PERMEABILITY

Theory

In 1856, Henry Darcy published results of sand column experiments he performed to

better understand principles of water flow through filter beds, which were used in the
design of water supply systems in Dijon, France (Darcy, 1856). As a result of the
experiment, Darcy discovered a mathematical relationship relating flow to hydraulic
gradient. Darcy discovered that the water flow rate through a sand packed column was
a linear function of the hydraulic head loss across the filter bed and not just the
difference in water pressure. Besides its relevance to groundwater hydrology, Darcy’s
law forms the quantitative basis of many science and engineering disciplines including
soil science, civil engineering, petroleum engineering, and chemical engineering.
Darcy’s law is fundamental to understanding and predicting the behavior of
groundwater flow and is the basis for interpreting measurements such as water levels
in wells.
Darcy's Law is the basic equation describing fluid flow in porous media. This law states
that
rate is proportional to cross-sectional area times pressure difference ΔP across a length
Δx, and is inversely proportional to the viscosity of the fluid.

The minus sign shows that the direction of flow is opposite to the direction of
increasing pressure; fluids flow from high pressure to low pressure in a horizontal
(gravity-free) system. The proportionality constant is referred to as “permeability.”
Permeability depends on rock type. Clastic (sand and sandstone) reservoir permeability
is usually provided by matrix pores, and is seldom influenced by secondary solution
vugs.
Darcy used the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, where he used a vertical sand pack through
which water flowed under the influence of gravity while measuring the fluid pressures
at the top and bottom of the pack by the heights of manometers. Here the difference in
fluid pressures can be calculated from
h2–h1
providing the density of the fluid is known. It has since been validated for most rock
types and certain common fluids. Darcy’s formula can be expressed as
 Q dh
q = = − KA or OR
A dl
where: Q = the flow rate (cm3/s or m3/s)
Po = the outlet fluid pressure (dynes/cm2 or Pa)
Pi = the inlet fluid pressure (dynes/cm2 or Pa)
µ = the dynamic viscosity of the fluid (poise or Pa.s)
L = the length of the tube (cm or m)
k = the permeability of the sample (darcy or m2 )
A = the area of the sample (cm2 or m2 )

Although the experimental design is not the same as Darcy’s, the apparatus is
analogous in that the hydraulics and mathematical relationships born by Darcy’s
experiment are the same.

Darcy pereability apparatus

The apparatus consists of a cylinder of cross-sectional area, A, that is filled with a

porous medium such as sand. Water is introduced slowly into the left vessel and
gradually flows through the sand-filled cylinder until the pore spaces in the sand are
fully saturated. The water levels in each vessel continue to rise until the water level in
the right vessel reaches the top and begins to flow over the lip. In this way, although
water continues to be introduced into the left vessel, the elevation of the water column
on the right side remains fixed. The water level in the left vessel continues to rise until
the inflow rate, Qin, is equal to the outflow rate, Qout, at which time the elevation in
both vessels stabilize. That is, steady–state flow conditions are established, and Q is
the volumetric flow rate of water through the cylinder (i.e., volume per unit time, such
as cubic meters per second, gallons per minute, liters per second).

Piezometers (in this case, small-diameter open tubes) are inserted into the cylinder.
The upper end of each piezometer is open to the atmosphere, and the lower end is
screened such that water can enter, but sand grains cannot. Upon insertion, the water
level in each piezometer rises to a stable elevation. The elevation of the water
measured in each piezometer represents the hydraulic head at the point of
measurement, which in this case is the open end of the piezometer in the sand.

Flow of the hydrocarbon will only be permitted if there is sufficient permeability in

the reservoir rocks, which is an essential parameter in reservoir engineering.

The permeability of a rock is a measure of the ease with which the rock will permit the
passage of fluids. Permeability is a measure of pore connectivity in the equations
describing fluid flow in porous media.
The fundamental physical law which governs this is called the Navier-Stokes equation,
and it is very complex. For the purposes of flow in rocks we can usually assume that
the flow is laminar, and this assumption allows great simplification in the equations.
It should also be noted that the permeability to a single fluid is different to the
permeability where more than one fluid phase is flowing. When there are two or more
immiscible fluid phases flowing we use relative permeability.
The fluid flow through a cylindrical tube is expressed by Poiseuille’s equation, which is
a simplification of Navier-Stokes equation for the particular geometry, laminar flow,
and uncompressible fluids. This equation can be written as

where: Q = the flow rate (cm3 /s or m3 /s)

r = the radius of the tube (cm or m)
Po = the outlet fluid pressure (dynes/cm2 or Pa)
Pi = the inlet fluid pressure (dynes/cm2 or Pa)
µ = the dynamic viscosity of the fluid (poise or Pa.s)
L = the length of the tube (cm or m)

Controls on Permeability and the Range of Permeability Values in Nature

Intuitively, it is clear that permeability will depend on porosity; the higher the porosity
the higher the permeability. However, permeability also depends upon the connectivity
of the pore spaces, in order that a pathway for fluid flow is possible. The connectivity of
the pores depends upon many factors including the size and shape of grains, the grain
size distribution, and other factors such as the operation of capillary forces that depend
upon the wetting properties of the rock.
However, we can make some generalizations if all other factors are held constant:
· The higher the porosity, the higher the permeability.
· The smaller the grains, the smaller the pores and pore throats, the lower the
permeability.
· The smaller the grain size, the lower the permeability.

The permeability of rocks varies enormously, from 1 nanodarcy, nD (1*10-9 D) to 1

microdarcy, mD (1*10-6 D) for granites, shales and clays that form cap-rocks or
compartmentalize a reservoir, to several darcies for extremely good reservoir rocks. In
general a cut-off of 1 mD is applied to reservoir rocks, below which the rock is not
considered as a reservoir rock unless unusual circumstances apply (e.g., it is a
fractured reservoir). For reservoir rocks permeabilities can be classified as in Table
below.
Reservoir permeability classification

Relative Permeability
Routine permeability measurements are made with a single fluid filling the pore space.
This is seldom the case in the reservoir situation except in water zones. Generally, two
and sometimes three phases are present, i.e. oil, water, and occasionally gas as well.
Here one would expect the permeability of either fluid to be lower than that for the
single fluid since it occupies only part of the pore space and may also be affected by
interaction with other phases. The concept used to address this situation is called
relative permeability. The relative permeability to oil, Kro, is defined as:

permeability depends upon many factors. Perhaps not surprisingly, one of those factors
is the degree to which the available pore space is saturated with the flowing fluid. The
pore space may not be completely saturated with one fluid but contain two or more.
For, example, there may be, and generally is, both oil and water in the pores. What is
more, they may both be flowing at different rates at the same time. Clearly, the
individual permeabilities of each of the fluids will be different from each other and not
the same as the permeability of the rock with a single fluid present. These
permeabilities depend upon the rock properties, but also on the saturations,
distributions, and properties of each of the fluids.
If the rock contains one fluid, the rock permeability is maximum, and this value is
called the absolute permeability.

If there are two fluids present, the permeabilities of each fluid depend upon the
saturation of each fluid, and can be plotted against the saturation of the fluid. These
are called effective permeabilities. Both effective permeabilities are always less than
the absolute permeability of the rock and their sum is also always less than the
absolute permeability of the rock. The individual effective permeabilities are most often
expressed as a fraction of the absolute permeability of the rock to either of the two
fluids when present at 100% saturation, and these are called relative permeabilities.
Hence, if 100% water occupies the rock, the absolute permeability to water is kaw, and
the same applies for 100% saturations with oil (kao), and gas (kag). If any two, or all
three, of these fluids are present together in the rock at some partial saturation Sw, So
and Sg, we can measure their effective permeabilities, which are kew, keo, and keg,
which will all be less than their absolute values. We can define and calculate the
relative permeability values by expressing the effective permeabilities as a
fraction of some base permeability, which is arbitrary but usually the absolute
permeability of one of the fluids present. For example, if we take kao as the base
permeability, the relative permeabilities are:
krw = kew/ kao
krg = keg/ kao, and
kro = keo/ kao.
Referring to Figure below, it can be seen that the effective and hence relative
permeability of a given fluid decreases as the saturation of that fluid decreases, and
that there is a threshold value of saturation of any given fluid that needs to be present
before that fluid will move. This last point is on the one hand intuitive, as one would
expect the need for sufficient of a given fluid to be present before a connected,
flowable pathway could come into being, and on the other hand critical, because it
implies that fluids become trapped (unmovable) in a rock when they are still present in
significant amounts. In the figure, oil is immobile until its saturation is about 20%,
indicating that we cannot produce from zones that contain less than 20% oil, and that
we will not be able to produce the last 20% of oil from zones which initially have higher
oil saturations. This is known as the residual oil saturation, Sor.
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Relative permeability curves for an oil/water system that is water wet.

The same applied to the water, whose immobile fraction is termed the irreducible water
saturation, Swi, and gas, whose immobile fraction is termed the trapped gas saturation,
Sgt. There is a point on the plot where the curve intersect. Here the permeability to
each fluid is the same, and both fluids are equally easily produced. As the oil saturation
increases, the permeability to oil increases, and that to water decreases, and vice
versa. Hence it is apparent that in oil reservoirs it is important to avoid the production
of water as not only does it not make money, but an increasing water cut reduces the
permeability of the reservoir to the oil, making oil more difficult to produce.