The Permeability of a Uniformly Vuggy Porous Medium
Graham H. Neale, Walter K. Nader · Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal · 1973
Abstract Using the creeping Navier Stokes equation within a spherical cavity and the Darcy equation in the surrounding homogeneous and isotropic porous medium, the flow field in the entire system is evaluated. Introduction The objective of this study is the derivation of an engineering formula that shows the interdependence of matrix permeability, km, vug porosity, ɸv, and system permeability, ks , of a uniformly vuggy porous medium.6 In the first section, with the above goal in mind and to satisfy more general interests, we shall study and predict the flow field within a single cavity bounded by a sphere, of radius R, and in the surrounding homogeneous and isotropic porous medium. In the second section, we shall suggest as a generalizing model of a uniformly vuggy, homogeneous and isotropic porous medium a regular cubic array of monosized spherical cavities. Applying the formula for the pressure field near a single spherical cavity, we shall then develop the sought engineering formula.