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Lecture 3 - Grain Volume

The document discusses two methods for measuring the grain volume of reservoir rocks: the gas expansion (helium) technique and the crashing method. The gas expansion technique uses Boyle's law and helium gas to determine the grain volume by measuring the pressure change when the gas expands from a reference cell into a sample cell containing a rock sample. The crashing method involves crushing a dry, clean rock sample to remove all pores and determine the volume of solid grains. The helium technique is more rapid and applicable to a wider range of rock types.

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Mohd Aliffazhar Sarkawi
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153 views11 pages

Lecture 3 - Grain Volume

The document discusses two methods for measuring the grain volume of reservoir rocks: the gas expansion (helium) technique and the crashing method. The gas expansion technique uses Boyle's law and helium gas to determine the grain volume by measuring the pressure change when the gas expands from a reference cell into a sample cell containing a rock sample. The crashing method involves crushing a dry, clean rock sample to remove all pores and determine the volume of solid grains. The helium technique is more rapid and applicable to a wider range of rock types.

Uploaded by

Mohd Aliffazhar Sarkawi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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RESERVOIR ROCK

PROPERTIES Lecture 3
Grain Volume Measurement

‫المهندس‬
‫كرار كاظم‬

‫جامعة المعقل – كلية الهندسة‬


The most important property of a reservoir rock is the porosity.
Porosity is measure of storage capacity of a reservoir.
It’s defined as the ratio of pore volume to bulk volume
From the definition of porosity, it’s evident that we can measure the porosity
of a porous sample from three quantities:

01
Bulk volume
02

Pore volume
03

Grain volume
Grain volume
is the volume of the solid materials in the rock
Boyle’s law is often employed with helium as the gas to determine grain volume.
➢ The technique is fairly rapid, and is valid on clean and dry sample.

Methods of Grain Volume Measurement


• Gas expansion
• Crashing method: The process of this one is by crush a dry and clean core sample with a mortar and pestle into
a fine grains, thus removing all pores including the non interconnection ones. The volume of solids is then determined
either by immersing the cuttings in suitable liquid or by pycnometer. This method is applies specifically to the rocks that
have grains such as sandstone (can be crushed by mortar and pestle) and it’s so difficult to apply this method on
carbonate as example because of their hardness and lack of individual grains.
gas expansion (helium technique)

The second method used to measure pore volume is the method of gas expansion
using a helium porosimeter, which relies on Boyle’s law:
P1V1 = P2V2

The helium gas in the reference cell isothermally expands into a sample cell. After expansion,
the resultant equilibrium pressure is measured.
gas expansion (helium technique)
Procedure summary

1. We fill chamber 1 with helium and then record the


pressure; thus, we have P and V
1 1

2. If we open the valve to chamber 2, then Boyle’s law


becomes:
P1V1 = P2(V1 + V2)
3. If we consider an actual case where we have a rock inside
chamber 2 ,then Boyle’s law becomes:
P1V1 = P2(V1 + V2 − Vm)

In this case, helium will access all the chambers and the pore
spaces. The only space helium will not access is the matrix
volume as it is not porous; using this technique, we can
calculate the porosity.
gas expansion (helium technique)
Procedure summary

1. We will calculate Vm from the equation, as V1


and V2 are constants and P1 and P2 will be read
from the equipment.
2. After finding Vm and also knowing the bulk
volume of the core, which is easy to measure, we
can calculate the pore volume as Vp = Vb – Vm
and the porosity is equal to Vp divided by Vb.

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