The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 13, 2007
Filed:
Dec. 02, 2004
Moussa Kfoury, Saint-Priest, FR;
Benoit Noetinger, Rueil Malmaison, FR;
Michel Quintard, Montastruc-la-Conseillere, FR;
Moussa Kfoury, Saint-Priest, FR;
Benoit Noetinger, Rueil Malmaison, FR;
Michel Quintard, Montastruc-la-Conseillere, FR;
Institut Francais du Petrole, Rueil Malmaison Cedex, FR;
Abstract
The invention is a method of determining all the components of an absolute permeability tensor of a porous medium sample from permeability measurements, obtained for example by placing the sample in a permeameter which is useful for fast determination of permeability anisotropies of rocks and detention of internal heterogeneities. A pressure difference ΔP is applied between the inlet and outlet faces of a laboratory rock sample, with zero flow conditions on the edges parallel to the mean flow obtained by confining it in a sheath under pressure. Starting from conventional permeability measurements in three directions and from the measurements of the two components of the viscous forces transverse to the sample, a permeability tensor k can be 'inverted' by numerical solution of the corresponding boundary-value problem. Since these quantities can be alternatively obtained from numerical solutions of the same flow in a heterogeneous medium, the method can also be used as an upscaling tool in a reservoir simulator.