Geological Engineering Commons^™

Impact Of Composition And Salinity On Swelling And Gel Strength Of Poly (Acrylamide-Co-Acrylic Acid) Preformed Particle Gel, Ahmed Ben Ali, Reem Elaf, Mohammed Saad, Ibnelwaleed A. Hussein, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The effects of various material compositions and reservoir environments on the ultimate strength and swelling kinetics of a commercial preformed particle gel (PPG) have been investigated. This study used different ratios of acrylamide and acrylic acid copolymers with a specific crosslinker concentration. Results have indicated that increasing the acrylic acid proportion enhances the PPGs' ability to swell but weakens their network structure. In contrast, increasing the crosslinker content decreases the swelling ratio and increases the gel strength. The highest equilibrium swelling capacity among the six preformed particle gel samples was obtained for PPG2, which has the highest acrylic acid amount …

The Success Story Of First Ever Polymer Flood Field Pilot To Enhance The Recovery Of Heavy Oils On Alaska's North Slope, Abhijit Dandekar, Baojun Bai, John Barnes, Dave Cercone, Reid Edwards, Samson Ning, Randy Seright, Brent Sheets, Dongmei Wang, Yin Zhang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The primary goal of the first ever polymer flood field pilot at Milne Point is to validate the use of polymers for heavy oil Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) on Alaska North Slope (ANS). The specific objectives are systematic evaluation of advanced technology that integrates polymer flooding, low salinity water flooding, horizontal wells, and numerical simulation based on polymer flood performance data. Accordingly, under the co-sponsorship of the US Department of Energy and Hilcorp Alaska LLC the first ever polymer field pilot commenced on August 28, 2018 in the Schrader Bluff heavy oil reservoir at the Milne Point Unit (MPU) on …

Descriptive Systematics Of Upper Palaeocene–Lower Eocene Pollen And Spores From The Northern Niger Delta, South-Eastern Nigeria, Luke Mander, Carlos Jaramillo, Francisca Oboh-Ikuenobe

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Fossil pollen and spores are a vital source of information on the geological history of tropical vegetation including reconstructions of vegetation diversity and composition. However, such work relies on a sound taxonomic framework, and this is challenging to achieve because of the large number of pollen and spore morphotypes that are encountered in palynological preparations from tropical sediments. In tropical West Africa, for example, extensive taxonomic work on Cretaceous–Paleogene pollen and spores was undertaken in the later part of the twentieth century, but more recent palynological work has focused on stratigraphy and basin evolution, and there is a need for …

Experimental Study: Investigating The Anions And Cations' Effects On The Elasticity Of The Anionic And Cationic High Viscosity Friction Reducers, Xiaojing Ge, Ghith Biheri, Abdulmohsin Imqam, Baojun Bai, Yuwei Zhang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs) are widely used as friction-reducing agents and proppant carriers during hydraulic fracturing. The reuse of produced water has gained popularity due to environmental and economic benefits. Currently, the field's most commonly used friction reducers are anionic and cationic HVFRs. Anionic HVFRs are typically pumped with freshwater, while cationic HVFRs are used with high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) produced water. Cationic friction reducers are believed to have better TDS tolerance, friction reduction performance, and proppant transport capabilities compared to anionic friction reducers under high TDS conditions due to their superior viscoelastic properties. In addition, the impact …

Risk As A Process: A History Informed Hazard Planning Approach Applied To The 2018 Post-Fire Debris Flows, Montecito, California, Anna Serra-Llobet, John Radke, G. Mathias Kondolf, Larry Gurrola, J. David Rogers, Sarah Lindbergh, Johnny Douvinet

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Historical information about floods is not commonly used in the US to inform land use planning decisions. Rather, the current approach to managing floods is based on static maps derived from computer simulations of the area inundated by floods of specified return intervals. These maps provide some information about flood hazard, but they do not reflect the underlying processes involved in creating a flood disaster, which typically include increased exposure due to building on flood-prone land, nor do they account for the greater hazard resulting from wildfire. We developed and applied an approach to analyze how exposure has evolved in …

Magnetic Inversion Approach For Modeling Data Acquired Across Faults: Various Environmental Cases Studies, Khalid S. Essa, Eid R. Abo-Ezz, Neil Lennart Anderson, Omar A. Gomaa, Mahmoud Elhussein

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

An effective extension to the particle swarm optimizer scheme has been developed to visualize and modelize robustly magnetic data acquired across vertical or dipping faults. This method can be applied to magnetic data sets that support various investigations, including mining, fault hazards assessment, and hydrocarbon exploration. The inversion algorithm is established depending on the second horizontal derivative technique and the particle swarm optimizer algorithm and was utilized for multi-source models. Herein, the inversion method is applied to three synthetic models (a dipping fault model contaminated without and with different Gaussian noises levels, a dipping fault model affected by regional anomaly, …

Comparative Study Of Proppant Transport In The Vertical Fracture For High Viscosity Friction Reducers And Slickwater Fracturing With High-Tds Marcellus Shale Formation Water, Xiaojing Ge, Abdulmohsin Imqam, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs) have been gaining more attention and increasing in use as proppant carriers. Reusing of produced water has also been driven by both environmental and economic benefits. However, high total dissolved solids (TDS) of produced water and high reservoir temperature significantly decrease the viscoelastic properties of HVFRs even for the cationic ones, which further reduce their proppant transport capabilities. Increasing loadings of HVFRs also has very limited effects on improving their proppant transport performances under high-TDS and high-Temperature conditions. The ultimate objective of this experimental study is to investigate the injection rate effects on the proppant …

Biochar Preparation, Investigation Of Properties And Application As A Low-Cost Adsorbent – A Review, A Kh Aripov, S M. Turabdzhanov, Sh Komilova, O Sh Qodirov, G S. Rakhimova, T V. Darabkova, Zh Aimenova, L S. Rakhimova

Technical science and innovation

An overview of current developments in biochar application in water and wastewater treatment is given in this article, along with a brief explanation of the sorption mechanisms for removing contaminants and the techniques for biochar preparation. In order to encourage the continued use of biochar in effective water and wastewater treatment, future research directions and environmental concerns about biochar are also presented.

Fluoride Technology For Processing Copper Production Slag At Almalyk Mmc And The Possibility Of Its Application For The Synthesis Of Highly Dispersed Silica Dioxide, M Sh Kurbanov, U M. Nuraliev, J A. Panjiev, S A. Tulaganov, M Ernazarov, L S. Andriyko

Technical science and innovation

A new pilot-plant equipment of an inclined rotary furnace for the processing of fluoroammonium silicon-containing materials has been developed and manufactured, which allowed sublimation of ammonium hexafluorosilicate, formed as a result of fluorination of processed raw materials, in two sections, with autonomous control of temperature and movement of raw materials. It is shown that the use of the created equipment for the processing of copper-smelting slags of the Almalyk MMC using fluoride technology makes it possible to separate amorphous silicon dioxide in the form of a dispersed powder from slags, extract iron and obtain a collective concentrate of precious, non-ferrous …

Mantle Dynamics Of The North China Craton: New Insights From Mantle Transition Zone Imaging Constrained By P-To-S Receiver Functions, Lin Liu, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, William L. Griffin, Sanzhong Li, Siyou Tong, Jieyuan Ning

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Cratons are generally defined as stable continental blocks with a strong cratonic root that typically is at least ∼200 km thick. Many cratons have undergone little internal tectonism and destruction since their formation, but some of them, such as the eastern part of the North China Craton (NCC), the Dharwar Craton and the Wyoming Craton, have lost their thick cratonic root and become reactivated in recent geological history, leading to widespread Meso-Cenozoic volcanisms. The mechanisms responsible for such decratonization remain debated. To provide new constraints on models leading to decratonization, in this study we stack 612 854 source-normalized P-to-S conversions …

Laboratory Evaluation Of A Novel Self-Healable Polymer Gel For Co2 Leakage Remediation During Co2 Storage And Co2 Flooding, Tao Song, Zhanmiao Zhai, Junchen Liu, Yugandhara Eriyagama, Mohamed Ahdaya, Adel Alotibi, Ze Wang, Thomas P. Schuman, Baojun Bai

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

For CO₂ storage in subsurface reservoirs, one of the most crucial requirements is the ability to remediate the leakage caused by the natural fractures or newly generated fractures due to the increasing pore pressure associated with CO₂ injection. For CO₂ Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), high conductivity features such as fractures and void space conduits can severely restrict the CO₂ sweep efficiency. Polymer gels have been developed to plug the leakage and improve the sweep efficiency. This work evaluated a CO₂ resistant branched self-healable preformed particle gel (CO₂-BRPPG) for CO₂ plugging purpose. This …

Long-Time Kinetic Impact On Key Factors Affecting Asphaltene Precipitation, Ato Kwamena Quainoo, Abdulmohsin Imqam

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The employment of predictive techniques combining kinetic and thermodynamic analyses is the succinct solution to effectively control asphaltene precipitation during crude oil production. Although thermodynamic processes and conditions have been well studied in the literature, the effect of long-time kinetics on the key factors affecting the precipitation of asphaltenes was not critically studied. This work employed a model oil for asphaltene precipitation long-time kinetic observations. Filtration and confocal microscopy experimentations for time periods of 0-7200 min were utilized to study asphaltene yields and sizes at room and high temperatures (25, 50, and 70 °C), rotation speeds (60 and 150 rpm), …

A Comprehensive Review Of Experimental Evaluation Methods And Results Of Polymer Micro/Nanogels For Enhanced Oil Recovery And Reduced Water Production, Junchen Liu, Abdulaziz Almakimi, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai, Ibnelwaleed Ali Hussein

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In recent years, polymer micro/nanogels which are re-crosslinked polymers with 3D networks, have attracted a lot of interest in Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) field. In size of micro/nanometers, these gel particles are designed to be conformance control agents for in-depth fluid diversion, and various experimental research have been undertaken to investigate the possibilities of applying micro/nanogels in oilfield. However, it is still unclear that how to utilize micro/nanogels to their full potential in oilfield because the transport mechanisms and EOR mechanisms of micro/nanogels are not well studied currently. By reviewing experimental evaluations and corresponding results of micro/nanogels, including evaluation of …

Study On Apparent Permeability Model For Gas Transport In Shale Inorganic Nanopores, Shuda Zhao, Hongji Liu, Enyuan Jiang, Nan Zhao, Chaohua Guo, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Inorganic nanopores occurring in the shale matrix have strong hydrophilicity and irreducible water (IW) film can be formed on the inner surface of the pores making gas flow mechanisms in the pores more complex. In this paper, the existence of irreducible water (IW) in inorganic pores is considered, and, based on the Knudsen number (K (Formula presented.)) correction in shale pores, a shale gas apparent permeability model of inorganic nano-pores is established. The effect of the K (Formula presented.) correction on the apparent permeability, the ratio of flow with pore radius and the effect of IW on the apparent permeability …

Fabrications And Applications Of Micro/Nanofluidics In Oil And Gas Recovery: A Comprehensive Review, Junchen Liu, Yandong Zhang, Mingzhen Wei, Xiaoming He, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Understanding fluid flow characteristics in porous medium, which determines the development of oil and gas oilfields, has been a significant research subject for decades. Although using core samples is still essential, micro/nanofluidics have been attracting increasing attention in oil recovery fields since it offers direct visualization and quantification of fluid flow at the pore level. This work provides the latest techniques and development history of micro/nanofluidics in oil and gas recovery by summarizing and discussing the fabrication methods, materials and corresponding applications. Compared with other reviews of micro/nanofluidics, this comprehensive review is in the perspective of solving specific issues in …

A Database Of Teleseismic Shear-Wave Splitting Measurements For The Ordos Block And Adjacent Areas, Lin Liu, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Tu Xue, Yan Jia, Sanzhong Li

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Ordos block of the north China craton and its surrounding regions are affected by the India-Eurasia collision to the southwest and the subduction of the Pacific beneath the Eurasian plates to the east. To provide the foundation for delineating lithospheric deformation and asthenospheric flow beneath this tectonically diverse region, we have created a database of individual shear-wave splitting (SWS) parameters by applying a uniform set of data processing procedures. After automatic data processing and manual checking, a total of 16,228 pairs of well-defined PKS, SKKS, and SKS splitting parameters (fast orientations and splitting times) are obtained from 1023 broadband …

Crustal Structure And Subsidence Mechanisms Of The Williston Basin: New Constraints From Receiver Function Imaging, Jianguo Song, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Muchen Sun, Youqiang Yu, Fansheng Kong, Kevin Mickus

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Mechanisms responsible for the long-term subsidence of intracontinental basins such as the Williston Basin in North America remain enigmatic, partly due to the thick sedimentary layer commonly found in the basins that prevents reliably imaging the deep crustal and upper mantle structures using some of the most-commonly employed seismic methods such as receiver function analysis. In this study, we used receiver functions recorded by 274 USArray and other stations in the Williston Basin and adjacent areas to investigate the layered structure of the crust in the hydrocarbon-rich intracontinental basin. After the removal of strong reverberations on the receiver functions associated …

Myosin Ii Adjusts Motility Properties And Regulates Force Production Based On Motor Environment, Omayma Y. Al Azzam, Janie C. Watts, Justin E. Reynolds, Juliana E. Davis, Dana N. Reinemann

Faculty and Student Publications

Introduction—Myosin II has been investigated with optical trapping, but single motor-filament assay arrangements are not reflective of the complex cellular environment. To understand how myosin interactions propagate up in scale to accomplish system force generation, we devised a novel actomyosin ensemble optical trapping assay that reflects the hierarchy and compliancy of a physiological environment and is modular for interrogating force effectors.

Methods—Hierarchical actomyosin bundles were formed in vitro. Fluorescent template and cargo actin filaments (AF) were assembled in a flow cell and bundled by myosin. Beads were added in the presence of ATP to bind the cargo AF …

Advancing Water Resource Assessment With Insar Data And Subsidence Models, Ryan G. Smith

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Over the past three decades, Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) has grown from a tool for monitoring earthquakes and other massive signature deformation events to tracking the subtle, slow deformation processes associated with changes in groundwater storage. Improvements in time-series processing and noise reduction, as well as improved models of deformation, have enabled this advancement. InSAR has proven to be a valuable tool for characterizing elastic deformation in regions experiencing little long-term storage loss, as well as inelastic deformation in over-stressed aquifers.

Experimental Study On Co2-Sensitive Polyacrylamide As Potential In-Situ Sealing Agent For Co2 Leakage Pathways In Geological Storage Sites, Iris Laihmen Quan Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

As the world pushes for ‘greener’ technologies and carbon neutrality, efforts have focused on creating novel ways to mitigate humankind’s carbon footprint. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has become a prevalent technique that has proven to be an effective long-term method to safely relocate excess carbon dioxide (CO₂) into subsurface formations. However, CCS is a newer technique which requires constant monitoring due to potential leakage pathways present in CO₂ storage sites; therefore, a preventive approach to seal leakage pathways is recommended. This dissertation explores the potential of CO₂-sensitive polyacrylamide (CO₂-SPAM) as a novel …

A Novel Approach To Estimate Rock Strength Parameters From Multistage Triaxial Tests (The A-Has Method), Abo Taleb T. Al-Hameedi, Husam H. Alkinani, Shari Dunn-Norman, Munir Aldin, Sudarshan Govindarajan

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Rock strength parameters are vital to creating robust geomechanical models for wellbore stability, sand production, and hydraulic fracturing. Static rock strength parameters can be estimated from single stage triaxial tests (SST) or multistage triaxial tests (MST). Although SST tests are the most accurate way to estimate rock strength parameters, SST tests require at least four to five core plugs to estimate rock strength parameters. Thus, MST tests are used as an alternative method to estimate rock strength parameters from only one core plug to overcome the limitation of materials and save time and money. However, the currently used method to …

Temporal Lidar Scanning In Quantifying Cumulative Rockfall Volume And Hazard Assessment: A Case Study At Southwestern Saudi Arabia, Abdullah A. Alotaibi, Norbert H. Maerz, Kenneth J. Boyko, Ahmed M. Youssef, Biswajeet Pradhan

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Rockfalls and unstable slopes pose a serious threat to people and property along roads/highways in the southwestern mountainous regions of Saudi Arabia. In this study, the application of terrestrial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology was applied aiming to propose a strategy to analyze and accurately depict the detection of rockfall changes, calculation of rockfall volume, and evaluate rockfall hazards along the Habs Road, Jazan Region, Saudi Arabia. A series of temporal LiDAR scans were acquired at three selected sites. Our results show that these three sites have different degrees of hazard due to their geological differences. The mean volume …

Metastable Olivine Within Oceanic Lithosphere In The Uppermost Lower Mantle Beneath The Eastern United States, Fansheng Kong, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu, Yinxia Fang, Hejun Zhu, Robert J. Stern, Jiabiao Li

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Approximately two-thirds of Earth's outermost shell is composed of oceanic plates that form at spreading ridges and recycle back to Earth's interior in subduction zones. A series of physical and chemical changes occur in the subducting lithospheric slab as the temperature and pressure increase with depth. In particular, olivine, the most abundant mineral in the upper mantle, progressively transforms to its high-pressure polymorphs near the mantle transition zone, which is bounded by the 410 km and 660 km discontinuities. However, whether olivine still exists in the core of slabs once they penetrate the 660 km discontinuity remains debated. Based on …

Classification Of Teleseismic Shear Wave Splitting Measurements: A Convolutional Neural Network Approach, Yanwei Zhang, Stephen S. Gao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Shear wave splitting (SWS) analysis is widely used to provide critical constraints on crustal and mantle structure and dynamic models. In order to obtain reliable splitting measurements, an essential step is to visually verify all the measurements to reject problematic measurements, a task that is increasingly time consuming due to the exponential increase in the amount of data. In this study, we utilized a convolutional neural network (CNN) based method to automatically select reliable SWS measurements. The CNN was trained by human-verified teleseismic SWS measurements and tested using synthetic SWS measurements. Application of the trained CNN to broadband seismic data …

Complex Rupture And Triggered Aseismic Creep During The 14 August 2021 Haiti Earthquake From Satellite Geodesy, Jeremy Maurer, R. Dutta, A. Vernon, S. Vajedian

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The 2021 August 14 MW 7.2 Nippes, Haiti earthquake occurred 75 km west of the epicenter of the 2010 Leogane earthquake (Haiti) on the transpressive Caribbean - North America plate boundary. We present an updated fault map for Hispaniola and model coseismic and early postseismic fault slip using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar and pixel offsets. We find the earthquake ruptured multiple segments of the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone. Slip occurred in two main sub-events on either side of a restraining bend at Pic Macaya, with ∼2.7 m of peak reverse-slip east of the bend. To the west, slip jumps the …

Pattern Recognition For Steam Flooding Field Applications Based On Hierarchical Clustering And Principal Component Analysis, Na Zhang, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai, Xiaopeng Wang, Jian Hao, Shun Jia

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Steam flooding is a complex process that has been considered as an effective enhanced oil recovery technique in both heavy oil and light oil reservoirs. Many studies have been conducted on different sets of steam flooding projects using the conventional data analysis methods, while the implementation of machine learning algorithms to find the hidden patterns is rarely found. In this study, a hierarchical clustering algorithm (HCA) coupled with principal component analysis is used to analyze the steam flooding projects worldwide. The goal of this research is to group similar steam flooding projects into the same cluster so that valuable operational …

Development And Application Of A 1d Compaction Model To Understand 65 Years Of Subsidence In The San Joaquin Valley, Matthew Lees, Rosemary Knight, Ryan G. Smith

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

High rates of land subsidence, caused by groundwater overdraft, are resulting in millions of dollars of infrastructure damage in California's San Joaquin Valley (SJV). In recent years, the use of interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) has enabled us to substantially improve our understanding of this subsidence. However, only very occasionally have the InSAR data been integrated with a physical model of subsurface compaction. Here, we have used InSAR and other data to parameterize and calibrate a 1D compaction model. We applied our model to a study area in the SJV where we had access to the necessary information on hydraulic …

A Novel Numerical Model Of Gelant Inaccessible Pore Volume For In Situ Gel Treatment, Jianqiao Leng, Xindi Sun, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Inaccessible pore volume (IAPV) can have an important impact on the placement of gelant during in situ gel treatment for conformance control. Previously, IAPV was considered to be a constant factor in simulators, yet it lacked dynamic characterization. This paper proposes a numerical simulation model of IAPV. The model was derived based on the theoretical hydrodynamic model of gelant molecules. The model considers both static features, such as gelant and formation properties, and dynamic features, such as gelant rheology and retention. To validate our model, we collected IAPV from 64 experiments and the results showed that our model fit moderately …

Comprehensive Review Of Polymer And Polymer Gel Treatments For Natural Gas-Related Conformance Control, Ali Al Brahim, Baojun Bai, Thomas P. Schuman

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Conformance problems often exist in natural gas-related activities, resulting in excessive water production from natural gas production wells and/or excessive natural gas production from oil production wells. Several mechanical and chemical solutions were reported in the literature to mitigate the conformance problems. Among the chemical solutions, two classes of materials, namely polymer gels and water-soluble polymers, have been mostly reported. These systems have been mainly reviewed in several studies for their applications as water shutoff treatments for oil production wells. Natural gas production wells exhibit different characteristics and have different properties which could impact the performance of the chemical solutions. …

Stagnation And Tearing Of The Subducting Northwest Pacific Slab, Muchen Sun, Youqiang Yu, Stephen S. Gao, Kelly H. Liu

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Despite numerous observational and geodynamic modeling studies, the presence of the northwest Pacific slab tear and its influence on mantle dynamics remain controversial. By imaging the mantle transition zone (MTZ) discontinuities beneath the Japan Sea and adjacent areas, we demonstrate an ESE-WNW elongated zone with significant MTZ thinning extending from central Honshu, Japan, to the Korean Peninsula, which provides additional supporting evidence for the existence and distribution of a large-scale slab tear. Our results, when combined with other geophysical and geochemical evidence, indicate that the hot mantle material oceanward of the slab may flow through the slab tear and contribute …