| Hydraulic Effects of Deformation Bands in Sandstone at Outcrop to Reservoir Scales | |
| Personnel: K. Sternlof, D. Pollard Collaborators: M. Karimi-Fard, L. Durlofsky Sponsor: U.S. DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Stanford Rock Fracture Project | |
Description: Deformation bands characterized by internal porosity-loss compaction and sharply reduced permeability form
dense arrays throughout the upper 700 m of the Aztec Sandstone in southeastern Nevada. Our continuing work in this analog clastic
reservoir indicates that these band arrays can strongly influence bulk permeability and flow up to production scales-creating
order-of-magnitude anisotropy that distorts recovery patterns, doubling and tripling driving pressure between wells, and
exacerbating water production through channeling. Effective management of these impacts in the subsurface requires recognizing the
presence of bands, and then accounting for their impacts as an integral part of production planning using methods such as those we
have developed.
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| Selected Publications: Sternlof, K. R., Chapin, J. R., Pollard, D. D, and Durlofsky, L. J., 2004, Permeability effects of deformation band arrays in sandstone: Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bulletin, vol. 88, no. 9, pp. 1315-1329. Sternlof, K. R., Karimi-Fard, M. and Durlofsky, L. J., Hydraulic effects of deformation band arrays in sandstone at the production scale: in preparation for submission to Advances in Water Resources. Sternlof, K. R., Keehm, Y. and Mukerji, T., Petrophysical characterization of compaction bands in sandstone: A field application of computational rock physics: in preparation for submission to Geophysical Research Letters. | |