RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN POROSITY, PERMEABILITY, AND GRAIN-

SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SANDS AND SANDSTONES

GEORGE V. CHILINGAR

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, Car$ ( U . S . A . )

INTRODUCTLON A N D REVIEW OF LITERATURE

As pointed out by GRIFFITHS (1952a, 1952b, 1958), the definition of a specimen of

sandstone in terms of petrographic properties may be presented as:

P = f (m,s, sh, o , p )

where P is some defining index expressed as a function (f) of the mineral composition
(m),grain size (s), grain shape (sh), grain orientation (o), and grain packing @). In
many instances, it is also very important to characterize a sandstone or a sand in
terms of permeability and porosity (mass properties of rocks).
Porosity can be easily related to petrography and in many reservoir sands porosity
is related to permeability (exponential function). According to GRIFFITHS (1958, p. 1 9 ,
when permeability is plotted on a logarithmic scale and porosity on an arithmetic
scale, a linear relationship emerges. This relationship, however, is not exact as can be
seen from the scatter around the trend lines (GRIFFITHS, 1958, p. 16, fig. 1).
According to KOTYAKHOV (1949, p.31) the average radius of pores, rc, can be
expressed in terms of porosity and permeability by the following formula:

where m is the coefficient of porosity and k is the coefficient of permeability in c d .

KOTYAKHOV (1949, p.32) also calculated that the effective diameter of grains, d,, is
related to permeability and porosity as follows:

Both of these equations, however, seem to be oversimplified, because Kotyakhov

apparently assumed that all grains are of spherical shape.
12 G . V. CHILINGAR

Some data on the relationship between porosity and permeability had been assem-
bled by MUSKAT (1949 ,pp. 168-176). KHANIN(1956; see also CHILINGAR, 1957)conduct-
ed a comprehensive statistical study on relationship between the effective porosity and
permeability, and found that the granulometric composition of sandstones has to be
considered in order to establish correlation between these two variables. KHANIN
(1958) also started to study relationship between the porosity and permeability of
unconsolidated and weakly cemented sands (Fig. 1). Khanin prepared artificial sand
packs with sands of known granulometric composition (at 0, 110, 190, 370 and 560
kg/cni2 compaction pressures) and determined their porosities and permeabilities.
Although unconsolidated sands defy any accurate permeability measurement, the

$ 35
>;
30
e
8 25

200 5’ 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Permeability, D

Fig.1. Relationship between porosity and permeability (to gas) of dry sand packs. I = < 0.1 mni in
diameter; I1 = 0 . 1 4 . 2 5 mm in diameter; I11 = > 0.25 mm in diameter; IV = 50y0of sand is < 0.1 mrn,
and 50% is 0 . 1 4 . 2 5 nim in diameter; V = 50% of sand is > 0.25 mrn, and 50% is < 0.1 mrn in
diameter; VI = 50% of sand is 0.1-0.25 mm, and 50% is > 0.25 mni in diameter. (After KHANIN,1958,
fig. 1.)

graphs such as those presented in Fig. 1 will enable sedimentologists at least to estimate
the permeability of sands of known porosity and grain size distribution.

EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES

Permeabilities were measured by air in a permeameter having a capillary-tube flow-

meter. The measured values were corrected to infinite mean pressure from the data of
HEIDet al. (1950). Their average correction for the appropriate permeability was
applied to each sample.
Bulk volumes were obtained with a pycnometer using mercury, whereas solid
volumes were measured in an Oilwell research porosimeter (BEESON, 1950). It is a
Boyle’s law instrument operated with helium.
The samples used by the writer were ordinary bottom-hole, consolidated sandstone
cores, which were thoroughly cleaned by solvent extraction and distillation and were
dried in a vacuum oven for 24 hours at a temperature of 100°C. The porosity and
permeability measurements were made on dry cores and on cores containing an
irreducible minimum of interstitial formation water.
 INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN SOME SANDSTONE PROPERTIES 73

Porosity. %

Fig.2. Relationship between porosity and permeability of very coarse-grained, coarse- and medium-
grained, silty and clayey sandstones.

The interstitial water content (irreducible minimum) was determined with an appa-
ratus using principles of capillarity (BEESON,1953, p.21). Inasmuch as only the inter-
stitial water content in the pendular region is desired, a single measurement may be
made at a pressure sufficiently high to be on the nearly vertical portion of the water
saturation ( S , )versus the capillary pressure (P,) curve (BEESON,1953, p.19).
A generalized dispersion routine (KRUMBEIN and PETTIJOHN, 1938, pp.70-75) was
used in the preparation of samples before determining the grain size distribution. The
sandstones containing more than 5 0 x of 1-2 mm fraction were called very coarse-
grained; 0.5-1 mm, coarse-grained; 0.254.5 mrn, medium-grained; and 0.1-0.25 mrn,
fine-grained. Sandstones containing more than 10% of silt (< 0.1 mm) were called
“silty”, whereas if clay content (< 0.004 mm) was in excess of 7 % the sandstones were
called “clayey”. The latter value, however, is not final and is subject to changes
with further research.

EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

In Fig.2, the permeability was plotted on a logarithmic scale, whereas porosity was
74 G . V. CHILlNGAR

plotted on an arithmetic scale. As shown in this figure, when the grain size distribu-
tion is taken into consideration there is a correlation between the porosity and the
permeability of cores containing an irreducible minimum of interstitial water. Such
a correlation, however, does not seem to exist between the permeability and porosity
of dried samples of sandstones, although in many instances these “dry” points do
fall on proper curves in Fig.2. Apparently, on measuring the porosity of many dry
cores, in addition to measuring the volume of the larger pores (through which the
major part of the flow occurs) one also measures the pore volume of minute interstices
and cracks which do not affect permeability.
The scattering of points in Fig.2 shows, however, that variables other than poro-
sity and grain size distribution influence permeability; and future experiments will be
designed to study the effect of other petrographic properties.
In the case of silty sandstones, there is a break in the porosity versus logarithm of
permeability curve at about 100 md, whereas for coarse- and medium-grained sand-
stones the break occurs at about 1,000 md.

CONCLUSIONS

On considering grain size distribution, there is a correlation between the porosity and
permeability of sandstones, containing an irreducible minimum of interstitial forma-
tion water, and unconsolidated sands. Considerable amount of research work, how-
ever, still remains to be done in this field.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The writer is greatly indebted to the following ex-petroleum engineering students (now
petroleum engineers working for various oil companies) for their contribution to the
present study: R. C. Main, Ali Sinnokrot, Myron Smith Jr., Bill Graham, Frank
Lortscher and Edward Zinzer. The help extended by Dr. C. M. Beeson is also greatly
appreciated.

SUMMARY

The porosity, permeability, and grain size distribution of 610 sandstone cores (dry
and containing an irreducible minimum of interstitial water) from various parts of
U. S. were determined by the writer and his students. Porosity (in %) was then plotted
versus the logarithm of permeability (in md) separately for (a) very coarse-grained,
(b) coarse- and medium-grained, (c) fine-grained, ( d ) silty, and (e) clayey sandstones.
Correlation has been found to exist between the porosity and permeability of sand-
stone cores containing interstitial formation water.
 INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN SOME SANDSTONE PROPERTIES 75

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