ABSTRACT
The interpretation of MWD and wireline logs of invaded formations can be enhanced by an understanding of the controls on invasion rates. Experimental investigation of dynamic filtration rates has shown that under certain conditions these are dependent only on the hydraulic shear stress at the mudcake surface for a given mud composition. They are virtually independent of differential pressure and independent of porous medium permeability (as opposed to mudcake properties) over a 1:104 range. For very low permeability media however, the clear fluid Darcy flux may already be below the dynamic filtration rate. Then no mudcake forms and filtration rates obey Darcy's law. Comparison with theory suggests that there is a critical flux (filtration rate per unit area) above which clay particles accrete irreversibly to the mudcake; below this flux they cannot stick at all.
Invasion volumes at the time of wireline logging are usually dominated by fluid loss that occurred under conditions of dynamic filtration. The conjecture of a critical dynamic filtration rate, dependent only on mud composition and shear, means that invasion volumes should be independent of mud overbalance pressure and of formation properties (permeability, saturation, far field pressure, internal mudcake)—unless formation permeability is so low that it limits the filtration flux to less than the critical flux. Then, formation properties control fluid loss. The permeability at which the behavior changes depends on both mud overbalance pressure and mud flow rate.
These results are important for the interpretation of MWD and wireline logs in the presence of invasion. Field examples of multiple pass MWD and wireline resistivity logs and invasion volume computations from a single pass of wireline resistivity and porosity logs often indicate trends in the invasion volume within a zone or between zones. These trends may be interpreted as indicating differential formation resistance to invasion at low permeabilities but must be due to factors other than the loss rate at moderate to high permeabilities. One such factor is vertical movement of the filtrate under the influence of gravity.
