Monica Amparo Vega Arias's thesis
by
Monica Amparo Vega Arias, M.S.E.
University of Texas at Austin, 1995
Supervisors: Mark A. Miller
Augusto L. Podio
Knowledge of the thermal properties of materials has become increasingly important for
heat flow studies in scientific and engineering fields. In the petroleum industry,
thermal properties are of great importance for the design of thermal oil recovery
processes, where heating of the oil sands increases the mobility of the oil. Accurate
thermal conductivity and diffusivity data are also necessary as input parameters for
the characterization of a reservoir when using analytical or numerical models for
reservoir simulation where heating of the formation is involved.
Experimental studies have been undertaken to measure thermal conductivity and diffusivity of
rocks by steady and unsteady-state methods using a new apparatus designed at The
University of Texas at Austin. Additionally, we have investigated the behavior of
thermal conductivity vs. porosity, temperature and saturating fluid (air and water).
Measurements were done on dolomite samples. Thermal conductivity and diffusivity were
observed to decrease with increasing porosity. Water saturation produced an increase
of thermal conductivity with respect to dry samples. The apparatus yielded expected
thermal conductivity values consistent with literature data. Corrections for heat-flux
sensor inaccuracies on the measurement of thermal diffusivity were not necessary.
Back to theses index
