Imperial College London
Alternate

Emeritus ProfessorHowardJohnson

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Earth Science & Engineering

Emeritus Professor of Reservoir Geology
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 6450h.d.johnson

 
 
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Location

 

3.48Royal School of MinesSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Massart:2016:10.1306/02011614222,
author = {Massart, BYG and Jackson, MD and Hampson, GJ and Johnson, HD},
doi = {10.1306/02011614222},
journal = {AAPG Bulletin},
pages = {723--742},
title = {Effective flow properties of heterolithic, cross-bedded tidal sandstones: Part 2. Flow simulation},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1306/02011614222},
volume = {100},
year = {2016}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Tidal heterolithic sandstone reservoirs are heterogeneous at the sub-meter scale, due to the ubiquitous presence of intercalated sandstone and mudstone laminae. Core-plug permeability measurements fail to sample a representative volume of this heterogeneity. Here we investigate the impact of mudstone drape distribution on the effective permeability of heterolithic, cross-bedded tidal sandstones using three-dimensional (3D) surface-based “mini-models” that capture the geometry of cross-beds at an appropriate scale. The impact of seven geometric parameters has been determined: (1) mudstone fraction, (2) sandstone laminae thickness, (3) mudstone drape continuity, (4) toeset dip, (5) climb angle of foreset-toeset surfaces, (6) proportion of foresets to toesets, and (7) trough or tabular geometry of the cross-beds.We begin by identifying a representative elementary volume (REV) of 1 m3, confirming that the model volume of 9 m3 yields representative permeability values. Effective permeability decreases as the mudstone fraction increases, and is highly anisotropic: vertical permeability falls to c. 0.5% of the sandstone permeability at a mudstone fraction of 25%, while the horizontal permeability falls to c. 5% and c. 50% of the sandstone value in the dip (across mudstone drapes) and strike (parallel to mudstone drapes) directions, respectively. There is considerable spread around these values, because each parameter investigated can significantly impact effective permeability, with the impact depending upon the flow direction and mudstone fraction. The results yield improved estimates of effective permeability in heterolithic, cross-bedded sandstones, which can be used to populate reservoir-scale model grid blocks using estimates of mudstone fraction and geometrical parameters obtained from core and outcrop-analog data.
AU  - Massart,BYG
AU  - Jackson,MD
AU  - Hampson,GJ
AU  - Johnson,HD
DO  - 10.1306/02011614222
EP  - 742
PY  - 2016///
SN  - 0149-1423
SP  - 723
TI  - Effective flow properties of heterolithic, cross-bedded tidal sandstones: Part 2. Flow simulation
T2  - AAPG Bulletin
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1306/02011614222
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/30275
VL  - 100
ER  -
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