FRACTAL ANALYSIS OF STRESS SENSITIVITY OF PERMEABILITY IN POROUS MEDIA

Abstract

A permeability model for porous media considering the stress sensitivity is derived based on mechanics of materials and the fractal characteristics of solid cluster size distribution. The permeability of porous media considering the stress sensitivity is related to solid cluster fractal dimension, solid cluster fractal tortuosity dimension, solid cluster minimum diameter and solid cluster maximum diameter, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, as well as power index. Every parameter has clear physical meaning without the use of empirical constants. The model predictions of permeability show good agreement with those obtained by the available experimental expression. The proposed model may be conducible to a better understanding of the mechanism for flow in elastic porous media.