Design and Construction of a High Pressure and High Temperature Apparatus for Measuring Rock Thermal Conductivity

Several thermal processes have been applied to enhance heavy oil reservoirs recovery. Despite the differences, all the methods are similar in developing a high temperature fluid front in porous media which will travel forward by conduction and convection mechanisms. Therefore it is essential to know thermal conductivity of rocks at reservoir condition in order to improve the results of modeling heat transfer through the formation. Several methods have been proposed to measure rock thermal conductivity. They can be categorized as transient and steady state. Although transient method is faster, the results are representative of only a few millimeters around the probe. Steady state method is more reliable and the results could be absolute or comparative, but it is time consuming and some operational difficulties are also involved. In this work, an altered steady state apparatus which overcomes the obstacles in other devices, has been designed and constructed for measuring rock thermal conductivity. Current devices have serious problems on simulating reservoir thermobaric conditions and desired fluid saturations. The new apparatus works at reservoir conditions and investigate the effect of different fluids saturation. It also reduces the effect of significant heat loss, during the long period of steady state method.