Engineering Commons^™

Newmark-Type Pseudo-Three-Dimensional Back-Analysis Of Co-Seismic Landslides In Egkremnoi, Lefkada, Greece, Weibing Gong, Dimitrios Zekkos, Marin Clark, Dalia Kirschbaum

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A pseudo-three-dimensional (pseudo-3D) methodology to back-analyze coseismic landslides was developed and applied to 68 mapped landslides, which occurred over approximately 1 km2area in Egkremnoi, Greece, during the 2015 Mw6.5 Lefkada earthquake. The methodology is based on a one-dimensional (1D) Newmark-type sliding block model to assess instability and a spatial projection in 3D topography to derive landslide geometry. The strength parameters for modeled landslides that best match the landslide location, area, and volume were derived through an iterative scheme that optimizes the match using predefined matching criteria. The range of different-sized landslides produced shear strength estimates from ~10 to 300 kPa …

Systematic Evaluation Of A Novel Self-Healing Poly(Acrylamide-Co-Vinyl Acetate)/Alginate Polymer Gel For Fluid Flow Control In High Temperature And High Salinity Reservoirs, Jingyang Pu, Baojun Bai, Thomas P. Schuman

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Preferential fluid flow often occurs when water and CO₂ is injected into mature oilfields, sig-nificantly reducing their injection efficiency. Particle gels have been evaluated and applied to control the short circulation problems. This study systematically investigated a novel poly(acrylamide-co-vinyl acetate)/alginate-based interpenetrated gel system (Alg-IPNG) which is designed to control the preferential fluid flow problems in high-temperature reservoirs. Chromium acetate was incorporated into the gel system to provide the delayed crosslinking feature of the particle gels. The alginate polymer system can also take advantage of the Ca²⁺ ions in the formation water, which exist in most reservoirs, to reinforce …

A Comprehensive Review Of In-Situ Polymer Gel Simulation For Conformance Control, Baojun Bai, Jianqiao Leng, Mingzhen Wei

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Gel treatment has been widely applied in mature oilfields to improve sweep efficiency and control water production. Correct numerical simulation is of major importance to the optimization design and prediction of a successful gel treatment. However, there exist many problems in current simulation studies in published literature. This paper first presents a comprehensive review on the major factors that have been considered at different gelation stages during gel treatment, the models used in the commercial/in-house simulators, and current numerical simulation studies on both laboratory and field scales. Then we classify the current in-situ gel numerical simulation problems as 1, deficient …

Impact Of Clay Stabilizer On The Methane Desorption Kinetics And Isotherms Of Longmaxi Shale, China, Zhong Hua Liu, Jia Chun Wang, Baojun Bai, Yan Ling Wang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Knowing methane desorption characteristics is essential to define the contribution of adsorbed gas to gas well production. To evaluate the synthetic effect of a clay stabilizer solution on methane desorption kinetics and isotherms pertaining to Longmaxi shale, an experimental setup was designed based on the volumetric method. The objective was to conduct experiments on methane adsorption and desorption kinetics and isotherms before and after clay stabilizer treatments. The experimental data were a good fit for both the intraparticle diffusion model and the Freundlich isotherm model. We analyzed the effect of the clay stabilizer on desorption kinetics and isotherms. Results show …

Findings Report: Virtual Workshop On ‘Resilient Supply Of Critical Minerals’, Marek Locmelis, Angela D. Lueking, Michael S. Moats, Kwame Awuah-Offei, Lana Z. Alagha, Mark W. Fitch, Alanna Krolikowski, Shelby Clark

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Executive Summary
On August 2-3, 2021, the Thomas J. O’Keefe Institute for Sustainable Supply of Strategic Minerals at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) hosted the NSF-funded virtual workshop ‘Resilient Supply of Critical Minerals’. The workshop was convened via Zoom and attracted 158 registrants, including 108 registrants from academia (61 students), 30 registrants from government agencies, and 20 registrants from the private sector. Four topical sessions were covered:

A. Mineral Exploration and Source Diversification.
B. Supply Chain and Policy Issues.
C. Improving Mineral Recycling and Reprocessing Technologies.
D. Technological Alternatives to Critical Minerals.

Each topical session was composed …

Sealant Injectivity Through Void Space Conduits To Assess Remediation Of Well Cement Failure, Mohammed Alkhamis, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The primary cement of oil and gas wells is prone to fail under downhole conditions. Thus, a remedial operation must be conducted to restore the wellbore integrity and provides zonal isolation. Many types of materials are currently used and/or have the potential to be employed in wellbore integrity applications, including, but not limited to, conventional Portland cement, microfine and ultrafine cement, thermoset materials, and thermoplastic materials. In this study, several types of materials were selected for evaluation: (1) conventional Portland cement, which is the most widely used in remedial operations in the petroleum industry, (2) polymer resin, which is one …

Settling Of Spherical Particles In High Viscosity Friction Reducer Fracture Fluids, Ghith Biheri, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Investigating the key factors that impact fluid rheology and proppant static settling velocity in high viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs) is a critical aspect for successful proppant transport in hydraulic fracture treatment. In this study, the rheological properties of HVFRs were tested at various temperature ranges (i.e., 25, 50, 75, and 100◦C) and different HVFR concentrations (i.e., 1, 2, 4, and 8 gpt). Three sizes of spherical particle diameters (i.e., 2, 4, and 6 mm) were selected to measure the static settling velocity. The fracture fluid was tested in two fracture models: an unconfined glass model and a confined rectangular model …

Characterization And Oil Recovery Enhancement By A Polymeric Nanogel Combined With Surfactant For Sandstone Reservoirs, Mustafa Mohammed Almahfood, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The characterization and enhanced oil recovery mechanisms of a nanosized polymeric cross-linked gel are presented herein. A negatively charged nanogel was synthesized using a typical free radical suspension polymerization process by employing 2-acrylamido 2-methyl propane sulfonic acid monomer. The synthesized nanogel showed a narrow size distribution with one peak pointing to a predominant homogeneous droplet size. The charged nanogels were also able to adsorb at the oil-water interfaces to reduce interfacial tension and stabilize oil-in-water emulsions, which ultimately improved the recovered oil from hydrocarbon reservoirs. In addition, a fixed concentration of negatively charged surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate or SDS) was …

Regional 3d Stability Analyses Of The Egkremnoi Coastline And Comparison With Landslides Caused By The 2015 Lefkada Earthquake, Weibing Gong, Dimitrios Zekkos, Marin Clark, John Manousakis, Dalia Kirshbaum

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Regional three-dimensional (3D) forward modeling stability analyses are presented for the Egkremnoi coastline of Lefkada Island in Greece. The pre-earthquake 5-m resolution DEM of the region was used as input for the regional 3D model and the modeling results were evaluated for five large landslides that occurred in the area during a Mw 6.5 earthquake that occurred in 2015. The area ratio and the overlap area ratio were defined to quantitatively assess the geospatial "match" between predicted and mapped landslides. Parametric analyses using variable material strength and DEM resolution were subsequently conducted to assess the influence of the input on …