Porosity

CourtesyJ.H.Wittke&T.E.Bunch,20042008

Porosity
TheporesinrocksdeepintheEarthhold
oil,naturalgas,andsaltwater.
Howmuchoilcanweextract?
dependon

Howmuchoilispresent?
dependson

Howmuchporespaceispresent*
dependson

Whatisthevolumeoftherock?and
Whatistheporosityoftherock?

DefinitionofPorosity
V p pore volume (also called void volume)
Vb bulk volume (also called total volume)

porosity

Vp
Vb

Note also
Vg grain volume
Vb Vg V p

CourtesyJonBurger,UHandChevron

GamePlan

1.
2.
3.
4.

Wewillvisualizeporosityinrocksby
measuringorcalculatingporosityfor
simplemodels
Marbleswithregularpacking
Marbleswitharbitrarypacking
Loosesand
Sandstone

SimpleModelofPorosity
CubicPackingofIdenticalSpheres
UnitCell
Thisistheloosest
packingpossible,
i.e.,greatestporosity
possible.
Calculatetheporosity.
Howcanwewhenthere
arebillionsandbillionsof
grains?
Consideratranslational
unitcell.

S
Pore

Grain
Rg

2Dpicturetoaid3Dcalculation

Youmust definetheunitcellinsucha
waythattheentirerockcanbe
constructedfromcontiguouscopiesofthe
unitcellin3D.However,theunitcellcan
bemovedforcomputationalconvenience.

SimpleModelofMatrixPorosity
CubicPackingofIdenticalSpheres
UnitCell
Calculatetheporosity.

S
Pore

Grain

Vb Vg

Rg

Vb

2Dpicturetoaid3Dcalculation

1 4
3
Vg 8( ) Rg where Rg radius of a spherical grain
8 3

Vb S 3 where S side of unit cell 2 Rg

Vb Vg
Vb

1 4

8( ) Rg 3
8 3

2R
g

47.6%

InterpretationofSimpleModel
Whatisthedependenceoftheporosityon
thegrainsize?
Whateffectsareleftoutofthismodel?
Idrewa2Dpicturetoaidourcalculation.Isa
2Dpicturemisleadinginanyway?

OtherCubicPackings

Maximum

Porosity

Minimum

Whatistherangeofporosities
forpackingofidenticalspheres?

SimpleCubicisthemaximumat47.6%
FacecenteredCubicistheminimumat???

GamePlan

1.
2.
3.
4.

Wewillvisualizeporosityinrocksby
measuringorcalculatingporosityfor
simplemodels
Marbleswithregularpacking
Marbleswitharbitrarypacking
Loosesand
Sandstone

Letsmakeourmodel
ajustalittlemorerealistic.
Stillidenticalspheres
Nonregularpacking,oreven
worse,wedontknowthepacking

Canwemeasuretheporosity?

Makeasimplemodelofarockusing
spheresinajar

Spheres(marbles)
Jar
Graduatedcylinder
Allthewateryouwant(within
reasonablelimits)

Canyoumeasuretheporosity?

GamePlan

1.
2.
3.
4.

Wewillvisualizeporosityinrocksby
measuringorcalculatingporosityfor
simplemodels
Marbleswithregularpacking
Marbleswitharbitrarypacking
Loosesand
Sandstone

Letsmakeourmodel
aevenalittlemorerealistic.
Loosesandgrains
Nonregularpacking,oreven
worse,wedontknowthepacking

Canwemeasuretheporosity?

Makeasimplemodelofarockusing
loosesandinajar

Sand
Jar
Graduatedcylinder
Allthewateryouwant(within
reasonablelimits)

Canyoumeasuretheporosity?

GamePlan

1.
2.
3.
4.

Wewillvisualizeporosityinrocksby
measuringorcalculatingporosityfor
simplemodels
Marbleswithregularpacking
Marbleswitharbitrarypacking
Loosesand
Sandstone

Finallyarealsandstonerock.
Packedsandgrains
Wedontknowifthegrainsare
identical
Wedontknowthepacking

Canwemeasuretheporosity?

Arealporoussandstonerock

Sandstone
Jar
Graduatedcylinder
Allthewateryouwant(withinreasonable
limits)
Scale(balance)
Ruler

Canyoumeasuretheporosity?

CourtesyJonBurger,UHandChevron

PropertiesofRealRocks
ThatInfluencePorosity

Sorting
Shape
Clayminerals
Cementation
Boundwater
Fracturing
Diagenesis
Solution

Particlesize(onlyweakly)

S
Pore

Grain
Rg

PorosityRanges
RegularPackings
Cubic=47.6%
Rhombohedralorclosedpacked=25.9%

PetroleumReservoirs
5%to40%
Mostfrequentlyencountered,10%to20%

GeologicalClassificationsofPorosity
Matrix(intergranular)
Betweenthegrains.Thinkmarbles.Thisisourmaininterestinsandstones
andourmaininterestatthispointinthecourse.
Fracture
Naturalandinduced.Thisisourmaininterestwhenmatrixporosityisvery
low.
Vugular
Thinkofavugasaverysmallcavern.Carbonates.

Fenestral
Disconnectedsmallholesincarbonates,oftenduetobiologicalaction.
windows

Intragranular
Noproductionbecausenotconnected.
Intracrystaline
Thinkofaflawinadiamond.Noproductionbecausenotconnected.

CourtesyJonBurger,UHandChevron

CourtesyJonBurger,UHandChevron

CourtesyJonBurger,UHandChevron

CourtesyJonBurger,UHandChevron

Howisporosityformed?
Sedimentgrainsaretransportedbywateror
air
Ensemblesofpackedsedimentgrainscontain
porosity
Assedimentsarecompactedintorocks,the
porositycanpersist

EngineeringClassificationofPorosity
TotalPorosity

Vp
Vb

EffectivePorosity
Connectedporositythatallowsfluidflow
throughtherock

Lookslikeitmightbedisconnectedand
notcontributetoeffectiveporosity.
Becarefulabout3Deffects.

Lookslikeitmightbeconnectedand
contributetoeffectiveporosity.
Becarefulabout3Deffects.

CourtesyJonBurger,UHandChevron

Poresinrockscanhold
oneormorefluids

Air(verynearsurfacetypically)
Freshwater(nearsurface;aquifer)
Saltwater(mostporesinmostrocks)
Oil(occasionally)
NaturalGas(occasionally)

FluidSaturations
Porescancontainseveralfluidsatthesame
time.
Si

Volume of fluidi
usually expressed as a percentage
Total pore volume

For example :
Volume of oil
So
Total pore volume
Volume of gas
Sg
Total pore volume
Volume of water
Sw
Total pore volume
For the usual case in which oil, gas, and water are the three fluids in the reservoir, then
S o S g S w 1 (expressed as a fraction) or 1 00% (expressed as a percentage )

OIIPCalculation
OIIP=OilInitiallyInPlace
OIIP 7758AhS oi
Where
OIIP=volumeofoilinbbls
A=surfaceareaofreservoirinacres
h=thicknessofreservoirinfeet
=porosityfraction
Soi =initialoilsaturation
Theunitsseemcrazy,buttheyarethecommonunits.Dealwithit.

FieldSTOIIPCalculation
STOIIP=Stocktankoilinitiallyinplace
AhS oi
STOIIP 7758
B oi
Where
Boi =oilformationvolumefactor>1
Describeshowmuchtheoilcontractsasit
comestothesurfaceduetogascomingoutof
solution

Experiment

MeasurementofPorosity
BulkVolumeMeasurements
GrainVolumeMeasurements
PoreVolumeMeasurements

Review:ArchimedesPrinciple
Anyobject,whollyorpartiallyimmersedina
fluid,isbuoyedupbyaforceequaltothe
weightofthefluiddisplacedbytheobject.
Archimedes ofSyracuse (287212B.C.)

GrainVolume:BoyleLawPorosimeter
Chamber1withcore:
InitialState:Allvalvesclosed

n1

EmptyChambers:
InitialState:Allvalvesclosed

pV
pV
n1 1 1 ; n2 2 2
RT
RT
FinalState:Valveisopened,equilibrium

ntotal n1 n2

p f Vf

p1V1 p2V2

RT
RT
RT
p f (V1 V2 ) p1V1 p2V2

p1 (V1 Vs )
pV
; n2 2 2
RT
RT

FinalState:Valveisopened,equilibrium

ntotal n1 n2
p1 (V1 Vs ) p2V2

RT
RT
RT
p f (V1 V2 Vs ) p1 (V1 Vs ) p2V2
p f Vf

Vs

( p1 p f )V1 ( p2 p f )V2
( p1 p f )

ReadingAssignment
Tiab2nd edition
pages8799
Experiment7and8inAppendix

Tiab3rd edition
pages8597
Experiment7and8 inAppendix

Excludingmercuryinjection
Watchoutfortyposinthebook