3D Pore Geometry and Electrical Conductivity

The electrical transport of saturated porous rocks has been studied in 3-dimensions for five different channel geometries. The five selected geometries can form the de-constructed parts of any real transport channel in reservoir rocks. The average cross-sectional area and effective length of each of the channels have been computed to construct the geometric factor. The electrical properties studied showed a quadratic increase with increase in clay fraction in the channel with surface conductivity emerging as the major contributor responsible for conductivity at clay fraction \(\sim\) $\sim$ 0.5 and above. The role of clay conductance in electrical transport was investigated for the different geometries. Variations in pore throat size corresponded to non-linear shifts in effective conductivity with clay conductance, in contrast to the linear increase observed for uniform pore throat size. Channel structures with inverse gradients in flow paths, showed significantly lower electrical conductivity. Structures with more than one parallel path displayed higher electrical conductivity.