A fractal model for the electrical conductivity of water-saturated porous media during mineral precipitation-dissolution processes. (November 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Rembert, Flore; Jougnot, Damien; Guarracino, Luis
• Is Part Of: Advances in water resources. Volume 145(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-11
• Subjects: Electrical conductivity -- Fractal model -- Dissolution and precipitation processes -- Carbonate rocks -- Permeability; Hydrology -- Periodicals; Hydrodynamics -- Periodicals; Hydraulic engineering -- Periodicals; 551.48
• DOI: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2020.103742
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0309-1708

Abstract

Highlights: A new electrical conductivity model is obtained from a fractal upscaling procedure. The formation factor is obtained from microscale properties of the porous medium. Transport properties are predicted from the electrical conductivity. The model can reproduce dissolution and precipitation processes in carbonates. Graphical abstract: Abstract: Precipitation and dissolution are prime processes in carbonate rocks and being able to monitor them is of major importance for aquifer and reservoir exploitation or environmental studies. Electrical conductivity is a physical property sensitive both to transport phenomena of porous media and to dissolution and precipitation processes. However, its quantitative use depends on the effectiveness of the petrophysical relationship to relate the electrical conductivity to hydrological properties of interest. In this work, we develop a new physically-based model to estimate the electrical conductivity by upscaling a microstructural description of water-saturated fractal porous media. This model is successfully compared to published data from both unconsolidated and consolidated samples, or during precipitation and dissolution numerical experiments. For the latter, we show that the permeability can be linked to the predicted electrical conductivity.