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Field Scale Characterization of Geological Formations Using Percolation Theory

Sadeghnejad, S ; Sharif University of Technology

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  1. Type of Document: Article
  2. DOI: 10.1007/s11242-011-9907-6
  3. Abstract:
  4. The connectivity of high conductivity pathways in geological formations depend on the spatial distribution of geological heterogeneities that may appear on various length scales. Appropriate modeling of this is crucial within in hydrology and petroleum systems. The approach taken in this study is to use percolation theory to quantify the connectivity, hydraulic conductivity, and breakthrough time behavior between an injector and a producer within such systems. In particular, a three-dimensional overlapping sandbody model is considered which assumes that the geological formation can be split into either conductive flow units (i. e., good sands) or non-conductive units (i. e., poor sands). The results are the master curves for the formation connectivity as well as the hydraulic conductivity and breakthrough time. The percolation approach is then validated against Burgan offshore reservoir dataset which reveal good matches when compared with the results obtained from computationally expensive conventional methods
  5. Keywords:
  6. Breakthrough time ; Connectivity ; Field scale investigation ; Percolation theory ; Validation ; Petroleum reservoirs ; Solvents ; Three dimensional ; Percolation (solid state) ; Breakthrough curve ; Flow modeling ; Hydraulic conductivity ; Model test ; Model validation ; Percolation ; Quantitative analysis ; Spatial distribution ; Structural geology ; Theoretical study ; Three-dimensional modeling
  7. Source: Transport in Porous Media ; Vol. 92, issue. 2 , March , 2012 , p. 357-372 ; ISSN: 1693913
  8. URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11242-011-9907-6