Patent ID: 7191071
Filing Date: 2007-03-13
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of determining, from known permeability measurements, all components of an absolute permeability tensor of a sample of an anisotropic porous medium, comprising the steps of: measuring or calculating, from at least two liquid flows along at least two orthogonal directions under an imposed pressure gradient, liquid flow rates and components of transverse forces generated in the sample by passage of the liquid, the flow rates and components being brought back to unitary pressure gradients; and using a simulator to determine step by step, from an a priori numerical solution of a confined flow in a homogeneous medium, components of an equivalent tensor by means of an inverse method so that the liquid flow rates and the components of transverse forces simulated by the simulator are adjusted to measured or calculated flow rates and the components of the transverse forces.