Determination of the Effective Electrical Conductivity of a Fluid–Saturated Core from Computed Tomography Data

Abstract—This paper proposes a technique for determining the effective specific electrical conductivity of rock samples when their digital models are used. A modified algorithm for reconstructing the internal structure of the sample from the core’s nondestructive imaging data can be used to construct a relevant discrete model that approximates the pore space with a high degree of accuracy. Unlike existing approaches, the reconstructed discrete geometric model of a heterogeneous medium sample is hierarchical and oriented to the application of parallel computational schemes of multiscale finite element methods for a forward mathematical simulation of electromagnetic processes. The paper presents the results of solving the problem of determining the effective specific electrical conductivity of fluid–saturated rock samples and compares them with the data from laboratory experiments.