Numerical modeling of the permeability in Bentheim sandstone under confining pressure

A new model for the determination of the permeability in sandstones under confining pressure is presented. Building on the concepts of digital rock physics, a numerical model is derived from a 3D tomographic scan. The pressure-depen-dent behavior is mimicked by adding an artificial flow re-sistance to the pore throats. All permeability simulations are performed using an in-house finite-volume code. In the first step, the proposed model is tested based on a given Bentheim sandstone sample and compared with experimen-tal data. In the second step, the influencing factors of the model are investigated. Mainly discussed are the influences of the tomographic scan and the numerical resolution. Over-all, the proposed model is observed to be capable of repro-ducing general trends of the experimental data, whereby the magnitude of the numerically determined permeabilities can strongly depend on the investigated influencing factors.