PERMEABILITY

2015-PET-07
OUTLINE

1. Permeability
2. The Klinkenberg Effect
3. Averaging Techniques of Absolute Permeabilities
4. Absolute Permeability Correlations
Permeability
Introduction

• Property of a porous medium

• Capacity and ability
• Key parameter
• Directional movement and flow rate
Permeability
Mathematical Form

• First defined by Henry Darcy in 1856

• Darcy’s Law
𝑘𝐴 𝑑𝑝
𝑞=−
µ 𝑑𝑙

• Unit is “Darcy” (or “milli-Darcy”, mD)

Permeability
Measurement
• Routine core analysis
• Core plugs orientations
• Possible causes of error:
 Heterogeneity
 Recovery
 Preparation
 Biasness
• Absolute Permeability
Klinkenberg Effect
• Klinkenberg in 1941
• Difference in permeabilities
• Velocity at the sand grain surface
• Higher flowrate for gas
• With mean pressure, permeability decreased
• This effect occurs when diameter of capillary openings approach
mean free path of the gas
Klinkenberg Effect
1
𝑘𝑔 = 𝑘𝑙 + 𝑐[ ]
𝑝𝑚
Where:
kg = permeability measured using gas
kl = permeability measured using liquid
pm = mean pressure
c = slope of the straight line

• Magnitude changes with core permeability and gas used

Klinkenberg Effect
Slope (c) of straight-line depends on:
• Absolute permeability
• Type of gas used
• Average radius of capillaries

𝑐 = 𝑏𝑘𝑙
Where,
b = constant dependent upon size of pore openings
kl = equivalent liquid permeability
Klinkenberg Effect
Combining above equations, we have:
1
𝑘𝑔 = 𝑘𝑙 + 𝑏𝑘𝑙 [ ]
𝑝𝑚
Jones in 1972 correlated parameter b with liquid permeability as:

𝑏 = 6.9 𝑘𝑙−0.36
Combining, we have:
1
𝑘𝑔 = 𝑘𝑙 + 6.9 𝑘𝑙0.64 [ ]
𝑝𝑚
Averaging Absolute Permeabilities
• Difficult to characterize the level and distribution of absolute permeabilities
• Adequate knowledge is required for the prediction of depletion process
• Permeabilities must be averaged to represent the flow characteristics
• Three permeability averaging techniques:
• Weighted average
• Harmonic average
• Geometric average
Weighted Average Permeability
• For layered parallel beds with different permeabilities
Weighted Average Permeability
• Applying Darcy’s law to each layer, we have:
• Layer 1
𝑘1 𝑤 ℎ1 Δ𝑝
𝑞1 =
µ𝐿
• Layer 2
𝑘2 𝑤 ℎ2 Δ𝑝
𝑞2 =
µ𝐿
• Layer 3
𝑘3 𝑤 ℎ3 Δ𝑝
𝑞3 =
µ𝐿
• Total flow rate
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝑤 ℎ𝑡 Δ𝑝
𝑞𝑡 =
µ𝐿
Weighted Average Permeability
• The total flow rate is the sum of flow rate from all layers:
qt = q 1 + q2 + q3
• Substituting the values of each, we have:
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝑤 ℎ𝑡 Δ𝑝 𝑘1 𝑤 ℎ1 Δ𝑝 𝑘2 𝑤 ℎ2 Δ𝑝 𝑘3 𝑤 ℎ3 Δ𝑝
= + +
µ𝐿 µ𝐿 µ𝐿 µ𝐿
So,
𝑘1 ℎ1 + 𝑘2 ℎ2 + 𝑘3 ℎ3
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 =
ℎ𝑡
or
∑𝑘𝑖 ℎ𝑖
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 =
∑ℎ𝑖
Can also be expressed as:
∑𝐴𝑖 ℎ𝑖
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 =
∑𝐴𝑖
Harmonic Average Permeability
• For beds in series with different permeabilities
Harmonic Average Permeability
• For a steady-state flow, the flow rate is constant and the total pressure drop Δp is equal to the
sum of the pressure drops across each bed:
Δpt = Δp1 + Δp2 + Δp3
Substituting values from Darcy’s law, we have:
𝑞µ𝐿 𝑞 µ 𝑘1 𝑞 µ 𝑘2 𝑞 µ 𝑘3
= + +
𝐴 𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝐴 𝑘1 𝐴 𝑘2 𝐴 𝑘3
and
𝐿 ∑𝐿𝑖
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 𝐿 𝐿 𝐿 or 𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 𝐿
( )1 + ( )2 + ( )3 ∑( )𝑖
𝑘 𝑘 𝑘 𝑘
In radial flow, 𝑟
𝑙𝑛(𝑟𝑒 )
𝑤
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 = 𝑟𝑗
ln 𝑟
𝑗−1
∑[ ]
𝑘𝑗
Geometric Average Permeability
• Warren and Price in 1961
• Most probable behavior of a heterogeneous system
• Mathematically,
∑ ℎ𝑖 ln(𝑘𝑖 )
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 = exp[ ]
∑ℎ𝑖
If thickness of all the layers is same, then,
1
𝑘𝑎𝑣𝑔 = (𝑘1 𝑘2 𝑘3 … 𝑘𝑛 )𝑛
Absolute Permeability Correlations
• Determination of connate water by capillary pressure measurements
• Correlation of connate water content with permeability
• Calhoun in 1976
• In an ideal pore configuration with uniform structure, Swc is independent of
permeability
• In an actual pore space, formed by graded particles, connate water might be
expected to increase as the permeability decreases
• Connate water is a function of permeability only insofar as permeability is
dependent upon variation of pore structure
Absolute Permeability Correlations
• It has been generally considered for many years that connate water
reached higher values in lower permeabilities
• It has been generally considered for many years that connate water
reached higher values in lower permeabilities
C = (Swi) (φ)
• Two empirical methods for determination of absolute permeability are:
• Timur Equation
• Morris-biggs Equation
Timur Equation
• Timur in 1968
• Estimate of permeability with connate-water saturation and porosity

⌽4.4
𝑘 = 8.58102 2
𝑆𝑤𝑐
Morris-Biggs Equation
• Morris and Biggs in 1967
• For oil reservoirs,

⌽3 2
𝑘 = 62.5 ( )
𝑆𝑤𝑐
• For gas reservoirs,

⌽3 2
𝑘 = 2.5 ( )
𝑆𝑤𝑐