SCA Guidelines for Sample Preparation and

Porosity Measurement of Electrical

Resistivity Samples
Part III -The Mechanics of Electrical Resistivity
Measurement on Rock Samples
P. F. Worthington: BP Research, Sunbury-on-Thames, England
R. J. Evans: Robertson Research International, Aberdeen, Scotland
J. D. Klein: ARCO Oil & Gas Co., Plano, Texas
J. D. Walls: Core Laboratories, Dallas, Texas
6. White: ARCO Oil & Gas Co., Plano, Texas

Abstract: Both two- and four-electrode measurement
configurationsallow the effectivedetermination of resistivity,
with appropriate cell design, calibration, and operating pro-
cedures. A 2% precision should be achievable for consoli-
dated, unfractured core plugs. The absence of pure core-plug
standards, encompassing specified electrolytes and reference
temperatures and pressures, is a major impediment to es-
tablishing standards of accuracy and precision for the labo-
ratory petrophysical measurement of electrical resistivity.
SAMPLE SIZE AND SHAPE
As with most other rock property measurements, sam-
ple size affects the accuracy and precision of resistivity
data. This is because the laboratory measurement of re-
sistance is converted to specific resistance or resistivity
through an algorithm that takes account of sample di-
mensions. The conversion is easier when the sample is
of a regular geometrical shape.
Usually the sample is cylindrical (a geometry assumed
within this report), but this is not a requirement. Sample
dimensions should be such that the measured voltages
are not too large, to minimize electrochemical reactions
at the electrode/rock interface, and not too small, to en-
sure adequate signal. Sample resistance of 10-1,000 Q
seems a good target range well within the measurement
capability of commercial instrumentation. In particular,
the parallel faces across which the voltage is applied should
have as large an area as possible to permit an electrode
design that will minimize contact resistances. The dis-
tance between these faces should be sufficient for accurate
length determination. Larger samples are preferred for
the more accurate determination of pore volume and water
saturation, which are usually correlated with the resistiv-
ity data. Typical sizes for cylindrical samples are 1.5 in
(3.8 1 cm) diameter and 3 in (7.62 cm) length. For samples
The ideas and procedures described herein represent a consensus of
the working party and do not necessarily reflect the views of SPWLA,
SCA, or the authors’ employers.
with small grain size, good data can also be obtained on
samples of 1 in (2.54 cm) diameter and 2 in (5.08 cm)
length. The cylindrical plug is usually cut with its axis
parallel to the bedding plane so that the laboratory mea-
surement might sample the resistivity of the rock in the
same plane as that sampled by resistivity and induction
logging tools. This directional conformity is only partly
achievable in dipping beds or those that are anisotropic
within the bedding plane. Full diameter core samples may
have to be used in order to overcome problems of het-
erogeneity on the scale of smaller core plugs. However,
if the rock is significantly anisotropic, as well as hetero-
geneous, the resulting vertical electrical measurements are
of limited usefulness in interpreting the horizontal resis-
tivity measurements from well logs.
CELL DESIGN
Electrode Configuration
Both two- and four-electrode configurations can give
good results when properly executed.
With two-electrode arrangements the current and po-
tential electrodes are combined. For this reason, the mea-
sured resistance includes not only the rock but also the
rock-electrode contacts so that the electrode material and
the nature of electrical coupling to the rock are most
important. The electrodes should cover the entire end-
face of the plug and must be placed close to the end of
the sample. The rock-eiectrode couplings constitute the
principal disadvantage of two-electrode measurements for
they can give rise to significant polarizations or phase
shifts, due to contact impedances, if badly designed. Ad-
vantages of two-electrode configurationsinclude simplic-
ity and, most importantly, resistivity measurement of the
entire plug sample. The last advantage should not be
overlooked since the porosity and water saturation are
generally measured on the entire sample, too.
Four-electrode measurements entail separate current

64 The Log Analyst MarchApril, 1990

 SCA Guidelines

and potential electrodes, and provide a means of avoiding of fabrication. This is available in various forms such as
inclusion of rock-electrode coupling resistances in the spectroscopic grade, pyrolitic, and dikpersed graphites.
measured signal. A common arrangement is for the cur- Generally speaking, the effective surface area of the
rent electrodes to butt up against the ends of the samples, electrodes should be made as large as possible in order
as in the two-electrode case. In contrast, the potential to minimize electrodcxlectrolyte contact impedance.
electrodes either encircle the sample to provide as close Platinized platinum provides increased surface area com-
to a line contact about the circumference as is practical pared to bright platinum, although it tends to be unstable
or consist of a series of point-contact electrodes around at high currents. Screen or mesh of various materials also
the circumference.The spacing of the potential electrodes provides a means of increasing surface area. For example,
must be well known and invariant. The four-electrode a combination of silver-platedcoreholder end-pieceswith
arrangement requires a high input impedance in the volt- several layers of fine silver mesh pressed between the end-
age measuring circuit because the potential electrodes piece and the sample has proved useful for routine work.
should be operated close to zero current. Because the
measurement of resistance is made only over that part of Sample Sleeving
the sample between the circumferential potential elec- For experimentsperformed at overburden pressure, the
trodes, sample homogeneity and a uniform saturation selection of sleeve material is critical as some rubber ma-
distribution become crucial. terials gradually absorb brine with prolonged exposure
Within the oil industry, two-electrode systems seem to and become conductive. Teflon@and KalrezO are gen-
be preferred for the measurement of resistivity, provided erally recognized as good long-term sleeve materials, al-
that contact impedances can be minimized. However, though other elastomers are likely to perform well, too.
other types of measurement systems that eliminate rock- At ambient temperatures, VitonO can be used.
electrode coupling resistances are also acceptable. These
include, in addition to the four-electrode method as de- Cell Housing
scribed above, inducing current electromagnetically and Resistivity core holders should be designed to apply
applying current through brine or electrolyte contact, per- simulated overburden stress to the sample and to allow
haps with perforated potential electrodes butted up to the independent control of internal pore pressure. Cells should
ends of the plugs. be equipped to measure sample length change, which can
then be used to estimate pore volume change. They should
also contain a temperature probe inside the pressurized
Electrode Type
medium. Designs that maximize cell impedance and
The electrochemical literature abounds with electrode thereby minimize any capacitative or inductive effects
description (e.g., Ives and Janz, 1961; Sawyer and Rob- are desirable as these cells can operate to higher frequen-
erts, 1974). The following is merely a distillation. cies.
Electrodes can be made from a wide variety of mate-
rials. They should be readily available in high purity, of MEASUREMENT SPECIFICATIONS
reasonable cost, easily formed into appropriate geometric
configurations,reusable, and easily renewable or replaced. Resistivity Range
Silver is a good example of an electrode material with Systemsshould be capable of measuring rock resistance
the above properties. from about 10 to 20,000 8, which corresponds to a re-
Electrodes should ideally be chemically stable and sistivity range of 0.15-300 Q-mfor a plug of the preferred
should not affect the composition of the electrolyte or the size (1.5 in diameter x 3 in long). However, this mea-
investigated sample. This requires the use of chemically surement capability is not necessary over the entire fre-
inert electrodes, but these tend to have higher contact quency range of the instrument. Capacitance effects be-
impedances. An industry-preferred alternative is to use come increasingly important as resistance and frequency
electrodes such as silverhilver chloride that have low increase; therefore, higher resistance samples may have
contact impedance. However, silver chloride is slightly to be measured at lower frequencies.
soluble in water, which could lead to problems with very
dilute electrolytes. Electrodes with low impedance such Applied Signal Strength
as silver chloride tend to be more chemically active, can The criterion for signal strength is the minimum level
be sensitiveto direct sunlight, and are susceptibleto prob- that is consistent with precise measurement. There is some
lems of instability at higher temperatures and pressures. possibility of a nonlinear response affecting the measure-
An electrode material that is suitable for work at ele- ment if current density is too large or potential difference
vated temperatures and pressures is platinum, although too high.
this is not totally inert as often assumed in early work. Current densities of less than 1 mA cm-2 are recom-
Graphite may also be suitable, with the advantage of ease mended. Because electrode contact area and effective

MarchApril, 1990 The Log Analyst 65

 Worthington et al.

sample cross-sectional area decrease as water saturation Insulating Plug

decreases, current density should be selected to remain A nonporous insulating plug of dimensions similar to
sufficiently low as desaturation progresses. the core specimens should be inserted into the sample
Frequency holder in place of the core plugs, with brine in the pore
pressure system. This is used to confirm that there are no
The frequency range that can be used depends in part secondary current paths around the sample (e.g., through
on the electrode material and geometry. the sleeve). Care must be taken that there are no gaps
With a two-electrode system, the lowest frequency that between the insulating plug and the sleeve. The applied
should be applied will depend on the electrode imped- voltage for this test should be higher than the range that
ance, which can be considered as a parallel RC circuit in is likely to be used for core plugs. The measured cell
series with the sample. The requirement is that the elec- impedance should be about 10-1 00 times greater than
trode impedance be much smaller than the sample imped- the maximum impedance that is anticipated with core
ance. This means that polarization or phase shift needs plugs: an acceptable lower limit of cell impedance might
to be minimized. The low phase-angle requirement in be 1 x lo6 0. Cell impedance should be measured over
two-electrode systems usually means operating at fre- the entire frequency range that it is intended to use (i.e.,
quencies of 100 Hz or above, but this limiting value varies 100 Hz up to 100 kHz).
with the rock mineralogy and electrode type. The use of
nonpolarizable electrodes (e.g., Ag/AgCl) allows mea- Conducting Plug
surement down to lower frequencies.
Electrode impedance in two-electrode systems is influ- A metal plug should be placed in the sample holder to
enced by cell design through the (clamping) pressure ap- verify that all electrical contacts and feedthroughs are
plied to the electrodes. The optimum electrode pressure sound. This will also provide information on the imped-
for a nominal frequency can be identified through the ance associated with the electrode leads: these must be
minimum phase angle associated with the contact. There negligible compared to the range it is proposed to mea-
is no single consistently acceptable electrode pressure for sure. Again, this experiment should be carried out over
all sample measurements; the minimum phase angle will the entire frequency range it is intended to use.
occur at different electrode pressures for different samples
Precision Resistors
and even for the same sample measured at different times.
Four-electrode systems allow measurement at lower Circuitry containing precision resistors provides a
frequencies than do two-electrode systems. The lowest means of testing the system electronics. Resistive ele-
frequency is controlled by brine decomposition at the ments of say 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 0 should be
electrodes. This problem can be overcome by placing the inserted and the system tested over its entire frequency
current electrodes in compartments separated from the range. Any measurement where capacitative (or induc-
sample by a nonreactive porous and permeable ceramic tive) reactance exceeds about 1% of resistance should be
disk, and then constantly flushing the current electrode corrected for these effects. Stable precision resistors can
compartment with fresh brine. be “potted” into plastic cylinders with silver end-plates
The highest frequency that can be used depends on the to which the leads of the resistor are connected. These
overall capacitance of the measurement system, the time resistor plugs can then be used in the measurement system
constant of which is affected by the sample impedance. in exactly the same manner as core plugs.
The variation of cell impedance effects with frequency
must be determined in order to set a practical upper limit Standard Porous Samples
to the frequency range. Generally, data should be ob- The procurement of suitable calibration material that
tained at least up to 30 kHz and possibly higher than 100
is homogeneous, stable with time after exposure to a va-
kHz. riety of electrolytes, sufficiently robust to withstand han-
dling without damage, and with a range of porosities is
With two-electrode measurements it is especially crit-
ical that a frequency sweep of impedance be made overa difficult problem. Provided this has been accomplished,
the range 100-20,000 Hz to identify the frequency at these samples afford an excellent means of system cali-
bration and verification. The calibration samples should
which phase shift is minimal. The identified frequency
should be the measurement frequency for that sample. be treated in a manner identical to that of regular samples.
Useful materials are graded aluminas, but these are not
This selection presumes that there is no induced polariza-
tion effect in the frequency domain. suitable for overburden simulation nor are their porosi-
ties sufficiently diverse. Various sandstones (e.g., Berea)
CALIBRATION are available commercially as cylindrical rods that can
Four different calibration checks are recommended: be cut to any desired length. Because these are natural
these should be repeated on a regular basis. materials, their homogeneity cannot be guaranteed. The

66 The Log Analyst MarchApril, 1990

 SCA Guidelines
absence of pure core-plug standards constitutes a major
shortcoming in system calibration.
ACCURACY AND PRECISION
The accuracy of measurementscan only be known when
results are compared with acknowledgedstandards. There
are no universally accepted standard plugs, comprising a
porous medium fully saturated with a specified electrolyte
of fixed concentration, for which resistivity is known ex-
actly. Even if there were, there would have to be speci-
fications of temperature and pressure that would have to
be simulated exactly for the standard to be valid. Elec-
tronic tests using precision resistors provide only a guide
to accuracy, for they do not take account of electrolyte
conduction in a measurement situation. Without stan-
dard plugs, the measurement of core resistivity cannot be
evaluated for accuracy, only precision.
Input Parameters
The parameters required for a resistivity determination
on a cylindrical core plug are length, diameter, resistance,
and temperature. Each of these can be determined with
a precision of about 0.5% for well-consolidated samples.
This leads to a precision on the resistivity determination
of about 2.0% if the recommended procedures are fol-
lowed. This will not apply to unconsolidated, vuggy, or
fractured samples for which a looser and more erratic
precision can be expected.
Equilibration
Most rock samples do not reach electrochemical equi-
librium immediately after saturation. This means that
the measured resistance can change with time until equi-
librium has been established. The process of mounting a
core plug in a sample holder, especially one that is pres-
sured, might also impart a disequilibrium of resistivity.
There is no shortcut to overcoming these problems. So-
lutions require the careful measurement of resistivity,
without removal from the sample holder, over an ex-
tended period of a few hours to a few days and longer in
exceptional instances. When a series of successive tem-
perature-correctedmeasurements spaced over a few hours
shows agreement to within the expected precision, it can
be assumed that equilibrium has been established.
Environmental Factors
Resistivity is stronglyinfluencedby temperature, which
should be maintained constant in the vicinity of the mea-
suring equipment. Most measurements are made at 20-
25°C. A variation o f f 1°C can be tolerated. Temperature
should be measurable to within 0.1"C. All elements of the
system- the instrumentation, the sample cell, the core
plug, and the electrolyte- should be in thermal equilib-
rium.
Core-plugresistivity is also affected by loading pressure
March-April, 1990 The Log Analyst
$ 1
applied to the rock. This effect should not be confused
with that of the clamping pressures applied at the current
electrodes during ambient-condition measurements.
These pressures alter the measured resistivity because
they enhance the electrical coupling with the sample.
Loading pressures are applied in an attempt to simulate
overburden conditions. They can be applied hydrostati-
cally, biaxially, or triaxially. Triaxial loading is capable
of providing the most realistic simulation of tectonic
stresses, but its effect on resistivity may not be very dif-
ferent from that of hydrostatic loading for samples of
core-plug dimensions.
It is important that all assessments of measurement
reliability and precision be made under appropriate con-
ditions of temperature and pressure.
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Emerson, D. W., 1969, Laboratory electrical resistivity mea-
surements of rocks: Proceedings of the Australian Institute of
Mining and Metallurgy, v. 230, p. 5 1-62.
Helander, D. P., and Campbell, J. M., 1966, The effect of pore
configuration, pressure and temperature on rock resistivity,
paper W, in 7th Annual Logging Symposium Transactions:
Society of Professional Well Log Analysts, 29 p.
Hook, J. R., 1983, The precision of core analysis data and some
implications for reservoir evaluation, paper Y, in 24th Annual
Logging Symposium Transactions: Society of ProfessionalWell
Log Analysts, 18 p.
Hoyer, W. A., and Spann, M. M., 1975, Comments on obtaining
accurate electrical properties of cores, paper B, in 16th Annual
Logging Symposium Transactions: Society of Professional Well
Log Analysts, 11 p.
Ives, D. J. G., and Janz, G. J., 1961, Reference electrodes;theory
and practice: Academic Press, New York, 65 1 p.
Rust, C. F., 1952, Electrical resistivity measurements on res-
ervoir rock samples by the two-electrode and four-electrode
methods: Petroleum Transactions, AIME, v. 195, p. 217-
224.
Sanyal, S. K., Marsden, S. S., and Ramey, H. J., Jr., 1972, The
effect of temperature on electrical resistivity of porous media,
paper I, in 13th Annual Logging Symposium Transactions:
Society of Professional Well Log Analysts, 35 p.
Sawyer, D. T., and Roberts, J. L., Jr., 1974, Experimental elec-
trochemistryfor chemists: John Wiley and Sons, New York,
435 p.
Swanson, B. F., and Thomas, E. C., 1979, The measurement of
petrophysicai properties of unconsolidated sand cores, paper
A, in 6th European Formation Evaluation Symposium Trans-
actions: Society of Professional Well Log Analysts, 23 p.
Worthington, A. E., 1975, Errors in the laboratory measurement
of formation resistivity factor, paper J, in 5th Formation Eval-
uation Symposium Transactions: Canadian Well Logging
Society, 13 p.
Worthington, A. E., Gidman, J., and Newman, G. H., 1987,
Reservoir petrophysics of poorly consolidated rocks -well-
site procedures and laboratory methods, paper BB, in 28th
Annual Logging Symposium Transactions: Society of Profes-
sional Well Log Analysts, 17 p.
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