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Hydraulic Conductivity Estimation and Upscaling

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Aquifer Characterization Techniques

Part of the book series: Springer Hydrogeology ((SPRINGERHYDRO))

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Abstract

Hydraulic conductivity is directly measured using Darcy’s law-based methods that induce flow through a formation or sample. Indirect measures predict hydraulic conductivity from other sediment or rock properties. Methods are reviewed for obtaining profiles of permeability (hydraulic conductivity) from borehole geophysical logs, which include use of core porosity- versus-permeability transforms, porosity pore-size-permeability relationships, multivariate methods using multiple logs, and artificial neural networks. Obtaining hydraulic conductivity from geophysical logs is more complex for carbonates because of the presence of multiple pore types and the often dominance of flow by secondary porosity. Model grid cells are often one or more orders of magnitude greater than the volume of investigation of geophysical logs and other small-scale aquifer characterization methods. Upscaling is the process of assigning single equivalent values for each aquifer parameters (e.g., hydraulic conductivity) in model grid cells that results in the same modeled flow and solute transport as the original finer-scale heterogeneous values.

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  1. Schlumberger Water Services, Fort Myers, Florida, USA

    Robert G. Maliva

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  1. Robert G. Maliva
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Maliva, R.G. (2016). Hydraulic Conductivity Estimation and Upscaling. In: Aquifer Characterization Techniques. Springer Hydrogeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32137-0_16

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