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Porous media in reservoir engineering : Introduction

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DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6391053

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The little corner of porous media DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.6391053

Porous media in reservoir engineering :

Introduction
Issue:
- How porous media are defined?
- How to characterize porous media?
- What is the influence of wettability and pressure on the distribution of fluids?

Contents:
- Porosity, permeability, tortuosity, and fluid saturation
- Wettability and capillary pressure
- Water in porous media
- Darcy’s law

Introduction ometry (Figure 2). The maximum porosity of a stack of

A porous medium is a solid matrix containing voids (water,
air or other fluids) called pores. Porous media can be either
unconsolidated/granular (sands, soils, etc.) or consolidated
(sandstones, carbonates, limestone, etc.) and composed of
two types of porosity: fracture or interstice (Figure 1). The
fractures are cracks in the material while the interstice porosity
represents the voids around solid particles more or less linked
together. These 2 types of porosity can coexist in the same
porous medium.

Figure 1. Fracture (left) and gap (right) porosity.

The porosity, noted Φ, is defined as:
Void volume Vp
Φ= = Figure 2. Structures for stacks of monodisperse spheres:
Total volume VT
simple cubic (a), centered cubic (b), face centered cubic (c),
with Vp the volume of the pores. and compact hexagonal (d).
The compactness C is defined as:
Solid volume non-deformable spheres of identical size is 48 % and corre-
C= = 1−Φ sponds to a simple cubic arrangement of spheres (a). The
Total volume
A final parameter called the void index is defined as the ratio most compact arrangement is obtained by a centered cubic
of the volume of the pores to the volume of the matrix (solids). (c) or else by a hexagonal configuration (d), the porosity then
being 26 %.
This chapter will only focus on the gap porosity.
Porosity depends on the grain size distribution, the shape
of the grains, and the grain packing.
1. Modeling of porosity
To define and characterize a porous medium, it is common In natural environments, Φ is also affected by chemical and
to model it as a stack of spherical grains with a given ge- physical erosion (Table 1).

1 A. Hutin – Zenodo – Researchgate

The little corner of porous media DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.6391053

Porous Rocks Φ volume of the pores.

Sandstone 7 - 40 %
Calcite 5 - 25 % The formation factor can also be determined by the empirical
Argile 20 - 40 % Archie relationship :
Granular 26 - 48 % F = Φ−m
Where the exponent m can vary between 3/2 and 2 (clean
Table 1. Porosity ranges in rocks.
formation).
It is also possible to determine the volume and size of the
pores depending on the configuration (see Annex). Permeability Permeability (k) is the ability of a porous
medium to allow a fluid to pass. High permeability is there-
1.1 Porous medium properties fore synonymous with high porosity, however the contrary is
Porosity Measurements of the volume of voids in samples not true. Because a high permeability requires that the pores
can be used to determine either the open porosity (volume are strongly interconnected.
of void connected to the outside and accessible to the fluid), Tortuosity The tortuosity T is a dimensionless number de-
also called effective porosity, or the total (absolute) porosity. fined as the ratio between the length L′ of a current line sepa-
The difference between these two porosities comes from the rating two points and the distance L between these two points
existence of pores not accessible to the flowing fluid through (Figure 4):
the medium, but also from the presence of water bound to L′
the grains by molecular forces. It is called closed porosity T = >1
L
(Figure 3). For a simple geometry of tubes parallel to the flow T = 1.

Figure 4. Diagram of tortuosity

T can also be expressed as a function of the porosity Φ and

the formation factor F :
T = FΦ
Kozeny and Carman related tortuosity to grain size D and
Figure 3. Different types of pores. permeability k:
D2
One method to determine the connectivity of an insulating T = AC3
porous medium consists in measuring the conductivity of a k
conductive fluid which saturates this porous medium. The with A a dimensionless number.
more the medium is connected, the greater the conductivity. Fluid saturation It is defined as the ratio between the vol-
The conductivity σ f of a porous medium saturated with a ume of fluid contained in the sample, Vi (i = w, o, g) and the
fluid of conductivity σ is characterized by the formation (or pore volume Vp .
structure) factor F: Vi
σf Si =
F= Vp
σ
If F > 1 then there is an influence of the pore structure on the With
resistance of the sample. Sw + So + Sg = 1

Thus, for the injection of fluid through such a medium, one Sw , So , and Sg are the water, oil, and gas saturations. The
speaks of kinematic porosity or open porosity. This is because saturations can be related to the total or effective porosity. In
the volume in which a fluid can flow is less than the total reservoir engineering, this is usually the effective porosity.

2 A. Hutin – Zenodo – Researchgate

The little corner of porous media DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.6391053

1.2 Influence of the wettability of rocks and fluids • 0◦ ≤ θ ≤ 90◦

Wettability is the tendency of a fluid to spread or adhere to
If θ is close to 0◦ , the rock is considered to be highly water-
the surface of a solid in the presence of other immiscible flu-
wet (strong hydrophilicity).
ids. It concerns the interactions between a fluid (oil, water or
gas) and a solid phase (reservoir rock : sandstone, limestone, Oil-wet rock:
dolomite, etc). The rock is oil-wet (Figure 6) if:

This wettability depends on the adhesion energies between • γos > γws
the different phases and is characterized by the contact angle
• AT > 0 (adhesion tension is positive)
formed by the densest phase (Figure 5).
• 90◦ ≤ θ ≤ 180◦

If θ is close to 180◦ , the rock is considered to be highly oil-

wet (strong hydrophobicity).

Wettability is affected by the mineralogical composition of

the pore surface, the nature and composition of fluids, and the
history of saturation.

Figure 5. Spreading of a water drop on a solid in contact with

oil. The contact angle θ characterizes the adhesion of the
water drop to the solid.
The adhesion tension is defined as:

AT = γws − γws = −γow · cosθ

With γso the oil/solid interfacial tension, γws the water/solid

interfacial tension and γwo the oil/water interfacial tension.
And the work of adhesion as:

Wa = γs + γl − γsl = γl (1 + cosθ )

The different properties of fluids in a porous medium depend

on their wettability (Table 2).

Figure 6. Distribution of fluids in porous media as a function

Wetting fluid Non wetting fluid
of wettability (adapted from Ayers 2001).
Preferential spreading on No preferential reaction
the solid with the solid In porous media, there are 4 different cases:
Occupation of small pores Occupation of large pores
More mobile, especially at • High wettability in water or oil.
Less mobile fluid
high saturation
• Neutrality: no preferential wettability (neutral surface
Limits saturation reduction
with respect to fluids).
to an irreducible value
• Fractional wettability: presence of areas highly wet-
Table 2. Properties of fluids in a porous medium as a function table in oil while the majority of the reservoir is wet-
of their wettability. table in water, due to mineralogical heterogeneity of
Note that natural gas is never the wetting phase in reservoirs. the pore surface.
Water-wet rock: • Mixed wettability : Small ”water-wet” pores occupied
The rock is water-wet (Figure 6) if: by water and large ”oil-wet” pores occupied by oil.
Low residual oil saturation, it occurs when oil invades
• γws > γos a water-wettable rock that is highly saturated with for-
• AT < 0 (i.e., adhesion tension is negative) mation water.

3 A. Hutin – Zenodo – Researchgate

The little corner of porous media
1.3 Water in porous media
Saturated soils In saturated soils, water fills all the voids
between the particles (Figure 7). If we exclude the water that
goes into the composition of minerals (water of constitution),
it is necessary to distinguish bound water, which is attached to
the surface of solid particles by molecular interaction forces
(electric forces), and free water, which can moves between
particles under the effect of gravity or pressure gradients.
Figure 7. Different behaviors of water in a porous environ-
ment.
Bound water is attached to particles in the finest fraction
of soils, which are almost all clayey in nature. These particles
carry negative electric charges on their surface. The electric
field created by these charges orients the dipolar molecules
of the water in the vicinity of the particle (the H + ions of the
H + /OH − dipole are attracted to the surface). The electrical
interaction between water and clay particles decreases rapidly
as one moves away from the particle. The first layers of water
molecules (adsorbed or hygroscopic water) are tightly bound
and hardly move relative to the particle. Their density can
reach 1.5 times that of pure water and their viscosity is very
high. The following layers are more weakly bound but have
a viscous behavior different from that of free water, which
means that they participate little in the flows inside the soil.
The ”adsorbed” water layer is the layer of water molecules
bound almost rigidly to the particle. The thickness of this
layer varies with the nature of the clay mineral and with the
nature of the cations. It is of the order of 50 Å (0.005 µm) and
depends little on the dimensions of the particle.
Pellicular water is the water that surrounds the adsorbed water
layer. Its physical and mechanical properties are influenced
by the electric field of the particle. The thickness of the bound
water layer is 0.1 µm. The transition zone between bound
water and free water can extend up to 0.4-0.5 µm from the
surface of the particle. The volume of this water is deducted
from the volume of the pores for the calculation of the effec-
tive porosity.
Free water is outside the field of attraction of the particles
and can therefore move under the effect of gravity or pressure
4 A. Hutin – Zenodo – Researchgate
DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.6391053
gradients. The amount of bound water in the soil depends on
the surface area of the particles on which the water molecules
can be adsorbed.
Unsaturated soils In unsaturated soils, three phases coexist
and generally water ”wets” (covers) the surface of the parti-
cles, while the air is rather located in the middle of the pores.
Depending on the degree of soil saturation, there are three
modes of interaction between the phases:
• Quasi-saturated soil : the liquid phase is continuous and
water can circulate under the influence of gravity. The
gas phase is discontinuous and does not move indepen-
dently. The soils are ”almost saturated” for degrees of
saturation greater than 85 %.
• Soil at equilibrium saturation : the liquid phase is still
continuous but water can no longer move under the sole
influence of gravity. The gas phase is also continuous,
but does not generally circulate.
• Weakly saturated soil: water surrounds the particles
and occupies discontinuous volumes in the form of
a meniscus. The liquid phase is always continuous
through the adsorbed water films but only moves very
slowly. The gas phase is continuous, but generally
immobile. Evaporation of water inside soil pores can
become a significant phenomenon.
1.4 Capillary pressure
Definition Capillary pressure Pc is the pressure difference
across an interface separating two immiscible fluids. Capillar-
ity is present during the flow of water within a porous medium
(Darcy’s law) or in capillary conduits (Poiseuille’s law).
For water/air, it is called Laplace pressure and expressed such
as:
2σ
Pc =
R
With R the radius of curvature of the water/air interface and σ
the surface tension.
For a capillary balanced by the weight of a column (Figure
8):
2σ cosθ
Pc = = ∆ρgh
r
With r the radius of the capillary, h the height difference
between the flat surface and the meniscus, θ the contact angle
between the liquid and the tube, ∆ρ the difference in density
between the 2 phases and g the acceleration due to gravity.
The capillary pressure is therefore a function of the interfacial
tension, the contact angle, and the radius of the capillary. It
determines the saturations and the distribution of fluids in the
porous medium.
In the case of a wetting saturating fluid, the displacement
The little corner of porous media
Figure 8. Poiseuille’s law in a capillary.
is done by the non-wetting fluid if one imposes a ∆P ≥ Pc
(large pores). For a non-wetting saturating fluid, the displace-
ment is spontaneous thanks to the surrounding fluid. The
capillary pressure is therefore the excess pressure necessary
for the non-wetting phase to displace the wetting phase in a
capillary of given radius.
In a porous medium, the restrictions between the pores can be
represented by capillary tubes of r rays. Figure 9 shows the
behaviour if water formation is the wetting phase and the oil
the non-wetting phase.
Figure 9. Evolution of the height of water in a capillary as a
function of its radius.
When hydrocarbons migrate in a water-wet formation:
• The pores with large r are invaded first, water continues
to occupy the pores with small r
• When the level of hydrocarbons rises, Pc grows and
forces the oil into the pores with increasingly smaller rs
In order for an oil ganglion to pass a constriction of radius r,
it is necessary that ∆P between upstream and downstream is
at least equal to Pc . Depending on the pore structure and the
conditions, several cases are possible (Figure 10):
• passage with break (snap-off)
• passage without rupture
5 A. Hutin – Zenodo – Researchgate
DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.6391053
• passage after enlargement
Figure 10. Diagram of an oil ganglion upstream of a constric-
tion.
Imbibition During an imbibition process, the wetting phase
saturation increases while the non-wetting phase decreases.
If the rock is water-wet:
• Water occupies the small pores
• Presence of a film of water around the grains in the
large pores
• If the porous medium saturated with oil is placed in
water, it will spontaneously displace the oil from the
small pores (imbibition)
• The mobility of the wetting phase increases
And vice versa if the rock is oil-wet.
Drainage During a drainage process, the non-wetting phase
saturation increases while wetting phase saturation decreases.
The mobility of the non-wetting phase increases, for example,
in the case of recovery by injecting water into an oil-wet
reservoir. A ”water-wet” system is favorable to the primary
and secondary recovery rate by water flooding.
Capillary pressure curves Capillarity controls the distri-
bution of fluids in the porous medium. Figure 11, describes
the evolution of capillary pressure as a function of the water
saturation of a sample of porous medium. It is obtained by
applying sufficient pressure to the non-wetting fluid in order
to displace the wetting fluid saturating the sample (drainage
phase). The amount of wetting fluid displaced is measured
as a function of the applied capillary pressure. The capillary
pressure is increased until the saturation of the wetting fluid
remains constant : irreducible water saturation (Swr ).
The capillary pressure is then gradually reduced allowing
the wetting fluid to re-enter the sample and thus displace the
non-wetting fluid (imbibition phase) which remains when the
capillary pressure becomes zero again at a residual oil satura-
tion Sor .
The imbibition curve does not follow the same path as the
The little corner of porous media
Figure 11. Capillary pressure curves.
drainage curve. The fact that the two curves cannot be super-
imposed corresponds to a hysteresis effect indicating that the
capillary pressure Pc depends on the history of saturations.
The residual saturation can be considered to be the level of
saturation at which there is a loss of hydraulic continuity. Swr
and 1 − Sor define the upper and lower limits of the wetting
fluid saturation as shown in the figure above.
Darcy’s law The study of flows in a porous medium was
demonstrated by Darcy in 1856, he demonstrated a linear re-
lationship between the flow speed and the pressure gradient
applied on either side of the porous medium.
Darcy’s law applies to a homogeneous and isotropic porous
medium traversed by a flow at low speed. The average velocity
of the flow (v) is then expressed as:
k ∆P
v=−
µ L
with µ the dynamic viscosity of the fluid, ∆P/L the pressure
gradient applied to a sample of length L, and k the permeabil-
ity of the porous medium.
Therefore, v does not depend on the nature of the fluid but
only on the structure of the network of pores in the porous
medium.
Annex
Pore size and volume
In a stack of spheres, the pores can have several sizes due
to the disorderly nature. If we consider a compact stack of
spheres of diameter D and that we seek to make transit of
smaller spheres of diameter d, it is possible to define a critical
6 A. Hutin – Zenodo – Researchgate
DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.6391053
value Sa of the ratio D/d which corresponds to the case where
a sphere of diameter d passes just through the neck formed by
3 spheres in contact 2 to 2 (Figure 12):
 −1
2
Sa = √ −1 ∼ 6.5
3
It is thus possible to define a second ratio D/d, which cor-
Figure 12. Diagram illustrating the D/d threshold above which
the particles are likely to remain trapped in the stack.
responds to the case where the small sphere of diameter d
fits just into the smallest cavities of the stack. The smallest
cavities that can exist in a stack of spheres of diameter D are
those formed by the mutual contact of 4 spheres, forming a
tetrahedron (Figure 13). The ratio between D and d being
able to be registered in this cavity is worth:
r !−1
3
Sa = −1 ∼ 4.5
2
If we consider only the geometric causes of capture:
Figure 13. Representation of a tetrahedral cavity: the smallest
cavity that can be found in a stack of spheres of identical sizes.
• If D/d > Sa , the particles can then cross the whole
medium,
• If D/d < Sa , the particles can get stuck in the network
if they encounter pores smaller than their size.
When we want to fill the pores of a stack of spheres with
smaller spheres, it may be better to speak in terms of volume
rather than number of particles. For this, it is easier to esti-
mate the maximum interstitial volume between 4 spheres of
diameter D in a tetrahedral arrangement. This volume is the
 The little corner of porous media DOI : 10.5281/zenodo.6391053

volume accessible for particles of diameter d. If we take into

account the limiting compactness of 0.64 of the most dense
random stack, we can then define this volume Vp as:

D3 √
Vp = 0.64 ( 2 − Ω)
12
where Ω is the solid angle of the tetrahedron. The volume
Vp is then an estimate of the accessible volume for spheres
of diameter d in the smallest pore of the structure. We can
therefore define the fraction of volume of tetrahedral cavity
N p occupied by N small spheres as:

V
Np =
Vp

With:  3
4 d
V= π N
3 2
And so, we have:  −3
D
Np ∝
d

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A. Hutin, Porous media in reservoir engineering : Introduction.

The little corner of porous media, 2022, DOI:10.5281/zenodo.6391053.

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