Pore-scale modeling of carbonates

Carbonate rocks display complex pore textures with heterogeneities that extend over several length scales. Identifying and capturing their significant pore space properties in a computationally tractable model is therefore nontrivial. Pore-scale models bridge predictions of transport properties from sub-pore to core scale while attempting to render such methods cost effective. This chapter reviews several methods for fabricating pore-scale models of carbonate rocks and discusses approaches to simulating their fluid flow and solute transport properties. The advantages and limitations of each method in reducing the reservoir development uncertainties are explained. We argue that pore-scale models can play an important role in predicting the petrophysical properties of carbonate rocks. Even more importantly, they provide sensitivity analyses of pore-scale features on macroscopic transport observations and offer explanations for anomalous flow behaviors.