Petrophysics Laboratory

The Petrophysics lab at Curtin University is used as a part of the petrophysics unit for Petroleum Engineering students to measure the physical properties of rocks. Common petrophysical properties including density, porosity, permeability and resistivity are measured for different kinds of rocks before and after saturation with brine or hydrocarbon. This helps student to understand the importance of the parameters required for the reservoir quality assessment.

List of equipment used in Petrophysics Lab:

1. Gas Permeameter, TKA-209, Coretest Systems

The TKA-209 Gas Permeameter is used to measure permeability to gas, primarily on clean and dry core samples taken from petroleum reservoirs. These permeability measurements are utilized in determining the flow characteristic of a reservoir. The TKA-209 uses a steady-state flow technique and is operated manually.

2. Helium Porosimeter, TPI-219, Coretest Systems

The TPI-219 is a manually operated instrument used to determine the grain volume of a sample of earth material. Grain volume measurement can be made with TPI-219 at pressures to 95 psi. Pore volume and porosity can be determined from grain volume if an accurate bulk volume measurement of the core sample is available.

3. Teaching Electrical Properties System, TEP-701, Coretest Systems

The TEP-701 consists of digital LCR (resistance, capacitance and inductance) meter and Ambient Electrical Property cell (AEP-710) that together make a complete electrical property measurement system. The digital LCR meter is a precision instrument used to measure the sample resistance, capacitance and resistivity, it must be connected to the AEP-710 while a sample is loaded in the cell. The AEP-710 is a device designed to hold core samples during electrical measurements.