Impact of texture heterogeneity on elastic and viscoelastic properties of carbonates

Abstract

This thesis discusses the impacts of fabric heterogeneity, fluids and fluid saturations, effective pressures, and frequency of investigation on the elastic and viscoelastic properties of calcite-rich limestone and chalk formations. Carbonate reservoirs have been analyzed either with empirical relations and analogs from siliciclastic reservoirs or using simplistic models. However, under the varying parameters mentioned above, their seismic response can be very different. The primary reason is because these rocks of biochemical origins readily undergo textural changes and support heterogeneous distribution of fluid flow and elastic properties. Thus, many current rock physics models are unable to predict the time-lapse elastic response in these reservoirs. I have measured elastic properties of calcite rich rocks in the seismic frequency range of 2 to 2000 Hz and at the ultrasonic frequency of 800 kHz. The samples selected for this study represent the typical heterogeneities found in carbonate formations. These measurements covering a large frequency range provide an understanding of the dispersion and attenuation mechanisms during seismic wave propagation in the subsurface. I find that a heterogeneous formation shows significant velocity dispersion and attenuations when saturated with brine, and even more on saturation with CO2. I also show that the shear modulus of carbonate rocks changes significantly (from 8% for brine saturation to 70% for CO2 saturation) upon fluid saturation with polar fluids. I evaluated rock physics models, such as Gassmann’s and with uniform and patchy fluid substitution, and Hashin-Shtrikman to predict saturated elastic properties in carbonates. Fluid sensitivity is directly related to the initial stiffness of the rock instead of porosity, as normally assumed. The Gassmann model can predict elastic properties for uniform saturations - mostly in homogenous rocks. Heterogeneous rocks, however, are better modeled using a patchy fluid saturation model. The results of this study provide valuable information on modeling the elastic response of saturated carbonate rocks currently lacking in fluid substitution models. It also provides data for reservoir simulation models to incorporate heterogeneity effects for realistic rock property variation to honor the textural complexities in carbonate reservoirs instead of using the simplified Gassmann model.