Laboratory measurement of compaction-induced permeability change in porous rocks: Implications for the generation and maintenance of pore pressure excess in the crust

David, Christian; Wong, Teng-fong; Zhu, Wenlu; Zhang, Jiaxiang

doi:10.1007/bf00874337

Cited by 575 publications

(475 citation statements)

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“…[24] The data set for the rocks contains measured relationships between permeability and porosity for (1) Fontainbleau sandstone (Bourbié et al [1987] as presented by Mavko and Nur [1997]), (2) hot-pressed calcite (Bernabé et al [1982] as presented by Mavko and Nur [1997]), (3) finegrained and silty sandstones (Chilindar [1964] as presented by Revil and Cathles [1999]), (4) sandshale mixtures, GA, and HB sands (clayey sand and sandy shale subgroups reported by Revil and Cathles [1999]), and (5) sandstones at hydrostatic loading presenting a wide range of porosity, grain size and clay content (reported by David et al [1994] and Zhu and Wong [1997]). In some cases, the k-n data were digitized from the reported relevant figures.…”

Section: Experimental Data and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The sandstones considered by Revil and Cathles [1999], where saline water preventing clay dispersion was used, are better represented by w = 1. Most of the unconsolidated soils and the sandstones containing cementing agents are represented by 4 < w < 35, the higher values representing the sandstones studied by David et al [1994] and Zhu and Wong [1997], which contained a clay fraction and for which distilled water inducing clay dispersion was used. The range of the w values in (Figure A1a) is wider than the range of exponents reported by David et al [1994, Table 3] in his compilation of published data for a wide range of rock types, where w varied between 1.1 and 25.4.…”

Section: Appendix Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Zhu et al [1999] identified ''crossover porosity'' as the transition from high-to low-porosity regimes for which different rules for the evolution of pore size and connectivity apply. Similarly, Mavko and Nur [1997] introduced the concept of ''percolation threshold porosity'' to account for the dependence of k on n. David et al [1994] considered a ''critical pressure'' at the onset of pore collapse. They found that porosity and pressure sensitivity differ significantly for different compaction mechanisms.…”

Section: Extension Of the Proposed Model To Estimation Of Rock Permeamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ratio also varies significantly within the range of rock types considered herein. The clayey sandstones at hydrostatic loading studied by David et al [1994] and Zhu and Wong [1997] …”

Section: Extension Of the Proposed Model To Estimation Of Rock Permeamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[35] This expression resulted from a linear regression using data from sandstones studied by David et al [1994] and Zhu and Wong [1997], that were reported to contain a clay fraction and for which distilled water (enhancing clay dispersion) was used. It is interesting to note that the shaley sandstones studied by Revil and Cathles [1999], that contain clay but for which saline water preventing its dispersion was used, are not well represented by equation (24b) but rather by equation (24a), indicating that the clay fraction, and its impact as cementing agent, is a key element in the process.…”

Section: Generalizations Based On Type Of Earth Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Air entry–based characteristic length for estimation of permeability of variably compacted earth materials

Assouline

Or²

2008

Water Resources Research

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[1] The permeability k of a porous medium is a geometrical pore space attribute required for quantifying fluid flows and transport processes for hydrological, civil, agriculture, and petroleum engineering applications. Permeability is often expressed as proportional to a characteristic length squared and inversely proportional to factors accounting for porosity, pore shape, and tortuosity effects. Compaction and diagenesis reduce porosity, mean pore size, and connectivity, resulting in decrease in k. Permeability prediction relies on suitable selection of a characteristic length that may vary from simple hydraulic radius approximation of Kozeny-Carman to more complex critical path analysis to identify flow-limiting pore size. For porous media undergoing significant changes in pore space (e.g., compaction due to anthropogenic activities), the proper choice of a robust characteristic length is particularly challenging. We propose using the air entry pressure, a natural characteristic length that gauges the largest drainable pore size. This choice of a characteristic length is compatible with the Aissen formula that provides robust estimates of k for complex pore shapes. Additionally, the model considers geometrical (tortuosity) factors and links relative changes in porosity to concurrent changes in k. The model was tested against experimental data for sands, sandstones with different cementing agents, and unconsolidated soils. For unconsolidated sands and soils the model provides reasonable predictions of permeability for the entire range of porosities determined in laboratory or field experiments. However, for sandstones, and especially those containing cementing agents such as clay, the model is valid up to a critical porosity where hydraulic connectivity is lost, resulting in drastic reduction in k. The geometrical factor for soils was influenced by silt-to-clay ratio, while for sands, it was correlated with mean grain diameter. The model offers improvement in predicting k and provides a means for incorporating critical pore size and connectivity information in addition to porosity.

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Section: Experimental Data and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Appendix Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Extension Of the Proposed Model To Estimation Of Rock Permeamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ratio also varies significantly within the range of rock types considered herein. The clayey sandstones at hydrostatic loading studied by David et al [1994] and Zhu and Wong [1997] …”

Section: Extension Of the Proposed Model To Estimation Of Rock Permeamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Generalizations Based On Type Of Earth Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Air entry–based characteristic length for estimation of permeability of variably compacted earth materials

Assouline

Or²

2008

Water Resources Research

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Physical properties and brittle strength of thermally cracked granite under confinement

et al. 2013

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[1] Effects of thermal crack damage on the rupture processes of a fine-grained granite were investigated under triaxial stress, under water (wet) and argon gas (dry) saturated conditions, and at room temperature. Thermal cracking was introduced by slowly heating and cooling two samples of La Peyratte granite up to 700 ı C, which were compared to two intact specimens. For each rock sample, a hydrostatic test was first carried up to 90 MPa effective pressure (5 MPa constant pore pressure). The samples were then deformed to failure at a constant strain rate of 2.10 -6 s -1 , at 30 MPa effective pressure. Our results show that (1) permeability of heat-treated specimens was 4-5 orders of magnitude larger than that of intact specimens at low effective mean pressure; (2) nevertheless, at our experimental conditions (2.10 -6 s -1 ), thermal cracking had no significant influence on the brittle strength; (3) similarly, no obvious water weakening effect was observed; (4) however, with increasing stress, elastic anisotropy appeared at lower differential stress in heat-treated specimens than in intact ones, but close to failure, the magnitude of P wave anisotropy was approximately the same for both types of specimens; (5) acoustic emission hypocenter locations and P wave velocity anisotropy in the basal plane demonstrate that strain localization started right at the onset of dilatancy for heat-treated specimens, later in the intact specimens; and (6) inverting wave velocities for crack density, we show that failure was reached for vertical crack densities of 0.35 for dry specimens and possibly 0.5 for water-saturated specimens.

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Nonlinear effective pressure law for permeability

Xiao

Bernabé

et al. 2014

JGR Solid Earth

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The permeability k of porous rocks is known to vary with confining pressure pc and pore fluid pressure pf. But it is, in principle, possible to replace the two‐variable function k(pf, pc) by a function k(peff) of a single variable, peff(pf, pc), called the effective pressure. Our goal in this paper is to establish an experimental method for determining a possibly nonlinear, effective pressure law (EPL) for permeability, i.e., find the function κs(pf, pc) such that the effective pressure is given by peff = pc − κs(pf, pc) pf. We applied this method to a set of 26 sandstone cores from various hydrocarbon reservoirs in China. We found that κs greatly varied, from sample to sample, in magnitude and range, sometimes even reaching theoretically prohibited values (i.e., greater than 1 or lower than porosity). One interesting feature of κs(pf, pc) is that it could be approximately described in all rocks but one as a decreasing function κs(pc − pf) of Terzaghi's differential pressure. We also investigated the dependence of permeability on peff for each of our samples. Three models from the literature, i.e., exponential (E), power law (P), and the Walsh model (W), were tested. The (W) model was more likely to fit the experimental data of cores with a high pressure dependence of permeability whereas (E) occurred more frequently in low‐pressure‐sensitive rocks. Finally, we made various types of two‐ and three‐dimensional microstructural observations that generally supported the trend mentioned above.

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Laboratory measurement of compaction-induced permeability change in porous rocks: Implications for the generation and maintenance of pore pressure excess in the crust

Cited by 575 publications

References 53 publications

Air entry–based characteristic length for estimation of permeability of variably compacted earth materials

Air entry–based characteristic length for estimation of permeability of variably compacted earth materials

Physical properties and brittle strength of thermally cracked granite under confinement

Nonlinear effective pressure law for permeability

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