Title: Investigation of capability of FZI and Winland methods for rock typing using pore network modelling

Authors: Morteza Sistan; Saeid Jamshidi; Saeed Salehi

Addresses: Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box 11365-11155, Azadi Ave., Tehran, Iran ' Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box 11365-11155, Azadi Ave., Tehran, Iran ' Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, P.O. Box: 44690, Lafayette, Louisiana, 70504, USA

Abstract: One of the most important issues in modelling and simulation of reservoirs is rock typing. Permeability and porosity which are experimentally measured in most cases have several applications in the field of rock typing. This data can also be generated artificially by pore network modelling approach. In this study, a brief review of FZI and Winland methods along with pore network modelling approach and the procedure of generating artificial data have been introduced. The under study parameters to create different rock types are pore size distribution, aspect ratio distribution, contact angle distribution, geometry of pores and throats and coordination number of pores which have been used to verify performance of FZI and Winland methods. Although FZI method shows a better performance compared to Winland method, both of them are not efficient according to ignoring parameters related to multi-phase flow like wettability which is the main disadvantage of these two methods.

Keywords: rock typing; flow units; Winland equation; flow zone indicator; FZI; reservoir quality index; RQI; pore network modelling; regular lattice network; petroleum reservoirs; reservoir characterisation; simulation; oil reservoirs; pore size; aspect ratio; contact angle; geometry; multi-phase flow; wettability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPE.2014.064764

International Journal of Petroleum Engineering, 2014 Vol.1 No.2, pp.126 - 142

Received: 23 Jul 2013
Accepted: 22 Dec 2013

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article