ALBERT

Description: Rock permeability is an important parameter for the formation evaluation. In this paper, a new method with streaming current is proposed to determine the sample permeability based on the electrokinetic effects, and is proved by the experimental measurements. Corresponding to this method, we have designed an experimental setup and a test system, then performed the streaming current (potential) and electro-osmosis pressure experiments with 23 sandstone samples at 0.05 mol l –1 NaCl solution. The streaming current (potential) coefficient and electro-osmosis pressure coefficient are obtained, respectively, with the experimental data at low frequencies with AC lock-in technique. The electrokinetic permeabilities are further calculated with these coefficients. The results are consistent well with the gas permeability measured with Darcy's law, which verifies the current method for estimating rock permeability. Our measurements are also analysed and compared with previous measurements. The results indicate that our method can reflect the essence of electrokinetic effects better and simplify the electrokinetic measurements as well. In addition, we discuss the influences of experimental artefacts (core holder and confining pressure installation) on the electrokinetic data. The results show that the trough phenomenon, appeared in frequency curves of streaming current (potential) coefficients, is induced by the resonance of the core-holder/vibrator system. This is important for the design of electrokinetic setup and the analysis of low-frequency response of the electrokinetic coupling coefficients.

Description: An experimental system is built for the electrokinetic measurements with a small scaled seismoelectric detector and a high resolution digitizer (1 MS s –1 , 22 bits). The acoustic and seismoelectric experiments are carried out in different borehole models at the high frequency of 90 kHz in the laboratory. All the localized seismoelectric signals that accompany compressional wave, shear wave and Stoneley wave are first clearly observed with a monopole source in sandstone boreholes that are saturated by tap water. The amplitudes of these signals are measured in the range of 1–120 μV, which is useful for designing the seismoelectric logging instruments. Then the amplitude ratio of electric signal to acoustic pressure (REP) for each of the three waves is calculated and compared with the theoretical simulations. Based on the experimental data, we find that seismoelectric logging signals as well as REP become stronger at the more permeable borehole model. We also find that seismoelectric logging signals are more sensitive to permeability and porosity compared with acoustic logging signals. Therefore, this study verifies the feasibility of seismoelectric well logging, and further indicates that the seismoelectric logging technique might be a preferable method to estimate formation parameters in the field measurements.

Description: It is important to know the electrokinetic properties of crustal rocks for interpreting the conductivity mechanisms and seismoelectric phenomena during earthquakes and seismoelectric well logging. In this study, electrokinetic experiments are conducted using a special core-holder by employing an AC lock-in technique. A series of experiments are conducted on 10 sandstone samples to measure the streaming potentials and streaming currents, and the experiments on each sample are done at six different salinities. The streaming potential coefficient and streaming current coefficient are calculated from the measured streaming potentials and streaming currents. The experimental results show that streaming potential coefficient and streaming current coefficient decrease as the salinity increases. The dependence of these two coefficients on permeability and pore radius are analysed and compared with previous works. At low salinities, the streaming potential coefficient and streaming current coefficient increase with the increasing permeability and pore radius. At high salinities, the streaming potential coefficient (streaming current coefficient) almost share a same value for 10 different samples. This conclusion indicates that the differences of rock parameters can only be well recognized at lower salinities, and the electrokinetic signals are invalid at high salinities, which offers a restrictive condition for using the amplitude of electrokinetic signals to estimate rock parameters. The zeta-potential have also been estimated through combined measurements of streaming potential and streaming current. The surface conductivity and its contribution to electrokinetic effects are determined from a comparison of zeta-potentials by two different methods, and then the validation of the Helmholz–Smoluchowski equation for a capillary tube is tested in rocks. We also compare our date with theoretical and experimental works, and set up an expression about the relationship between zeta potential and salinity, which fits the experimental data well.