MadSci Network: Physics
Query:

Re: water absorbption formula(s) for diverse materials: wood, ceramic, chalk?

Date: Fri May 17 16:03:13 2002
Posted By: David Kopaska-Merkel, Staff Hydrogeology Division, Geological Survey of Alabama
Area of science: Physics
ID: 1014561539.Ph
Message:

Carl:

The answer to this question is quite complex, and there isn't any one
formula that will give it to you. The rates at which fluids move through
pore networks depend on the sizes of the smaller openings in the pore
networks (the pore throats), the physicochemical characteristics of the
matrix material, the complexity of paths that the fluids must follow, and
the viscocity and surface characteristics of the fluids. This type of
question is usually studied empirically using capillary-pressure apparatus,
and a fair amount of data on chalks have been published in the technical
literature. You can do a search on capillary pressure, chalk, carbonate,
etc. in the database called GeoRef (see your nearest university science
library) and get many references. Some of the papers are probably online,
so a similar search of the Internet would probably be productive. I have
done a little research on capillary-pressure characteristics of chalks and
other carbonates myself (see references) and I can tell you that they vary
by orders of magnitude in their ability to transmit fluids. 

Movement of fluids through wood and ceramic involves the same issues, but
the details are very different, and I am not familiar with the literature
on these substances. And internet search might be a good way to start, and
the nearest materials sciences department at a university would probably
help with finding studies of ceramics. 

David Kopaska-Merkel
Geological Survey of Alabama
P.O. Box 869999
Tuscaloosa AL 35486-6999
(205) 349-2852
fax (205) 349-2861
www.gsa.state.al.us

REFERENCES ON CAPILLARY PRESSURE

7. Kopaska-Merkel, D. C. and Amthor, J. E., 1988, Very high-pressure
mercury porosimetry as a tool in reservoir characterization: Carbonates and
Evaporites, v. 3, no. 1, p. 53-63.
8.  Amthor, J. E., Kopaska-Merkel, D. C., and Friedman, G. M., 1988,
Reservoir characterization, porosity, and recovery efficiency of
deeply-buried Paleozoic carbonates:  Oklahoma and Texas, Carbonates and
Evaporites, v. 3, no. 1, p. 33-52.
11.  Kopaska-Merkel, D. C., 1988, New applications in the study of porous
media: determinations of pore-system characteristics on small fragments
(Part 1): Northeastern Environmental Science, v. 7, p. 127-142.
12.  Kopaska-Merkel, D. C., 1989, Supplementary data on applications of the
study of small fragments of porous media: Northeastern Science Foundation
Technical Report No. 2.  Troy, Northeastern Science Foundation, 24 p. 
15.  Kopaska-Merkel, D. C. and Friedman, G. M., 1989, Petrofacies analysis
of carbonate rocks:  example from the Lower Paleozoic Hunton Group of
Oklahoma and Texas: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin,
v. 73,  p. 1289-1306.
16.  Kopaska-Merkel, D. C. and Friedman, G. M., 1989, Supplementary data to
"Petrofacies analysis of carbonate rocks: example from the Lower Paleozoic
Hunton Group of Oklahoma and Texas": Carbonates and Evaporites, v. 4, p.
243-245.
20.  Kopaska-Merkel, D.C., 1990, Capillary-pressure analysis of small
fragments (geological):  The microReport, v. 1, no. 2, p. 5-6.
22.  Kopaska-Merkel, D.C., 1991, Analytical procedure and experimental
design for geological analysis of reservoir heterogeneity using mercury
porosimetry: Geological Survey of Alabama Circular 153, 29 p.


THIS IS THE ONE ON CHALK:

28.  Kopaska-Merkel, D.C., 1992, Chapter 6: Capillary-pressure
characteristics and pore-system evolution of Mesozoic and Tertiary
carbonates from the Exmouth Plateau and the Argo and Gascoyne abyssal
plains: p. 137-150 in, Gradstein, Felix, and Ludden, John, and others,
Scientific Results of the Ocean Drilling Program, vol. 123.

33.  Kopaska-Merkel, D. C., 1993, Capillary-pressure characteristics of
Smackover reservoirs in Alabama:  Geological Survey of Alabama Circular
170, 38 p.


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