Thermophysical properties of reservoir rocks

Abstract

Ultrasonic measurements of longitudinal and transverse velocities and of grain density are used to determine a number of thermophysical properties of limestone, dolomite, and siliciclastic rocks of a hydrocarbon reservoir with use of thermoelastic and thermodynamic equations. The equations for the Grüneisen parameter and melting temperature are written in density-independent form suitable for the analysis of the available data. The present study shows that adiabatic compressibility (κS) of the rocks increases (bulk modulus decreases) exponentially. Thermal conductivity (Kl) and thermal diffusivity(D) are determined with an empirical relation. The values of κS, Kl, and D at zero porosity are comparable with the reported values. The Grüneisen parameter and melting temperature decrease nonlinearly but the Debye temperature decreases linearly with increasing porosity. Dolomite stands out as the most massive compared with limestone and siliciclastic rocks.