Permeability of Two-Component Granular Materials
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abstract
2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. We expanded an existing model for permeability in mudrocks and shaly sands to include computation of effective grain radius and the Archies law parameter $$m$$m in granular media composed of two different grain sizes. We found that the effective grain radius is the harmonic mean of the endmember grain radii and that $$m$$m can be computed as the geometric mean of the endmember $$m$$m values. We tested our model with three-dimensional lattice-Boltzmann simulations of flow through dilute and concentrated systems, and with comparison to measurements of laboratory-prepared and natural samples as well as field data. Modeled permeabilities matched the simulated and measured permeabilities over a wide range of porosities, grain sizes, and grain shapes. We additionally found that the model is independent of grain packing and aspect ratio, as these parameters only affect the endmember $$m$$m values. Our predicted permeabilities generally fall within previously determined bounds, and we derive approximations for permeability as a function of endmember permeability for cases when endmember $$m$$m values are equal and when endmember grain radii are very different. Our results advance our understanding of permeability in heterogeneous porous media.
