A new quasi-steady method to measure gas permeability of weakly permeable porous media.
A new quasi-steady method for the determination of the apparent gas permeability of porous materials is presented in this paper along with the corresponding interpretative physical model derived from the unsteady flow equations. This method is mainly dedicated to the measurement of very low permeability of thin porous media, although thicker but more permeable samples may also be analyzed. The method relies on quasi-steady flow resulting from a (quasi) constant pressure maintained at the inlet face of the sample. Gas flow-rate, as low as 3 × 10(-10) m(3)/s, is determined from the record of pressure increase in a reservoir connected to the outlet face of the sample. An estimate of the characteristic time, t(c), to reach quasi-steady flow after imposing a constant pressure at the inlet is derived. It is validated by direct numerical simulations of the complete unsteady flow, clearly defining the required experimental duration for the method to apply. Experimental results obtained on rather permeable and thick rock samples are reported showing an excellent agreement of the measured permeability with that determined independently on the same sample whereas the experimental value of t(c) is also in very good agreement with the predicted one. The method is further employed on a composite material sheet allowing the identification of an apparent gas permeability of about 10(-23) m(2).
LEMTA, Nancy-Université, CNRS, Vandoeuvre, France.
Yves
Y
Jannot
Didier
D
Lasseux