GP170/2001 #5

Effective-Medium Models for Granular Rocks

THE END-POINT CONCEPT

GLASS FOAM OPAL and CHALK

60
1 1
SOLID GLASS
G =ρ Vs2

Frame-Supported Foam
M =ρ Vp 2

Disintegrated Foam
50 Honeycomb
Structure 0.8 0.8
Bulk Modulus (GPa)

40
0.6 0.6 Chalks

M/Ms

G/Gs
30
0.4 Opaline 0.4 Opaline
20 Rocks Rocks

0.2 0.2
10
Chalks

0
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Porosity Porosity
Porosity

VOLCANIC ROCK Solid

6
S2
KY1 Room-Dry Upper
5

Elastic Modulus
OG1 Bound
P-Wave Velocity (km/s)

4 OG5
OG4 Diagenetic
Path
3

2 Light Tuff Hi-Phi

Benchtop Endpoint
1
Lower
Bound
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
Porosity

Porosity

1
 GP170/2001 #5

Granular Rocks -- Critical Porosity Endpoint

Sand
Idealizing Pore Structure

Steel Beads

Grain-to-Grain Contacts

2
 GP170/2001 #5

Evolution of Grain Contacts -- Diagenesis

Various Diagenetic Paths

Constant Contact
Cement Cement Schematic depiction of three
effective-medium models for

Elastic Modulus
high-porosity sands in the
elastic-modulus-porosity plane
and corresponding diagenetic
transformations. The elastic
modulus may me compressional,
Initial bulk, or shear.
Friable Sand
Pack

0.30 0.35 0.40

Porosity

Contact Cement

Contact Constant 4.0 Quartz Grains

Friable Sand Quartz Cement Quartz Grains
Cement Model Cement
Quartz Cement

Vp (km/s)
Model Model
Elastic Modulus

Clean Sand
3.5 w/Water

Vp (km/s)
Quartz Grains
0.30 0.35 0.40 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.30 0.35 0.40 3.0 Clay Cement 2 Shale
a Porosity b Porosity c Porosity
0.2 0.3 0.25 0.30 0.35
a b Porosity
Porosity

3
Friable Sand -- Lower Modified Hashin-Shtrikman 3
Vp

Increasing Porosity
Velocity (km/s)

Vp (km/s)
2

Vs

φ =0 φ < φc φ = φc φ >φc φ =1 1
2

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.30 0.35 0.40

a b
Porosity Porosity
3
 GP170/2001 #5
Equations
Friable Sand Model
One end point is at critical porosity. The elastic moduli of the dry rock at
Contact Cement Model
that point are assumed to be the same as of an el astic sphere pack
The effective bulk ( Kdry ) and shear ( Gdry ) moduli of dry rock are:
subject to confining pressure. These moduli are given by the Hertz-
Kdry = n(1 − φc )Mc Sn / 6, Gdry = 3Kdry / 5 + 3n(1 − φ c )Gc Sτ / 20, Mindlin (Mindlin, 1949) theory:

where φ c is critical porosity; Ks and Gs are the bulk and shear moduli of n2 (1− φ c ) 2 G2 13 5 − 4ν 3n2 (1− φ c ) 2 G2 13
KHM = [ P] , G = [ P] ;
the grain material, respectively;
Kc and Gc are the bulk and shear 18π 2 (1− ν)2 HM
5(2 − ν ) 2π 2 (1− ν)2
moduli of the cement material, respectively; Mc = Kc + 4Gc / 3 is the
where KHM and G HM are the bulk and shear moduli at critical porosity
compressional modulus of the cement; and n is the coordination number
φ c , respectively; P i s the differential pressure; K , G , and ν ar e the
-- average number of contacts per grain (8-9). Sn and Sτ are:
bulk and shear moduli of the solid phase, and its Poisson's ratio,
Sn = An (Λ n )α 2 + Bn (Λ n )α + Cn (Λ n ), An (Λ n ) = −0.024153 ⋅ Λn −1.3646 , respectively; and n is the coordination number.
Bn (Λ n ) = 0.20405 ⋅ Λn −0.89008 , Cn (Λ n ) = 0.00024649 ⋅ Λn −1.9864 ; The other end-point is at zero porosity and has the bulk ( K ) and
Sτ = Aτ (Λ τ , νs )α + Bτ (Λ τ , νs )α + Cτ (Λ τ , ν s ),
2
shear ( G ) m oduli of the pure solid phase. These two points are
Aτ (Λ τ ,ν s ) = −10 −2 ⋅ (2.26ν s 2 + 2.07ν s + 2.3) ⋅ Λτ 0.079 νs + 0.1754 νs −1.342 ,
2

connected with the curves that have the algebraic expressions of the
Bτ (Λ τ ,ν s ) = (0.0573 νs 2 + 0.0937ν s + 0.202) ⋅ Λτ 0.0274 ν s +0.0529 νs − 0.8765 ,
2

lower Hashin-Shtrikman bound for the mixture of two components: the

Cτ (Λ τ ,ν s ) = 10−4 ⋅(9.654 νs 2 + 4.945ν s + 3.1)⋅ Λτ 0.01867 νs + 0.4011 ν s −1.8186 ;
2

pure solid phase and the phase that is the sphere pack.
Λ n = 2Gc (1− ν s )(1− ν c ) / [πGs (1− 2νc )], Λ τ = Gc / (πGs );
At porosity φ the concentration of the pure solid phase (added to the
α = [(2 / 3)(φ c − φ ) / (1− φc )]0.5 ;
sphere pack to decrease porosity) in the rock is 1 − φ / φ c and that of the
νc = 0.5(Kc / Gc − 2 / 3 ) /(Kc / Gc + 1 / 3);
νs = 0.5(Ks / Gs − 2 / 3 ) /(Ks / Gs + 1 / 3). sphere-pack phase is φ / φc . Then the bulk ( KDry ) and shear ( G Dry )
moduli of the dry frame are:

φ / φc 1 − φ / φ c −1 4
KDry = [ + ] − GHM ,
Constant Cement Model KHM + 43 GHM K + 43 GHM 3
The constant-cement model assumes that the initial porosity reduction from
φ / φc 1 − φ / φ c −1 G  9KHM + 8GHM 
critical porosity is due to the contact cement deposition. At some high porosity, G Dry = [ + ] − z, z = HM  .
GHM + z G+z 6  K HM + 2GHM 
this diagenetic process stops and after that porosity reduces due to the
deposition of the solid phase away from the grain contacts as in the friable sand
Contact
model. This model is mathematically analogous to the friable sand model except Cement
4 Cement Quartz
that the high-porosity end point bulk and shear moduli ( Kb and Gb ,
Vp (km/s)

respectively) are calculated at some "cemented" porosity φ b from the contact- 3.0 Constant
Cement
Cement
cement model. Then the dry-rock bulk and shear moduli are:

Vp (km/s)
Clay

φ / φb 1 − φ / φ b −1 3
Kdry = ( + ) − 4Gb / 3, Friable
K b + 4Gb / 3 Ks + 4Gb / 3 Friable
Sand

φ / φ b 1 − φ / φ b −1 G 9K b + 8Gb Sand
Gdry =( + ) − z, z = b . 2.5
4
Gb + z Gs + z 6 Kb + 2Gb
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.3 0.35 0.4
a Porosity
b Porosity
 GP170/2001 #5

ROCK PHYSICS DIAGNOSTIC

Often, an earth volume under examination has to be described by more that one rock physics law: different
depth intervals may have distinctively different velocity-porosity trends due to variations in depositional and
diagenetic history. When building a rock physics model, one has to single out various velocity-porosity
trends from the entire volume of data and assign these separate trends to appropriate depth intervals and
depositional sequences. This procedure is called rock physics diagnostic. Rock physics diagnostic is
typically conducted on well log and core data.

Log Data Common Saturation

.3 .6

.4 .7
DEPTH (km)

Depth (km)
.5 .8

20 40 60 80 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5
GR (API) Vp (km/s) Vp (km/s)

Cross-Plot Diagnose
Attribute a
25 25
trend to the
interval
M (GPa)

M (GPa)

20 20

Use for
forward/synthetic
15 15

modeling ...

10 10

0.25 0.3 0.35 0.25 0.3 0.35

Total Porosity Total Porosity

5
 GP170/2001 #5

Rock Physics Diagnostic in Sleipner -- Case Study

A vertical well, 15/9-16, penetrates the North Sea Sleipner gas/condensate reservoir comprised of Paleocene turbiditic sand. Porosity and permeability are available
from about 60 plugs that evenly cover the interval from 2380 to 2460 m. The vertical and horizontal permeabilities are practically identical. The sandstone is very
well sorted. The grains are predominantly quartz (average 80%) with the rest being feldspar (average 14%), mica (average 2.3%), and clay, mostly chlorite, (average
2.2%). Traces of calcite and other minerals are also present. The contact cement in these rocks is quartz. The upper part of the well is saturated with gas, with the
gas-water contact at 2430 m.

The interval under investigation can be subdivided into a high-resistivity zone (HRZ) overlaying a low-resistivity zone (LRZ) with the transition at about 2410 m. There
is a diagenetic change associated with this transition. HRZ has a restricted distribution of diagenetic chlorite and up to 5% quartz cement. LRZ has a slightly larger
content of chlorite and a smaller degree of cementation.

2400

Various parameters versus depth in well 15/9-16. a. Far

DRKB (m)

resistivity. Gray curve is for LRZ. b. Log-derived (gray

curve) and core porosity. Open symbols are for LRZ. c.
Permeability. Open symbols are for LRZ. d. Dry-rock (gray
curve) and directly measured (black curve) compressional
modulus. Symbols are from dry-rock lab measurements at
30 MPa.
2450

1 10 0.20 0.25 0.30 1 10 100 1000 10 20 30

a Rt (Ohm m) b Porosity c Permeability (mD) d Comp. Modulus (GPa)

4 4
R = 0.48 R = 0.47
PROBLEM 3 3
Horizontal permeability versus log-derived (a)
k (mD)

k (mD)

2 2 and core (b) porosity. Gray lines show best

linear fits. Correlation coefficients are given in
10

10

the graphs. They are poor.

Log

Log

1 1

0 0

-1 -1
0.20 0.25 0.30 0.20 0.25 0.30
a Well Log Porosity b Core Porosity 6
 GP170/2001 #5

Sleipner -- Permeability and Elasticity

Observation 30
Oseberg
4
Troll

Compressional Modulus (GPa)

10
a. Compressional modulus versus porosity for the Oseberg
and Troll samples. The data displayed are for room-dry

Permeability (mD)
10
3 rocks at 30 MPa effective pressure. The upper curve is from
20 the contact cement theory and the bottom curve is from the
non-contact cement theory. b. Permeability versus porosity
2 for the same datasets. The cartoons schematically show the
10
location of cement among grains (contact for Oseberg and
non-contact for Troll).
10
1
10
0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
a Porosity b 0.20 0.25 0.30
Porosity
0.35

Position of 30
HRZ
Sleipner Sands LRZ
a. Dry-frame compressional modulus versus porosity for
Compressional Modulus (GPa)

10
3 the Oseberg and Troll samples at 30 MPa, and HRZ and
LRZ. The HRZ and LRZ data are selected at the depths of
Permeability (mD) permeability datapoints. The upper curve is from the
102 contact cement theory and the bottom curve is from the
20
non-contact cement theory. b. Permeability versus
101 porosity for the same datasets. The open triangles are for
Oseberg and Troll. The filled circles are for HRZ and the
0
Oseberg open circles are for LRZ. The Oseberg and Troll data are
10 Troll plotted versus core porosity whereas the HRZ and LRZ
10 data are plotted versus log-derived porosity.
0.20 0.25 0.30
a Porosity b 0.20 0.25
Porosity
0.30

DIAGNOSTIC 30
Non- Contact Cement
a. Idealized picture of granular
Compressional Modulus (GPa)

Contact Trajectory
Contact Cement 2400
Cement rock with contact and non-
Contact
Cement contact cement. b. Calculating
the amount of non-contact
DRKB (m)

20 cement. Gray symbols show

Grain Projection
some scattered datapoints. c.
Datapoint
Volumetric fraction of contact
(solid line) and non-contact
Non- (dotted line) cement versus depth
2450
10 φ CEM Contact in well 15/9-16. Gray vertical
Cement bar shows the extent of HRZ.
a b 0.2 0.3
Porosity
0.4
c 0 0.1
Volume Fraction in Rock
7
 GP170/2001 #5

Sleipner -- Permeability

R = 0.86 3 R = 0.85
)

4
2
(mD/mm

Permeability (a) and permeability normalized by

k (mD)
2 grain size squared (b) versus the volumetric fraction
3 of non-contact cement. Gray lines show best linear
fits. Correlation coefficients are given in the graphs.
Log k /d 2

10
1

Log
2
10

0
1

0 0.1 0 0.1
b Fraction of Non-Contact Cement a Fraction of Non-Contact Cement

Rock Strength
and Sanding
Potential 2400 No Sanding
Contact
Cement
The method of calculating the amount of contact
DRKB (m)

and non-contact cement presented here is in fact

a method of diagnosing the texture of high-
porosity sandstone from well-log data. Such
diagnostic is important not only for obtaining a
usable correlation for permeability but also for
Sanding assessing the strength of rock and its
2450 Non-
Contact susceptibility to sanding.
Cement
0 0.1
c Volume Fraction in Rock

8
 GP170/2001 #5

Nigeria -- Gas Sands -- Logs and Cross-Plots

7 w/Water

P-Impedance
4900
TVD (ft)

w/Water
6

Measured
5000

5
5100

Meaured
5200
4
0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40
Porosity
5300

5400 ABOVE GWC

> 5287 ft

7
5500

P-Impedance
5600 w/Water
6

25 50 75 100 0 0.5 1 1.8 2.0 2.2 0.25 0.30 0.35 4 6 8

GR Sw RHOB Porosity P-Impedance

Meaured
4
0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40
Porosity

9
 GP170/2001 #5

Nigeria Sands -- Diagnostic

8
Cement w/Water
Quartz
Cement
Clay

7 Bioturbated
w/Illite

P-Impedance
Friable
Quartz

6 Shoreface

5
0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40
Porosity

8 8

Clean Sands Clean Sands

GR < 40 40 < GR < 50
w/Water w/Water

7 7
Bioturbated
P-Impedance

P-Impedance

6 6

Shoreface

5 5
0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40
Porosity Porosity 10
 GP170/2001 #5

Tight North Sea Gas Sandstone -- Diagnostic

CORE
3980

3990
Depth (m)

4000

LOG
CORE

4010

20 40 60 0 0.5 1 0.10 0.15 0.10 0.15 0.1 10 1000 4.0 4.5

Gamma Ray Sw Porosity Porosity Permeability (mD) Vp (km/s)

Log Domain
11 100
Permeability (mD)
P-Impedance

10

10
1

0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.10 0.15

PHIF Core Porosity 11
 GP170/2001 #5

Tight North Sea Gas Sandstone -- Diagnostic

Raymer
85% Quartz + 15% Clay
11

P-Impedance
10

70% Quartz + 30% Clay

0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16

PHIF

Below Shale Peak

Log Domain
11 100
Permeability (mD)
P-Impedance

10

10 1

Above Shale Peak

0.08 0.10 0.12 0.14 0.16 0.1 0.15

PHIF Core Porosity 12
 GP170/2001 #5

Diagnostic Applets

Rock Physics Diagnostic allows the user

Depth

4 to quickly derive rational impedance-

porosity equations for various

Vp (km/s)
100 m

lithologies present in the interval

3 (Figures at right).
Rt The diagnostic equations can be
adjusted for any pore fluid for seismic
Rxo
2 identification away from the well.
Marl
25 50 75 1 10 2 3 4 5 0.1 0.3 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
GR Resistivity Vp (km/s) Total Porosity
Total Porosity

DIAGNOSTIC DISPLAY Common Saturation Diagnostic Curves Pore-Fluid Effect

8 Contact 8 Brine
25 Cement
Cement Oil
Water Equation
Constant
Compressional Modulus

7 7 Gas
Cement
20

P-Impedance

P-Impedance
6 6
Oil
15

Gas Unconsolidated
5 5
10
Unconsolidated
Shale
Equation
4 4
0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35 0.20 0.25 0.30 0.35
Total Porosity Total Porosity 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.2 0.3 0.4
Contact Cement Constant Cement Raymer Total Porosity Total Porosity
Unconsolidated

13