, using the porosity and the electrical formation factor. However, the requirement of having
a measured value of the electrical formation factor is clearly a disadvantage of this method.
At the other end of the spectrum are models that attempt to reconstruct the complete 3-D microstructure of the rock, which can then be used either to compute the properties directly using the NavierStokes equations (Adler et al., 1990), or as a starting point for the development of network models
(Blunt, 2001). These network models can then be used to compute various flow properties, such as
absolute or relative permeability (Blunt et al., 2002), as well as to gain insight into the relationship
between pore geometry and petro-physical properties (Arns et al., 2004). Spanne et al. (1994), and later
Ferrol and Rothman (1995), used X-ray microtomography to reconstruct the pore structure of a
Fontainebleau sandstone, from which the permeability was calculated numerically, in the latter case
using the lattice-Boltzmann method. Such approaches are capable of good accuracy, but at the expense
of extensive data collection and computation.
In the present work, we have developed a model for predicting permeability from two-dimensional
SEM images of the pore space, without requiring any computationally intensive procedures of the
aforementioned three-dimensional models. But, unlike simple models such as Kozeny-Carman, we do
make use of rock-specific pore geometry information, obtained from two-dimensional pore images. The
hydraulic conductivities of the individual pores are estimated from their areas and perimeters using the
hydraulic radius approximation (Lock, 2001). Stereological correction factors are applied to determine
the true cross-sectional shapes from the images, and to determine the true number density of pores per
unit area. A constriction factor accounts for the variation of the cross-sectional area along the tube
length. The pores are assumed to be arranged in a cubic lattice, after which the effective-medium theory
of Kirkpatrick (1973) is used to estimate the effective conductance of the pores. Finally, the
permeability is estimated from the effective pore conductance and the number density of pores.
Because of the more complex pore structure found in carbonates, the methodology set up by Lock
(2001) for sandstones had to be entirely reviewed. The areal, thresholding process is adjusted to account
for the wide pore size distributions encountered in carbonates. Finally, in order to improve the

SPE 144434

methodology, a varying co-ordination number is introduced to compensate for an over/under-prediction

that was noticed in the preliminary results. The method is then applied to four samples, with
permeabilities ranging from 0.5-400 milliDarcies, and the permeabilities are in most cases predicted
within a factor of two.
Analysis of SEM Image
In this approach, the aim is to predict the permeability of sedimentary rocks by collecting area and
perimeter measurements from images of the pore-space. Firstly, a two dimensional SEM Image of a rock
sample is generated. The images must be converted into digitized grey-scale images in which the pore
space is generally distinguished from the various minerals by having higher grey-scale values. The
images are then threshold to yield binary images in which the pores are black and the mineral grains are
white. The images were analyzed using the Image J Image processing software.
As computers do not process a continuous spectrum of gray values, the input image must be
represented by discrete numerical values, from within some finite range. The image is broken up into
small areal regions known as pixels, and eight bits per pixel are used to quantify the darkness level. This
raises the question of the appropriate pixel size. Use of a pixel size that is too large, relative to the pore
sizes, will lead to the loss of fine-scale pore features, and consequent inaccuracy in the estimation of the
flow conductances.
Estimating Conductance of Network
For estimating the value of permeability, in this approach, the value of permeability is determined with
the help of conductance of the entire network of pores. And the value of conductance of entire network
is determined with the help of the conductance of individual pores.
Conductance of Individual Pores:
Conductance of a cylindrical pore
Considering an individual pore of length L, with a pressure drop P along its length. The volumetric
flow rate Q through this pore can be written as Q= CP/L, where is the fluid viscosity and C is the
flow conductance. First, this pore is idealized as a tube having a uniform, although possibly irregular,
cross section. If the cross section were circular, with radius r, the flow conductance would be given by
C=r4/8, according to Poiseuilles law. Since the cross-sectional area of the tube is r2, and the
perimeter is = 2r. The flow conductance can also be written as
2

Ar 2 A 2 A
A Rh 2
A3
=
C (circle) =
=
=
8
8
8
2 2 .......... (1)
Where the hydraulic radius is defined by Rh=2*A/. According to the hydraulic radius approximation,
we can use equation (1) for the conductance of any cylindrical pore, even if its cross section is not
circular.
Koplik et al, (1984) solved the governing laminar flow equation numerically for several pore shapes
found from SEM Microscopy of Massilon sandstone and found that the hydraulic radius approximation
was usually +-30% of the exact conductance. Sisavath et al (2001a) found similar results for pores in
Massilon and Berea sandstone based on comparison with boundary element calculations. Furthermore,
they found that this approximation does not systematically under/over predict the conductance so that
the errors (partially) cancel out. When applied to a network of pores of different cross sections, these
fact in mind and in the spirit of avoiding computationally intensive procedures such as a boundary
elements or numerical conformal mapping (Sisavath et al, 2001a). We use the hydraulic radius
approximation to estimate the flow conductance of the individual pores.

Stereological correction for area and perimeter

The areas and perimeters of the individual pores, as measured from any 2D image, will in general be

SPE144434

larger than the actual values for the pore cross-sections. For example, consider a cylindrical pore of
radius r. In general, the plane of the image will intersect this pore at some arbitrary angle relative to
the pore axis, and so the pore will appear as an ellipse with a semi-minor axis of r, but a semi-major axis
of r/cos. Hence, the area and perimeter of the image would consequently be larger than the actual area
and perimeter of the pore, and so the estimated hydraulic conductance will be greater than the actual
value. An approximate stereological correction factor that converts the measured values of the
hydraulic conductance into actual values can be found by averaging the overestimation in the
conductance C over all possible angles, assuming that the pores are randomly oriented with respect to
the plane of the image. The result (Lock et al, 2002) of this calculation is that the pore conductances
estimated from the image must be multiplied by 0.375 to arrive at the true conductance of the pore.
Stereological correction for number density
Consideration must also be made of the overestimation in the areal number density of pores that
occurs as a consequence of taking an arbitrary two-dimensional slice that probably does not lie in a
plane perpendicular to a lattice direction. If we again consider the idealization of pore microstructure by
a hypothetical cubic lattice, then a slice taken perpendicular to a given lattice direction will only
intersect those pores that lie along that direction. If, however, the slicing plane is not normal to the
lattice direction, it will also intersect some pores that are orthogonal to that first lattice direction.
Evaluation of this effect (Lock et al, 2002) leads to the conclusion that the apparent number density of
pores (i.e., pores per unit area of image) must be divided by 1.47 to yield the actual density of pores that
are oriented in a given lattice direction. An analogous calculation for a rock containing pores having a
random distribution of orientations gives an identical result.
NETWORK OF PORES
Network models have been used to study the transport properties of porous media. The pore-space
model that we use is that of a network of conductors, connected at volume-less nodes. (At the very low
Reynolds numbers encountered in most subsurface flow situations, hydraulic energy losses at
junctions, which are important in pipe flow at high Reynolds numbers, are negligible). If the
values of all of the conductances were known exactly, and the topology of the network was also
known, evaluation of the overall macroscopic conductance of the network would require the solution of
the large system of linear equations. These equations arise by applying the equation Q = CP/L to
each tube, and invoking the fact that, in order to conserve mass, the sum of the fluxes into each node
must be zero.this procedure has been carried out for idealized networks, generally two-dimensional,
and can yield much insight into the behavior of network models (Koplik, 1981; David et al., 1990).
An alternative to an exact network calculation is the effective medium approach, in which each
conductor in the network is replaced by a conductor having some effective value Ceff. One popular
method of estimating Ceff is the procedure of Kirkpatrick (1973), who used the criterion that if each
conductor within a certain region is replaced by a conductor with conductance Ceff., the resulting
perturbations within this region should average out to zero. This consideration leads to the
following equation that implicitly defines Ceff :
N
C eff C i
= 0 . (2)

i =1 ( z / 2 1)C eff + C i
Where the co-ordination number z is the number of pores that meet at each node and the summation
is taken over each individual pore in the network. Kirkpatrick (1973) derived equation (2) under the
assumption that the co-ordination number of each node was the same, but it was later shown (Koplik,
1982) that it can be used for topologically irregular networks by defining z to be the mean co-ordination
number of all the nodes in the network. In the present study we idealize the network as being a cubic
lattice, and set z = 6. Other researchers have estimated the mean co-ordination number for sandstones to
be in the range of 3-8.

SPE 144434

The effective-medium approximation becomes exact in the two limiting cases z=2 and z which
corresponds to series and parallel network. For z=2 equation (2) reduces to the harmonic mean. Ceff=N /
(1/Ci), whereas z, it yields the arithmetic mean, Ceff=Ci / N. For 2<z<, the accuracy of the
effective medium approximation decreases as the conductance distribution becomes broader. Using twodimensional square, triangular, and hexagonal networks, Koplik (1981)and David et al.(1990) found that
the effective-medium approximation has errors of less than 10% for narrow peak-like distributions of
conductances. Lock et al. (2004) compared the predictions of the Kirkpatrick equation to exact solutions
of the network equations, for conductance distributions inferred from actual sandstone pore images, and
found errors of less than 3%.
The last step involves deriving the permeability of the macroscopic rock from the effective
conductance of the individual pores. Imagine a plane that slices the lattice perpendicular to one of the
lattice directions, containing N pores in a region of cross-sectional area A. The total flowrate through
this region is given by
. (3)
Darcys law, on the other hand, expresses the flow-rate as
.. (4)
Equating (3) and (4) then gives
. (5)

ANALYSIS OF SAMPLES (INDIAN FIELDS)

The methodology developed is used for sandstones and carbonates rock samples of different Indian
Fields, having permeabilities in the range of 0.5 to 400 mD. In each case starting point is the generation
of SEM image of the rock sample.
Sample A: (Figure 1)
Sample A is sandstone with sample depth of 1489.54m and reservoir petrography as follows: The
sandstone is dominantly fine grained; sub angular to sub rounded and fairly sorted. The sandstone
grains are moderately bounded by argillaceous matters. The rock matrix is clay and clays are detritus.
Primary intergranular porosity is moderate to good with fair amount of interconnectivity of pore spaces.
At places grains are bounded by detrital clay mat which reduces the porosity and permeability. The
average porosity and permeability of the rock is moderate to good. The rock was also carried out EDX
analysis and the rock displayed dominantly arenaceous (Si O2) with presence of carbon around 40%
weights in percentage. The carbon may be derived from graphite or carbonaceous materials.

SPE144434

Figure 1: SEM Image of Sandstone Sample A

Sample B: (Figure 2)
Sample B is sandstone with sample depth of 1489.32m and reservoir petrography as follows:
The rock is dominantly fine grained, sub angular to sub rounded with good sorting. The rock matrix is
clay. Preservation of fair amount of intergranular porosity has been observed with moderate to good
interconnectivity of pores. However, moderate to poor intergranular porosity has also been observed at
some places due to bounding of the grains with clay matrix. The clay is appearing to be detrital in
nature. Formation of pyrite nodules within the sandstone has also been observed. The average porosity
and permeability of the rock is good and displays good reservoir characteristics.

SPE 144434

Figure 2: SEM Image of Sandstone Sample B

Sample C: (Figure 3)
Sample C is limestone with sample depth of 1476.14m and reservoir petrography as follows:
The rock appears compact to well compact, semi-crystalline nature with poor porosity under SEM. The
rock is tending towards crystalline with formation of calcite crystal surface which reduces porosity
significantly. Formation of tiny pyrite framboidal balls have been observed as floating on the limestone
surface and also the presence of framboidal ball indicates the deep sea sedimentary origin. At places,
presence of foraminifera and subordinate amount of authigenic chlorite clay with chloritic structure has
also been observed .The average porosity of the rock is poor. However, moderate development of micro
pores has also been observed at few places. The presence of authigenic chlorite clay has been
confirmed by EDX analysis.

SPE144434

Figure 3: SEM Image of Limestone Sample C

Sample D: (Figure 4)
Sample D is limestone with sample depth of 1478.95m and reservoir petrography as follows:
The limestone is tight and compact, semi crystalline under SEM at different magnifications. The Figure
4 shows development of crystalline calcite surface which reduces the porosity significantly. The
limestone has also undergone for some digenetic changes with formation a rhombic dolomite crystal.
The benthic foraminifera (miliolid) have also been observed at places which indicate the deep sea
environment origin. The foraminifers chambers are filled by calcite crystal which reduces the organic
porosity considerably. The average porosity of the rock is poor.

SPE 144434

Figure 4: SEM Image of Limestone Sample D

Discussion of Results and Conclusions
The results for the samples are summarized in Table 1. The permeability is, in these cases, predicted
within about a percentage error of two.
Table 1: Results for rock samples of Indian Fields
Sample
A
B
C
D
D1-I5-25
D1-I5-26
L3-30
L3-33
L6-57
L6-58
L7-60
L7-62

LAB
porosity
23.84
22.58
7.21
9.74
28.9
31.9
23.58
19
17.86
16.61
16.28
16.64

MODEL
porosity
26.10
21.90
7.80
9.70
26.5
29
24
20
19
16
16.5
16.2

LAB
permeability
118.17
17.88
2.16
4.67
18.33
17.12
12.56
38.55
6.56
6.65
10.71
11.73

MODEL
Permeability
119
11.54
3.27
4.96
20
18.07
13.1
37.9
7.26
7.08
10.98
12.01

10

SPE144434

Figure 5: Crossplot of predicted and measured permeabilities for both the sandstone and carbonate
data set.

Figure 6: Crossplot of predicted and measured porosity values for both the sandstone and carbonate
data set.
After the generation of the SEM Image, Image analysis is done with the help of Image processing
software, ImageJ, which analysis the thresholded image and total number of pores in it and gives the area
and perimeter of each individual pores. Area and perimeter values are then used to determine the hydraulic
conductance of each individual pore and then, after applying stereological corrections and constriction
factor, kirkpatrik effective medium theory is used to determine the hydraulic conductance of the entire
network. With the help of overall conductance value, permeability of the sample is determined.
With the above described methodology the results of permeability and porosity predicted and
determined by laboratory is very close within about a percentage factor of two (Figure 5 and Figure 6).
Sample C, the carbonate, appeared not to have been carefully handled during the laboratory procedures,
resulting in the formation of fractures within the rock, which very likely caused an increase in the
laboratory permeability. Carbonate rocks are much more heterogeneous than sandstones, and so it is
quite possible that the small area of our image did not capture the full pore size distribution that existed
in the core. In addition, there is also the ongoing challenge of addressing the impact of vugs and their

SPE 144434

11

connectivity on permeability calculations based on image analysis. Detailed geological input in

understanding the nature and origin of the observed vugs, combined with statistical means to define
the percolation threshold of vugs from core/log images, offers a pragmatic solution. Based on our
analysis of a number of samples, including a few not described in this paper, it seems that the method
works quite well and helps us to determine quantitative values of petrophysical properties.
Acknowledgements
The author thanks Institute of Reservoir Studies, ONGC Ahmedabad, India for allowing to carry
out this research and analysis of different samples of Indian fields.
References:
1. Jurgawczynski, M.: Predicting absolute and relative permeabilities of carbonate rocks using Image
analysis and effective medium theory, Ph.D. Thesis, Imperial College, London (2007).
2. Prediction of permeability from the skeleton of 3-D Pore Structure by Z.R. Liang, P.C.Philippi,
C.P.Fernandes and F.S.Magnani; SPE Paper No. 39017, Fifth Latin American and Carribbean
Petroleum Engineering Conference and Exhibition, Brazil 1997.
3. Three-Dimensional Reconstructed Porous Media - Application To The Study Of Transport
Mechanisms In Sandstones by Adler P.M. ,Jacquin C.G. ,Rahon D Society of Core Analysis 1991
4. ADLER P.M. (1989) Flow in Porous Media-In:The "Fractal Approach to Heterogeneous
Chemistry", edited by D. Avnir,Wiley,New York.
5. Berryman, J. G., and Blair, S. C., Use of digital image analysis to estimate fluid permeability of
porous materials, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 60, pp. 1930-1938, 1986.
6. Katz, A. J. and A. H. Thompson, Quantitative prediction of permeability in porous rock, Phys. Rev.
B, (1986) 34, 8179-81.
7. Adler, P. M., C. G. Jacquin, and J. A. Quiblier, Flow in simulated porous media, International
Journal of Multiphase Flow, (1990) 16, 691-712.
8. Blunt, M.J.: Flow in porous media: pore network models and multiphase flow, current opinion in
colloid and Interface science (2001) 6:197-207
9. Blunt, M. J., Jackson, M. D., Piri, M., and Valvatne, P. H., Detailed physics, predictive capabilities
and macroscopic consequences for pore-network models of multiphaseflow, Adv. Water Resour.,
vol. 25, pp. 1069-1089, 2002.
10. Arns, C. H., Bauget, F., Limaye, A., Sakellariou, A., Senden, T. J., Sheppard, A. P., Sok, R. M.,
Pinczewski, W. V., Bakke, S., Berge, L. I., ren, P. E., Knackstedt, M. A., Pore scale
characterisation of carbonates using x-ray microtomography, SPE Paper 90368, presented at the
SPE Ann. Tech. Conf., Houston, 2004.
11. Spanne, P., J.-F. Thovert, C. J. Jacquin, W. B. Lindquist, K. W. Jones, and P. M. Adler, Synchrotron
computed tomography of porous media topology and transports, Phys. Rev. Letts., (1994) 73,
2001-04.
12. Ferrol, B. and D. H. Rothman, Lattice-Boltzmann simulations of flow through Fontainebleau
sandstone, Transp. Porous Media, (1995) 20, 3-20.
13. Lock, P. A, Estimating the Permeability of Reservoir Sandstones using Image Analysis of Pore
Structure, Ph.D. thesis, Imperial College, London, 2001.
14. Kirkpatrick, S., Percolation and conduction, Rev. Mod. Phys., vol. 45, pp. 574-588, 1973.
15. Sisavath, S., Jing, X.D. and Zimmerman, R.W., Laminar flow through irregularly shaped pores in
sedimentary rocks, Transport in Porous Media (2001) 45:41-62
16. Koplik, J., Lin, C., and Vermette, M., Conductivity and permeability from microgeometry, J. Appl.
Phys., vol. 56, pp. 3127-3131, 1984.
17. Lock, P. A., Jing, X. D., Zimmerman, R. W. and Schlueter, E. M., Predicting the permeability of
sandstone from image analysis of pore structure, J. Appl. Phys., vol.92, pp. 63116319, 2002.

12

SPE144434

18. Koplik, J., On the effective medium theory of random linear networks, J. Phys. C, vol.14, pp. 48211981, 1981.
19. David, C., Gueguen, Y. and Pampoukis, G.: Effective medium theory and network theory applied
to the transport properties of rock, Journal of Geophysical research (1990) 95: 6993-7005.
20. Koplik, J., Creeping flow in two-dimensional networks, J. Fluid Mech., vol. 119, pp.219-247, 1982.
21. Lock, P. A., Jing, X. D., Zimmerman, R. W., Comparison of methods for upscaling permeability
from the pore scale to the core scale, J. Hydr. Res., vol. 42, pp. 3-8, 2004.
Nomenclatures:
Q
Volumetric flow rate
C
Flow conductance
P
Pressure drop

Fluid viscosity
L
length of the individual pore
r
Radius

Perimeter
A
Area
Rh
Hydraulic radius
Ceff
Effective Conductance
z
Coordination Number

Porosity
k
Permeability