SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006
Prediction of permeability from NMR response: surface
relaxivity heterogeneity
C. H. Arns1,* , A. P. Sheppard1 , M. Saadatfar1 , and M. A. Knackstedt1,2
1
Department of Applied Mathematics, Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering,
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
2
School of Petroleum Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
*
Corresponding Author: christoph.arns@anu.edu.au
Copyright 2006, held jointly by the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log An-
alysts (SPWLA) and the submitting authors.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPWLA 47th Annual Logging
Symposium held in Veracruz, Mexico, June 4-7, 2006.
ABSTRACT
NMR responses are commonly used in reservoir char-
acterization to estimate pore-size information, formation
permeability, as well as fluid content and type. Diffi-
culties arise in the interpretation of NMR response as
an estimator of permeability due to internal gradients,
diffusion coupling, surface-relaxivity heterogeneity, and
a possible breakdown of correlations between pore and
constriction sizes. Here we consider several scenarios of
surface relaxivity heterogeneity for a set of sandstones
and a set of carbonate rock in a numerical NMR study
based on Xray micro-CT data.
We have previously demonstrated the ability to image,
visualize, and characterize sedimentary rock in three di-
mensions (3D) at the pore/grain scale via X-ray micro-
computed tomography. We also numerically tested the
influence of structure and diffusion-coupling on NMR-
permeability correlations. Here we consider surface re-
laxivity heterogeneities due to pore partitioning, miner-
alogy, pore size, and saturation history.
We partition the pore space and solid phase into regions
of pores and grains. These partitions could reflect differ-
ent mineralogy for weakly coupled pore systems, or dif-
ferences in mineralogy for the grains. Further, we use a
morphological drainage simulation technique to partition
the pore space in terms of invasion radius or throat size,
reflecting surface relaxivity heterogeneity due to the sat-
uration history of immiscible fluids, which could cause
e.g. pressure dependent adsorption on surfaces and/or
changes in wettability. Finally, we use the concept of
covering radius to assign a surface relaxivity due to pore
size.
For each sample, four sandstones and three carbonates,
we consider distributions of surface relaxivity based on
1
GG
above partitions, keeping the mean surface relaxivity con-
stant, simulate the magnetisation decay, and derive a pore
size distribution through an inverse Laplace transform as-
suming constant surface relaxivity.
Further, we test the effect of these heterogeneities on
NMR-permeability correlations based on the log-mean
of the relaxation time distributions for two frequently
used empirical NMR-permeability cross-correlations. At
the scales probed here, surface relaxivity heterogeneity
changes the prefactor in the equations for sandstones only
minimally, while the prefactor is changes orders of mag-
nitudes for carbonates. The influence of surface relaxiv-
ity heterogeneity on the quality of the fit for individual
samples is small.
INTRODUCTION
The estimation of permeability through cross-correlations
from other physical measurements on rocks is a classical
task in petrophysics and has a long history in well log-
ging. Of the measurements available, the NMR relax-
ation is the one, which typically correlates best to per-
meability (e.g. (Sen et al., 1990)). One reason is that
the estimation of permeability requires length scale in-
formation, which the NMR relaxation response provides,
since the relaxation process is typically controlled by the
surface to volume ratio of the pore space (Wayne and
Cotts, 1966; Brownstein and Tarr, 1979; Kenyon et al.,
1986; Kenyon et al., 1988; Kenyon, 1992; Song et al.,
2000). Under the assumption of constant surface relax-
ivity, weak coupling between pores, and fast diffusion
within pores, the magnetisation decays uniformly within
each pore and the decay can be written as
N  
X t
M (t) = M0 (t) ap exp − , (1)
p=1
T2p
where M0 is the initial magnetization, p is a pore label, ai
is the fractional pore volume, t is time, and the transverse
relaxation time T2 of the pores is given by
1 1 Sp
= +ρ . (2)
T2p T2b Vp
SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

Here T2b is the bulk relaxation time, Sp /Vp is the surface-

to-pore-volume ratio of the pore space, and ρ the surface
relaxation strength. The multi-exponential distribution
corresponds to a partition of the pore space into N groups
based on the Sp /Vp values of the pores. This is the clas-
sical picture of the NMR relaxation response used e.g. in
standard NMR logging tools to derive a relaxation time
or pore size distribution. Analog expressions exist for [a] [b]
deriving length scales using higher diffusion eigenmodes
(Song et al., 2000; Song, 2003).

Apart from weak coupling between pores and background

microporosity, which we discussed in a previous paper
(Arns et al., 2005b), above interpretation technique as-
sumes a constant surface relaxivity. In this study, we con-
sider the impact of surface relaxivity heterogeneity on
[c] [d]
NMR-permeability correlations by numerically deriving
NMR responses and transport properties under very con-
trolled conditions on realistic microstructures, using im-
ages acquired by X-ray µCT techniques (Sakellariou et
al., 2004b) and established algorithms to calculate trans-
port properties on those images (Arns et al., 2001; Arns
et al., 2002; Arns et al., 2004b; Knackstedt et al., 2004;
Arns et al., 2005a; Arns et al., 2005c). The paper is or-
ganised as follows: in the next section we introduce the [e] [f]
images used in this study and the partitioning techniques
needed to assign surface relaxivity distributions to the
surface area of the rocks. The following section details
the NMR response simulation with a focus on the differ-
ent surface relaxivity distributions employed. The third
section reviews two common NMR-permeability cross-
correlations, before we present results in section four and
draw conclusions in a final section. [g] [h]
Figure 1: Slices through the Xray density maps of the
IMAGE PROCESSING sandstone [a-d] and carbonate [e-g] samples comprising
this study. [a] Castlegate sandstone (FS1), [b] same as
Samples - In this study, we consider the impact of sur- [a], 2cm apart (FS2), [c] unconsolidated sand (US), [d]
face relaxivity heterogeneity on NMR-permeability cor- clayey Regolith (CRS), [e] outcrop limestone (OC), [f-
relations for four sandstones and three carbonates. All g] vuggy carbonates (VC1 and VC2).; [h] three-phase
samples have been imaged on the ANU high-resolution segmentation of [d].
X-ray µCT facility (Sakellariou et al., 2004b; Sakellariou
et al., 2004a). A slice of the Xray density map of each
sample is shown in Fig. 1 and basic features of the sam- Table 1: Characteristics of the sandstone (top four) and
ples are summarized in Table 1. Two of the sandstones carbonate samples (bottom three) of this study. ǫ is the
are fluvial deposits (Castlegate sandstone, FS1 and FS2), voxel size, and φt the total resolved image porosity.
taken from top and middle sections of the same plug, the
third is an unconsolidated sand (US), and the fourth is a Sample Description ǫ [µm] φt
clayey Regolith sample (CRS). Of the carbonates, one is FS1 fluvial 5.60 .258
an outcrop limestone (OL) originating from South Aus- FS2 fluvial 4.93 .216
tralia, while the others are vuggy carbonates (VC1 and US unconsolidated 6.72 .292
VC2) of West Texan and Middle Eastern origin with var- CRS clayey Regolith 9.41 .098
ious degrees of interconnectivity.
OC outcrop limestone 3.02 .507
VC1 vuggy 2.60 .187
Segmentation - Partitioning of the Xray-density data into VC2 vuggy 8.51 .084
two (solid, void) or three phases (solid, clay, void) is per-

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 SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006
formed in a multi-stage procedure using a modified ver-
sion of the converging active contour method outlined
in (Sheppard et al., 2004), which we used before (Arns
et al., 2005b). An example of a resulting segmentation
is given in Fig. 2b, and for a three-phase segmentation
of sample CRS in Fig. 1h. In this study we chose to
interpret the clayey region at intermediate Xray-density
of sample CRS as solid phase. The same applies to the
microporous regions of the carbonate samples VC1 and
VC2.
Topological pore partitioning - To assign surface relax-
ivity based on the topological concept of pores, we need
to partition the pore space into simple geometric cells
(pore bodies), separated by narrow constrictions taken to
be volumeless (throats). An account of this technique
has been given elsewhere (Arns et al., 2005b). It ba-
sically involves the derivation of the medial axis of the
connected pore space, followed by a topology conserv-
ing breakdown of the medial axis into separate bodies
using distance information, and a final step of merging
pore centers at small separation. An example of a result-
ing pore partitioning is given in Fig. 2c. This partition-
ing can reflect different micro-environments, which are
weakly coupled through narrow constrictions.
Grain partitioning - Grain partitioning has only been car-
ried out on the sandstones. While it is essentially the
inverse problem of pore partitioning, it is significantly
simpler. We used a method based on identifying water-
sheds of the Euclidean distance map of the grain space
(Saadatfar et al., 2005). An example of a resulting pore
partitioning is given in Fig. 2d.
Partitioning based on pore size - To partition the pore
space based on the geometric concept of pore size, we
use the maximal inscribed radius partitioning. This par-
titioning technique is based on a classical mathemati-
cal description of the morphology in terms of basic ge-
ometrical quantities (Serra, 1982). More complete and
generic descriptions of the basic concepts and techniques
are given elsewhere (Hilpert and Miller, 2001; Thovert et
al., 2001; Arns et al., 2005c). In a succession of morpho-
logical operations each voxel gets assigned the radius of
the largest sphere which lies within the pore space and
covers the voxel (covering radius transform, CRT). An
example of a resulting inscribed radius map is given in
Fig. 2e. This partitioning can mimic the effects of inter-
nal gradients (stronger in smaller pores), or of fluid dis-
tribution history, where it reflects the fluid distribution at
variable equilibrium pressure.
Invasion radius partitioning - The connected pore space
is partitioned by assigning to each voxel the radius of
the largest sphere, which can penetrate from the outer
3
boundary of the sample to cover the voxel. This simula-
tion technique mirrors the boundary conditions of stan-
dard mercury intrusion experiments, e.g. a fixed capil-
lary pressure is associated with a pore entry radius (cap-
illary drainage transform, CDT). The center of the invad-
ing sphere is allowed to move such that the sphere does
not overlap the solid (Hilpert and Miller, 2001). An ex-
ample of a resulting invasion radius map is given in Fig.
2f. This partitioning reflects the history of the fluid dis-
tribution at breakthrough pressure.
NMR RESPONSE SIMULATION GG
Surface relaxation simulation - The spin relaxation of a
saturated porous system is simulated by using a lattice
random walk method (Mendelson, 1990; Bergman et al.,
1995). Initially the walkers are placed randomly in the
3D pore space. At each time step the walkers are moved
from their initial position to a neighboring site and the
clock of the walker advanced by ∆t = ǫ2 /(6D0 ), where
ǫ is the lattice spacing and D0 the bulk diffusion constant
of the fluid, reflecting Brownian dynamics. The lattice is
made periodic by mirroring the structure in all directions.
An attempt to go to a site of another phase will kill the
walker with probability ν/6, 0 ≤ ν ≤ 1 (Mendelson,
1990). The killing probability ν is related to the surface
relaxivity ρ via
ρǫ
  
ρǫ 2
Aν = +O , (3)
D0 D
where A is a correction factor of order 1 (here, we take
A = 3/2) accounting for the details of the random walk
implementation (Bergman et al., 1995).
Surface relaxivity distributions - Here we adapt Eqn. (2)
to varying surface relaxivity by accounting for N active
surface patches of surface area Sp and surface relaxivity
ρp within each well-connected region of volume Vp
N
1 1 1 X 1 1
= + ρpi Spi = + . (4)
T2p T2b N Vp i=1 T2b T2Sp
Eqn. 1 can then be applied again with the more general
definition of the surface relaxation time T2Sp of a con-
nected region p. We are now in a position to assign a dis-
tribution of surface relaxivities, while keeping the mean
surface relaxation time hT2Sp i constant.
In order to explore the influence of surface relaxivity het-
erogeneity at different length scales on permeability pre-
dictions and pore size distributions, we assign spatially
varying surface relaxivities ρ(x̄) to the pore-solid inter-
face using five different methods:
1. Constant surface relaxivity: ρ(x̄) = ρ = const.
We use the index con to indicate this.
SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

[a] [b]

[c] [d]

[e] [f]

Figure 2: Illustration of the image segmentation and partitioning steps for a clean sandstone. Shown are slices of a
central subsection of a 20483 consolidated sand dataset (4002 voxel, voxel size 4.93 µm). All morphological calcula-
tions were carried out on a much larger subset (nx × ny × nz in Table 2), e.g. boundary effects are minimal. [a] Xray
density, [b] segmented image, [c] topological pore micro-environment partitioning, [d] grain partitioning, [e] pore size
or irreducible saturation partitioning, [f] invasion radius partitioning.

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 SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006
2. Using the topological pore partitioning (Fig. 2c,
index por), assign each pore with equal probability
either the surface relaxivity ρ1 = 35 ρ or ρ2 = 13 ρ,
i.e. ρ1 /ρ2 = 5, where ρ is the average surface
relaxivity.
3. Using the grain partitioning (Fig. 2d, index grn),
assign each grain with equal probability either the
surface relaxivity ρ1 = 35 ρ or ρ2 = 13 ρ.
4. Using the geometric pore size partitioning or cov-
ering radius transform (Fig. 2e, index crt), assign
each surface voxel a surface relaxivity based on
an inverse relationship: ρ(r) ∝ 1/r, where r de-
notes the inscribed radius of the nearest pore voxel.
The inverse relationship can reflect stronger inter-
nal gradients in confined spaces. In terms of fluid
saturation history it could reflect time intervals, in
which the large curvature of the non-wetting phase
allowed deposition of relaxive substances through
the wetting phase.
5. Using the invasion radius partitioning or capillary
drainage transform (Fig. 2f, index cdt), assign
each surface voxel a surface relaxivity based on
an inverse relationship: ρ(r) ∝ 1/r, where r notes
the invasion radius of the nearest pore voxel. The
same argument as above applies.
All distributions are renormalised, such that hρ(x̄)i = ρ,
after the surface relaxivity assignment stage of the algo-
rithm. Here the average runs over all pore-solid surfaces
of the sample. In summary, the different distributions of
surface relaxivity are assigned such that the mean sur-
face relaxivity is the same for all distributions for a given
sample. It should be mentioned, that the geometrically
based partitions show much more variability of surface
relaxivity compared to the topologically based pore and
grain partitions by definition. The expected effect would
be a better mixing in terms of surface relaxivities by dif-
fusion. Note, that modes of small surface relaxivity over
large areas - which can appear in large pores using e.g.
the pore size surface relaxivity partitioning - are damped,
since we always consider bulk relaxation using the bulk
relaxation rate of water (T2b = 2.876s).
Inverse Laplace transform - The relaxation time distri-
bution is derived by fitting a sum of exponentials to the
magnetisation decay M (t) using a bounded least square
solver (Stark and Parker, 1995) combined with Tikhonov
regularisation (Lawson and Hansen, 1974). The L-curve
method (Hansen, 1992) is used to choose the optimal reg-
ularisation parameter.
5
PERMEABILITY CROSS-CORRELATIONS
Permeability calculation - Permeability is calculated us-
ing the mesoscopic lattice-Boltzmann method (LB) (Mar-
tys and Chen, 1996; Qian and Zhou, 1998). It can be
shown that the macroscopic dynamics of the solution of a
discretized Boltzmann equation match the Navier-Stokes
equation. Due to its simplicity in form and adaptability to
complex flow geometries one of the most successful ap-
plications of the LB method has been to flow in porous
media (Chen et al., 1992; Frisch et al., 1986; Rothman,
1988; Ferreol and Rothman, 1995; Martys and Chen, GG
1996). In this study we applied a pressure gradient by
a body force (Ferreol and Rothman, 1995), used closed
boundary conditions perpendicular to the flow and mir-
rored boundaries parallel to the pressure gradient, result-
ing in a system size of L × L × 2L. Permeability was
measured over the L × L × L original image of the sim-
ulated system.
Formation factor - The conductivity calculation is based
on a solution of the Laplace equation with charge conser-
vation boundary conditions and has been detailed before
(Arns et al., 2001). We assign to the matrix phase of
the sandstone a conductivity σm = 0 and to the (fluid-
filled) pore phase a normalized conductivity σfl = 1. A
potential gradient is applied in each coordinate direction,
and the system relaxed using a conjugate gradient tech-
nique to evaluate the field. The formation factor given by
F = σfl /σeff , is used.
Permeability correlations - Permeability correlations are
usually based on the logarithmic mean T2lm of the relax-
ation time
P 
i aP
i log(T2i )
T2lm = exp , (5)
i ai
which is assumed to be related to an average Vp /Sp or
pore size. Commonly used NMR response/permeability
correlations include the porosity φ as in (Banavar and
Schwartz, 1987; Kenyon et al., 1988)
k = aφb T2lm
c
, (6)
with classical factors a = 1, b = 4, c = 2, or the Forma-
tion factor F as in
k = aF b T2lm
c
, (7)
with standard factors b = −1, c = 2. The use of c =
2 in Eqns. 6-7 implies a unit of a as surface relaxivity
squared. In our fits of the permeability correlations we
scale the value of a by 1/(6ρ)2 to make the prefactor di-
mensionless; this implies that any difference in the pref-
actor arises only from structural influences. The length
scale associated with T2 (the pore size derived from the
SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

NMR signal) is given by dT 2lm = 6T2lm ρ. 0.9

con
por
We have previously shown that one can obtain useful es- grn
timates of petrophysical properties from simulations at crt
0.8 cdt
the scale of a few mm3 (Arns et al., 2004a; Arns et al.,

T2lm [s]
2005a; Arns et al., 2005b). Each sample is divided into
subregions and for each subregion of all samples the per-
meability and NMR surface relaxation response is calcu- 0.7
lated. This means that one obtains 100 individual sam-
ples per image (see Table 2) and therefore a relationship
between k, φ, T2lm for each rock. In all fits the mean 0.6
residual error 0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26 0.28 0.3
φ
P 2 [a]
(log10 (kcalc ) − log10 (kemp )) 0.9
s2 = . (8) con
n−2 por
grn
is minimised and the correlation coefficient 0.8
crt
P cdt
(kemp − kemp )(kcalc − kcalc )

T2lm [s]
R = P 1/2 (9) 0.7
(kemp − kemp )2 (kcalc − kcalc )2

calculated. 0.6

Table 2: Analysed sections of the samples. nx × ny × nz 0.5

0.16 0.18 0.2 0.22 0.24 0.26
notes the size (in voxel) of the sections for calculat-
φ
ing all partitions and morphological analysis. n is the [b]
voxel length of the cubic subsets used for the derivation 0.9
con
of cross-correlations of physical properties over porosity 0.85 por
and N their number. For permeability and conductivity grn
crt
there are 3N results (along the x-,y-, and z-axis of the 0.8 cdt
tomogram).
T2lm [s]

0.75

Sample ǫ[µm] nx ny nz n N 0.7

FS1 5.6 960 1056 1560 200 140
FS2 4.93 928 1074 1600 200 160 0.65

US 6.72 360 400 960 180 20 0.6

CRS 9.41 702 702 1872 234 72 0.27 0.28 0.29 0.3 0.31
φ
OC 3.02 900 900 1800 300 54 [c]
1.6
VC1 2.60 1032 672 1128 224 60 con
VC2 8.51 1140 1140 1140 285 64 por
grn
1.4
crt
cdt
T2lm [s]

RESULTS 1.2

Surface relaxivity heterogeneity in sandstones - In this

1
section we analyse the effect of surface relaxivity hetero-
geneity on the permeability-NMR cross-correlations for
a set of four sandstones. In all simulations the average 0.8
0.07 0.08 0.09 0.1 0.11 0.12
surface relaxivity was kept constant at hρi = 16 µm/s. φ
We apply all five surface relaxivity distributions intro- [d]
duced above. In particular, we compare constant sur-
face relaxivity results to scenarios for pore partitioning, Figure 3: Log mean (surface) relaxation times T2lm for
grain mineralogy, pore size, and capillary pressure his- four sands and five different surface relaxivity distribu-
tory. Fig. 3 shows the influence of the heterogeneity in ρ tions. [a] FS1, [b] FS2, [c] US, [d] CRS.
on the log mean relaxation times T2lm .

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 SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

In all cases the added heterogeneity increases the log

Table 3: Dependence of the correlations between NMR
mean relaxation time by a significant amount. This is ex-
response and permeability on surface relaxivity hetero-
pected, since a part of the diffusing spin population will
geneity for sandstones. Considered are constant surface
need to travel a larger distance to reach a more √ relaxive relaxivity (index con), and distributions based on parti-
surface, and the diffusion length scale lD ∝ t, where
tions by pores (por), grains (grn), covering radius (crt),
t is time. The type of heterogeneity affects T2lm differ-
and capillary drainage (cdt). The mean surface relax-
ently for the different samples. For all four sandstones,
ivity is hρi = 16 µm/s and the bulk relaxation time
the micro-environment scenario based on the topologi-
T2b = 2.876s. The prefactor a, mean residual error s2
cal pore partitioning shows a strong effect, extending the
and correlation coefficient R have indices. “1” refers to
mean relaxation times by more than 10% (Fig. 3). Fur-
Eqn. 6 and “2” refers to Eqn. 7.
ther, samples FS1 and FS2 are both consolidated sands
from the same core plug, imaged at very similar reso-
Sample a1
10s21 R1 100a2
10s22 R2
GG
lution, but as shown in Fig. 3a,b show differences in 36ρ2 36ρ2
the log mean surface relaxivity for the grain partitioning FS1con .182 .0628 .689 1.02 .0160 .942
scenario. This is likely due to pore size and shape, since FS1por .142 .0658 .681 .797 .0124 .961
each pore is surrounded by a number of grain surfaces, FS1grn .162 .0653 .686 .908 .0116 .969
and they will be closer together for the more compacted FS1crt .158 .0663 .686 .885 .0112 .966
and anisotropic region of the core, represented by sample FS1cdt .170 .0650 .687 .953 .0124 .961
FS2, which also has lower porosity. This in turn allows FS2con .228 .156 .620 .887 .0316 .959
diffusional averaging to take place more effectively. The FS2por .170 .157 .620 .662 .0282 .961
strong effect of mineralogy exhibited by sample CRS is FS2grn .197 .155 .623 .768 .0267 .966
an effect caused by the presence of clay. Although clay FS2crt .170 .156 .625 .661 .0255 .966
is counted as solid, it has not been partitioned as grains, FS2cdt .179 .153 .626 .696 .0258 .970
and therefore been assigned a constant surface relaxivity. UScon .202 .0155 .688 1.17 .0037 .939
This causes spins escaping from a low relaxivity surface, USpor .152 .0181 .655 .887 .0051 .892
to frequently find only a surface of average relaxivity (the USgrn .175 .0162 .677 1.02 .0041 .928
clay fraction is 30%, compared with 10% porosity of the UScrt .168 .0178 .674 .979 .0041 .914
sample). This prevents diffusional averaging and the re- UScdt .178 .0177 .672 1.03 .0041 .912
laxation time increases.
CRScon .265 1.57 .589 .577 1.28 .806
CRSpor .183 1.63 .551 .398 1.33 .780
Potentially, if information about the underlying constant CRSgrn .113 1.64 .547 .245 1.35 .770
surface relaxivity is available, the increase in log mean CRScrt .205 1.56 .600 .447 1.27 .813
relaxation time, or even the change in the relaxation time CRScdt .223 1.57 .613 .485 1.27 .820
spectrum itself, could be used to deduce information about
the heterogeneity, e.g. its characteristic length scale and
possible mechanisms. Thus, use of the prefactor for constant ρ will lead to
over-predictions of permeability. Since the scatter of the
Proceeding to NMR-permeability correlations, we report data and the correlation coefficients are robust, the NMR-
the correlation coefficients and quality of fits in Table 3 permeability correlations stay predictive in the presence
and Figs. 4 and 5 for the two different correlations given of surface relaxivity heterogeneity as considered here,
in Eqns. 6 and 7 respectively. It can immediately be but the change of the prefactor in the correlation indi-
seen that the cross-correlations are improved by adding cates that surface relaxivity heterogeneity gives a differ-
a tortuosity parameter according to Eqn. 7. Surface re- ent apparent ρ for the sample.
laxivity heterogeneity has only a small effect on the cor-
relation coefficients Ri of the two empirical equations. Surface relaxivity heterogeneity in carbonates - In this
Also, the scatter of the cross-plot represented by si is section we analyse the effect of surface relaxivity hetero-
largely unaffected by heterogeneity. However, the pref- geneity on the permeability-NMR cross-correlations for
actors for the permeability-NMR correlations change by a set of three carbonates. In all simulations the average
up to 25% due to surface relaxivity heterogeneity effects surface relaxivity was kept constant at hρi = 1.5 µm/s.
for the consolidated sands, and by a larger factor for the We apply four of the five surface relaxivity distributions
unconsolidated sand (CRS). This is of the same order as introduced above (constant, pore topology, pore size, and
structural effects for Eqn. 6, while structural effects are invasion history) - heterogeneity caused by grain miner-
dominant in Eqn. 7. The added heterogeneity in ρ, as alogy was not considered, since the notion of grains in
compared to the ρ = const scenario, always leads to carbonates is not straightforward. We show the influ-
a decrease in the prefactor a of the cross-correlations. ence of the heterogeneity in ρ on the log mean surface

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SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

10000 10000
con con
por por
grn grn
crt crt

κcorr [mD]
cdt
κcorr [mD]

cdt

1000 1000
1000 10000 1000 10000
κsim [mD] κsim [mD]
[a] [a]
10000 10000
con con
por por
grn grn
crt crt
κcorr [mD]

κcorr [mD]
cdt cdt
1000 1000

100 100
100 1000 10000 100 1000 10000
κsim [mD] κsim [mD]
[b] [b]
10000 10000
con con
por por
grn grn
crt crt
κcorr [mD]

κcorr [mD]

cdt cdt

1000 1000
1000 10000 1000 10000
κsim [mD] κsim [mD]
[c] [c]
10000 10000
con con
por por
grn grn
1000 crt 1000 crt
κcorr [mD]

cdt
κcorr [mD]

cdt

100 100

10 10
10 100 1000 10000 10 100 1000 10000
κsim [mD] κsim [mD]
[d] [d]

Figure 4: NMR-permeability cross-correlations for Figure 5: NMR-permeability cross-correlations for

sands using Eqn. 6 for five different surface relaxivity sands using Eqn. 7 for five different surface relaxivity
distributions. [a] FS1, [b] FS2, [c] US, [d] CRS. distributions. [a] FS1, [b] FS2, [c] US, [d] CRS.

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 SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

relaxation times T2lm in Fig. 6. As for the sandstones, 2.5

heterogeneity causes an increase in the log mean relax- con
ation time. Again, the impact of the different heterogene- por
ity types is sample dependent. Compared to the sand- 2.4 crt
stones, the values of T2lm for the carbonates are much cdt
larger, and would be as large as T2lm ≈ 25s, if we ig-
2.3
nored the effect of bulk relaxation. This is clearly aphys-

T2lm [s]
ical. Looking at the individual samples we see that of the
three carbonates the surface relaxivity heterogeneity ef- 2.2
fect caused through the pore body partitioning is smallest
for sample OC, similar for VS1, and large for VS2, with
2.1
some very high values at low porosity. This is not too GG
surprising, since the coupling between pores is increas-
ing with porosity, and sample OC is very well connected 2
with a porosity of 50%, while for VS2 there are some 0.4 0.45 0.5 0.55 0.6
vugs, which have been assigned a small surface relaxiv- φ
[a]
ity (0.5µ m/s), and which are poorly connected, prevent-
ing effective mixture of the surface relaxation modes.
2.5
While in the sandstones the most important surface relax-
con
ivity heterogeneity mechanism was reflected by the pore por
micro-environment scenario, here the strongest effect is crt
exhibited by the capillary pressure scenario. This can be cdt
understood by the relative contrast in diameter of differ- 2
ent pathways through microporosity and macroporosity.
The heterogeneity caused by this contrast is distributed T2lm [s]
over whole regions of pores, and prevents effective diffu-
sional averaging between the regions of different surface 1.5
relaxivity. In contrast, the pore size partitioning does not
contain the connectedness information, surface relaxivity
is distributed much more evenly, and motional averaging
takes place. 1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
φ
Table 4 and Figs. 7 and 8 sumarise the results for the [b]
NMR-permeability correlations. Again we note, that cor-
relation coefficients improve significantly through the in- 2.8
clusion of a tortuosity measurement (Eqn. 7). As with con
por
the sandstones, the scatter of the data within each sample 2.6 crt
across different surface relaxivity distributions is essen- cdt
tially unchanged. Compared to the sandstones, the scat-
ter in the permeability-NMR prediction is significantly 2.4
T2lm [s]

larger. This could be a matter of scale, since for the

purpose of deriving the porosity-permeability curve, we 2.2
needed enough subsets, which in turn dictated a maximal
size on the subsets selected. They were typically about
3003 voxel in size, as compared to 2003 voxel for the 2
sandstones (see Table 2). As Table 4 shows, the prefactor
in the empirical correlations varies by about 10% due to
1.8
effects of variable ρ, which is less than for the four sand- 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1 0.12
stones of Table 3. Compared to the change of prefactor φ
of two orders of magnitude for structural differences, this [c]
is small. The reason for this effect is diffusion coupling,
as discussed above. Consistent with the discussion on Figure 6: Log mean (surface) relaxation times T2lm for
diffusion coupling and heterogeneity length scales, the three carbonates and four different surface relaxivity dis-
largest effect of varying ρ is shown by the capillary pres- tributions. [a] OC, [b] VC1, [c] VC2.
sure / fluid saturation history scenario.

9
SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

5 5
10 10
con con
por por
crt crt
cdt cdt

κcorr [mD]
κcorr [mD]

4 4
10 10

3 3
10 3 4 5 10 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 10 10
κsim [mD] κsim [mD]
[a] [a]
5 5
10 10
con con
10
4 por 10
4 por
crt crt
cdt cdt
3 3
10
κcorr [mD]

10
κcorr [mD]

2 2
10 10

1 1
10 10

0 0
10 0 1 2 3 4 5 10 0 1 2 3 4 5
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
κsim [mD] κsim [mD]
[b] [b]
4 4
10 10
con con
por por
3
10 crt crt
3
cdt 10 cdt
κcorr [mD]

κcorr [mD]

2
10

2
10
1
10

0 1
10 0 1 2 3 4 10 1 2 3 4
10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10 10
κsim [mD] κsim [mD]
[c] [c]

Figure 7: NMR-permeability cross-correlations for car- Figure 8: NMR-permeability cross-correlations for car-
bonates using Eqn. 6 for four different surface relaxivity bonates using Eqn. 7 for four different surface relaxivity
distributions. [a] OC, [b] VC1, [c] VC2. distributions. [a] OC, [b] VC1, [c] VC2.

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 SPWLA 47th Annual Logging Symposium, June 4-7, 2006

Table 4: Dependence of the correlations between NMR

For carbonates, the effect of surface relaxivity hetero-
response and permeability on surface relaxivity hetero-
geneity in the pore micro-environment scenario was sig-
geneity for carbonates. Considered are constant surface
nificant. However, the strongest effect of surface relaxiv-
relaxivity (index con), and distributions based on par-
ity heterogeneity was exhibited in the capillary drainage
titions by pores (por), covering radius (crt), and cap-
history scenario. Surface relaxivity heterogeneity caused
illary drainage (cdt). The mean surface relaxivity is
about a 10% change of the prefactor of the permeability
hρi = 16 µm/s. The prefactor a, mean residual error
correlations, which is two orders of magnitude smaller
s2 and correlation coefficient R have indices. “1” refers
than the change of the prefactor between samples based
to Eqn. 6 and “2” refers to Eqn. 7.
on structure.
a1 a2
Sample s21 R1 s22 R2
36ρ2 36ρ2 It should be possible to use the change in prefactor to GG
OCcon .70 .067 .422 .27 .040 .732 derive information about the length scale of the hetero-
OCpor .64 .067 .423 .25 .039 .736 geneity in a site-specific context. However, considering
OCcrt .67 .067 .419 .26 .040 .733 the natural heterogeneities of carbonates and the large
OCcdt .62 .067 .424 .24 .039 .736 effect of structural heterogeneity, an application of this
VC1con .89 .427 .712 .047 .343 .832 technique to carbonates would require careful calibration
VC1por .81 .422 .732 .043 .337 .866 techniques.
VC1crt .84 .427 .709 .045 .343 .824
VC1cdt .82 .426 .715 .044 .341 .833 We believe that in principal the important parameter con-
VC2con 66. .36 .445 .333 .129 .874 trolling the effect of surface relaxivity heterogeneity on
VC2por 63. .35 .449 .316 .129 .874 permeability correlations is its characteristic length scale.
VC2crt 62. .36 .446 .313 .128 .879 Mixed wettability scenarios, where e.g. the surface re-
VC2cdt 60. .36 .448 .301 .126 .880 laxivity might scale with ρ(r) ∝ r rather than ρ(r) ∝
1/r as in the fluid saturation scenarios considered here,
are expected to give similar results.
CONCLUSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We presented a sensitivity study about the influence of
surface relaxivity heterogeneity on prefactors and con- CHA acknowledges the Australian Government for their
sistency of NMR-permeability correlations for a num- support through the ARC grant scheme (DP0558185).
ber of sandstone and carbonate samples. It was found The authors also thank the Australian Partnership for Ad-
that with increasing surface heterogeneity length scale vanced Computing (APAC) for their support through the
the log mean relaxation time increases as a result of leav- expertise program and APAC and the ANU Supercom-
ing the fast diffusion limit. This leads to a decrease in the puting Facility for very generous allocations of computer
prefactors of the permeability cross-correlations consid- time.
ered. The correlation coefficients and scatter in the per-
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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

C. H. Arns - Christoph Arns was awarded a Diploma in

Physics (1996) from the University of Technology Aachen
and a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from the Univer-
sity of New South Wales in 2002. He is a Research
Fellow at the Department of Applied Mathematics at the
Australian National University. His research interests in-
clude the morphological analysis of porous complex me-
dia from 3D images and numerical calculation of trans-
port and linear elastic properties with a current focus
on NMR responses and dispersive flow. Member: AM-
PERE, ANZMAG, DGG, SPWLA.

A. P. Sheppard - Adrian Sheppard received his B.Sc. from

the University of Adelaide in 1992 and his PhD in 1996
from the Australian National University and is currently
a Research Fellow in the Department of Applied Math-
ematics at the Australian National University. His re-
search interests are network modelling of multiphase fluid
flow in porous material, topological analysis of complex

13