A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs
Understanding tortuosity is essential for accurately modeling fluid flow in complex porous media, particularly in the sub-surface reservoir rock; therefore, tortuosity estimation was evaluated using three approaches: Streamline streamline simulations via the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), geometric...
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2025-07-01
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| author | Benedicta Loveni Melkisedek Yoevita Emeliana Irwan Ary Dharmawan |
| author_facet | Benedicta Loveni Melkisedek Yoevita Emeliana Irwan Ary Dharmawan |
| author_sort | Benedicta Loveni Melkisedek |
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| description | Understanding tortuosity is essential for accurately modeling fluid flow in complex porous media, particularly in the sub-surface reservoir rock; therefore, tortuosity estimation was evaluated using three approaches: Streamline streamline simulations via the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), geometric pathfinding using Dijkstra’s algorithm, and empirical modeling based on pore-structure parameters. The analysis encompassed 1963 micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT) images of Brazilian pre-salt carbonate and sandstone samples, with the effective porosity extracted from LBM velocity fields, isolating flow-contributing pores, establishing streamline tortuosity as the reference standard. Sandstones exhibited relatively narrow tortuosity ranges (Dijkstra: 1.29–1.75; Streamline: 1.18–2.61; Empirical: 1.18–4.42), whereas carbonates display greater heterogeneity (Dijkstra: 1.00–3.18; Streamline: 1.00–3.68; Empirical: 1.59–4.93). Model performance assessed using the corrected Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) revealed that the best agreement with the data was achieved by the semi-empirical model incorporating coordination number and minimum throat length (AICc = −113.11), followed by the Dijkstra-based geometrical approach (−99.74) and the empirical porosity-based model (202.23). There was a nonlinear inverse correlation between tortuosity and effective porosity across lithologies. This comprehensive comparison underscores the importance of incorporating multiple pore-scale parameters for robust tortuosity prediction, improving the understanding of flow behavior in heterogeneous reservoir rocks. |
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| institution | Kabale University |
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| spelling | doaj-art-c6ff79bc5eab4071ac1bef0b9ea0198b2025-08-20T03:28:25ZengMDPI AGApplied Sciences2076-34172025-07-011513746710.3390/app15137467A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone ReservoirsBenedicta Loveni Melkisedek0Yoevita Emeliana1Irwan Ary Dharmawan2Department of Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jln. Ir. Soekarno km. 21, Jatinangor, Sumedang 45363, IndonesiaDepartment of Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jln. Ir. Soekarno km. 21, Jatinangor, Sumedang 45363, IndonesiaDepartment of Geophysics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jln. Ir. Soekarno km. 21, Jatinangor, Sumedang 45363, IndonesiaUnderstanding tortuosity is essential for accurately modeling fluid flow in complex porous media, particularly in the sub-surface reservoir rock; therefore, tortuosity estimation was evaluated using three approaches: Streamline streamline simulations via the Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM), geometric pathfinding using Dijkstra’s algorithm, and empirical modeling based on pore-structure parameters. The analysis encompassed 1963 micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT) images of Brazilian pre-salt carbonate and sandstone samples, with the effective porosity extracted from LBM velocity fields, isolating flow-contributing pores, establishing streamline tortuosity as the reference standard. Sandstones exhibited relatively narrow tortuosity ranges (Dijkstra: 1.29–1.75; Streamline: 1.18–2.61; Empirical: 1.18–4.42), whereas carbonates display greater heterogeneity (Dijkstra: 1.00–3.18; Streamline: 1.00–3.68; Empirical: 1.59–4.93). Model performance assessed using the corrected Akaike Information Criterion (AICc) revealed that the best agreement with the data was achieved by the semi-empirical model incorporating coordination number and minimum throat length (AICc = −113.11), followed by the Dijkstra-based geometrical approach (−99.74) and the empirical porosity-based model (202.23). There was a nonlinear inverse correlation between tortuosity and effective porosity across lithologies. This comprehensive comparison underscores the importance of incorporating multiple pore-scale parameters for robust tortuosity prediction, improving the understanding of flow behavior in heterogeneous reservoir rocks.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/13/7467Digital Rock PhysicsLattice Boltzmann Method (LBM)tortuosity |
| spellingShingle | Benedicta Loveni Melkisedek Yoevita Emeliana Irwan Ary Dharmawan A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs Applied Sciences Digital Rock Physics Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) tortuosity |
| title | A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs |
| title_full | A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs |
| title_fullStr | A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs |
| title_short | A Comparative Study of Three-Dimensional Flow Based, Geometric, and Empirical Tortuosity Models in Carbonate and Sandstone Reservoirs |
| title_sort | comparative study of three dimensional flow based geometric and empirical tortuosity models in carbonate and sandstone reservoirs |
| topic | Digital Rock Physics Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) tortuosity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/13/7467 |
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