Analysis of electrical conduction in the grain consolidation model

Abstract

In the grain consolidation model the diagenetic processes of compaction and cementation are represented in terms of the growth of an array of originally spherical grains. Grain growth toward the nodes of the pore space leads to an electrical formation factor F(ϕ) that increases slowly as the porosity ϕ decreases. By contrast, grain growth toward the throats of the pore space leads to a rapidly increasing F(ϕ). In all the cases we have examined, the value of the percolation threshold, [Formula: see text] is less than 0.055. Network simulation techniques have been developed to calculate the electrical conductivity of the ordered versions of the grain consolidation model. We find that the minimum‐area approximation employed in our earlier work is generally quite satisfactory. The network techniques can also be used to model the effects of mixed pore‐space fluid saturation, with results that are physically reasonable although not necessarily in agreement with empirical rules regarding saturation.