HYDROGEOLOGY

Lec.6 FUNDAMENTAL PROPERTIES OF POROUS MEDIA

Instructor: Payman Hassan

INTRODUCTION

A porous medium is a solid containing void spaces (pores), either connected or

unconnected, dispersed within it in either a regular or random manner. These so
called pores may contain a variety of fluids such as air, water, oil etc. If the pores
represent a certain portion of the bulk volume, a complex network can be formed
which is able to carry fluids. Only these permeable and porous media are taken into
consideration in this volume.

Various examples can be named where porous media play an important role or
where the technology requires them as a tool.

• In Soil Science: The porous medium (soil) contains and transports water and
nutrients to plants.

• In Hydrology: The porous medium is a water bearing and sealing layer.

• In Chemical Engineering: Porous medium is applied as filter or catalyst bed.

• In Petroleum Engineering: Porous medium (reservoir rock) stores crude oil and
natural gas.

• Porosity

The porosity of porous media is defined as the ratio of the volume of the pores to the
total bulk volume of the media (usually expressed as fraction or percent). The
porosity of rock is its property of containing open spaces.
Basically two groups of porous media can be distinguished:

1• intergranular-intragranular

2• fractured.

Materials having both, fractured and intergranular porosity, are called dual (double)
porous media.

• On the other hand, concerning the mechanical properties, one should

distinguish between:

• consolidated: in a consolidated porous medium the particles (grains) are held

together by a cementing material. A typical characteristic of a consolidated medium
is the possibility to form shape-retaining samples

• Unconsolidated porous media: in an unconsolidated porous medium the grains are

loose.

There are two kinds of porosities:

• Total porosity

• Effective porosity

Classification of Porosity

Porosity can be classified as primary or secondary.

- Primary porosity forms during deposition of sediments and includes interparticle

and intraparticle porosities.

Secondary porosity forms after deposition and develops during diagenesis by

dissolution, dolomitization and through production of fractures in the rock.
Permeability

The permeability of a rock is a measure of the ease with which the rock will permit
the passage of fluids. It is important to distinguish between mass flow and filtration:
In the case of mass flow all particles in the field of flow are in motion, whereas in
the case of filtration, only a portion of the mass particles flows and the remaining
part forms the flooded framework.