Transport in Porous Media, Vol.118, No.2, 225-250, 2017
An Experimental and Numerical Study of Relative Permeability Estimates Using Spatially Resolved T-1-z NMR
Relative permeability is a key characteristic describing flow properties of petroleum reservoirs, aquifers and water retention of soils. Various laboratory methods, typically categorised as steady-state, unsteady-state and centrifuge are used to measure relative permeability and may lead to different results. In recent years, 1D MRI, NMR T-2 and T-1 profiling have been applied for the characterisation of rock cores. It has been shown that spatially resolved NMR in conjunction with centrifuge technique may provide high-quality capillary pressure curves. Combining Burdine and Brooks-Corey models enables estimation of relative permeability from capillary pressure curves. This approach assumes a strong relationship between capillary pressure and relative permeability known to be complex. Here we compare a generalised approach of Green, which relies on saturation profiles set by various capillary drainage techniques, to a NMR relaxation approach. Comparisons are performed experimentally and numerically using three sandstone rocks to test the influence of rock morphology. The numerical part includes simulation of a centrifuge capillary drainage by applying morphological drainage transforms on high-resolution 3D tomograms. T-1 responses along the sample are simulated using a random walk technique. The NMR relaxation-based approach is then compared to LBM simulated relative permeability and to experiment. The study confirms the applicability of NMR relaxation methods for relative permeability estimation of water-wet rocks and validates a numerical approach against experiment.