Decoding the “Shaly Sand” Seminal Papers
Northside Houston
Speaker:
Seminar Date: Jul 31 2025
Registration Opens: Jul 01 2025 - Aug 01 2025
Time: 11:30 AM - 01:00 PM (US CDT)
Admission/Registration Link: None
Donation Link: None
Meeting/Webinar Link: None
Contact: Ali Eghbali (VP Northside, SPWLA Houston Chapter)
Corresponding: vpnorthside@spwla-houston.org
Fees: FREENOTES:
Speaker : David Kennedy
Date : Thursday, Jul 31st, 2025
Time : 11:30 am – 1:00 pm (US CDT)
Venue : Baker Hughes, 2001 Rankin Rd, Houston, TX 77073
Admission : This event is proudly sponsored by Baker Hughes. Lunch is provided.
To reserve your seat, please ensure you register for this event using the link below.
Please register at least 24h before the event to reserve lunch using the above provided link.
Parking Info : Guest parking is available free of charge. Upon arrival, please proceed to the front desk to check in.
Contact : Ali Eghbali
Corresponding : vpnorthside@spwla-houston.org
ABSTRACT:
Many attempts have been made to interpret the log responses of the clay-bearing sandstones that are called “shaly sands”. Two of the most frequently encountered models are those of Waxman and Smits (WS), and the Clavier, Coates, and Dumanoir (CCD) dual-water model. In this article I review both these seminal papers, supplying the background material not present in the original papers, making them more understandable to interested readers. I also point out some logical errors that represent impenetrable walls to understanding unless they are exposed as errors, and the outputs derived by the authors do not follow from the inputs. I show that contrary to its author’s claim that the Waxman-Smits (‘Uni-Water’, UW) model is not a parallel conductivity model, whereas the Clavier-Coates-Dumanoir Dual Water (DW) model is a parallel conductivity model. We also show that for the CCD model that the definitions of its parameters can be made more logically than the choices made by its authors, and that some modifications to its method of interpretation produces more realistic results at low formation brine salinity concentrations.
BIOGRAPHY:
W. David Kennedy (you can call me ‘Dave’) has been a member of the SPWLA since 1975. He’s served the Society as Vice President of Publications (and first editor of Petrophphysics), Vice President of Technology, and President. Dave began adult life as an infantry platoon leader, serving in Vietnam. Upon return to civilian life, he finished his physics degree at Georgia Tech in 1972 and shortly thereafter was discovered by Schlumberger, who introduced him to formation evaluation at their Ventura learning center. He was skeptical of much of what was being taught, and thought petrophysics and formation evaluation might be a field where contributions could be made. His career included stints at Schlumberger, Arco, Sohio. Lockheed, Mobil, Exxon, Baker-Hughes, Pathfinder, and Southwestern Energy. Dave seems to have had issues with employers, but he did stay with Mobil and Exxon-Mobil for 20 years to prove to his Mom that he could hold a job. Along the way Dave acquired six patents as inventor or coinventor, and about sixty papers as author or coauthor on topics covering induction instrument responses and forward modeling, conductivity anisotropy, the theoretical petrophysics of conductivity in reservoir rocks, and most recently shaly sand models.