Geological Engineering Commons^™

Effect Of Salinity Contrast Between Formation Water And Injected Low Salinity Water On Low Salinity Waterflooding In Shaly-Sandstone Formation, Sarun Phuenghansaporn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Low salinity waterflooding is an improving oil recovery technique that is highly mentioned nowadays as it is cost-efficient and environmentally friendly. The technique involves injecting water with lower salinity compared to formation salinity to shift the surface equilibrium toward the liberation of oil from the rock surface. Nevertheless, successful of this technique depends on many parameters especially the presence of clays. Several types of clays can be found in oil reservoirs, and they may react to different cations in inject low salinity in different ways, resulting in different magnitudes of oil recovery. Moreover, the contrast of salinity between formation water …

Pore Pressure Prediction Using Combination Drilling Efficiency And Hydro-Mechanical Specific Energy Methods, Munawir Arge Pratama Otolomo

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Several methods of pore pressure prediction using drilling parameters were introduced and improved to meet the challenges of accurate prediction at a relatively low cost. Knowledge of pore pressure is essential for safe well planning, cost-effective drilling, and operational decision-making. Conventional methods in pore pressure prediction using drilling parameters have limitations on its application of making the normal compaction trendline that is only applicable in clean shale intervals. In this work, the concept of drilling efficiency (DE) and hydro-mechanical specific energy (HMSE) for predicting formation pore pressure is proposed. This method, termed DE-HMSE, is based on the theory that the …

Continental Magmatism And Uplift As The Primary Driver For First-Order Oceanic 87sr/86sr Variability With Implications For Global Climate And Atmospheric Oxygenation, Timothy Paulsen, Chad Deering, Jakub Sliwinski, Snehamoy Chatterjee, Olivier Bachman

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Oceans cover 70% of Earth's surface, setting it apart from the other terrestrial planets in the solar system, but the mechanisms driving oceanic chemical evolution through time remain an important unresolved problem. Imbalance in the strontium cycle, introduced, for example, by increases in continental weathering associated with mountain building, has been inferred from shifts in marine carbonate 87Sr/86Sr ratios. There are, however, uncertainties about the spatial and temporal patterns of crustal evolution in Earth's past, particularly for the period leading up to the Cambrian explosion of life. Here we show that U-Pb age and trace element data from a global …

A Comparison Of Multiple Machine Learning Algorithms To Predict Whole-Body Vibration Exposure Of Dumper Operators In Iron Ore Mines In India, Rahul Upadhyay, Amrites Senapati, Ashis Bhattacherjee, Aditya Kumar Patra, Snehamoy Chatterjee

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Background: This study deals with some factors that influence the exposure of whole-body vibration (WBV) of dumper operators in surface mines. The study also highlights the approach to improve the multivariate linear analysis outcomes when collinearity exists between certain factor pairs.

Material and Methods: A total number of 130 vibration readings was taken from two adjacent surface iron ore mines. The frequency-weighted RMS acceleration was used for the WBV exposure assessment of the dumper operators. The factors considered in this study are age, weight, seat backrest height, awkward posture, the machine age, load tonnage, dumper speed and haul …

Earth Imaging From The Surface Of The Moon With A Dscovr/Epic-Type Camera, Nick Gorkavyi, Simon Carn, Matt Deland, Yuri Knyazikhin, Nick Krotkov, Alexander Marshak, Et Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

The Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) satellite observes the entire Sun-illuminated Earth from sunrise to sunset from the L1 Sun-Earth Lagrange point. The L1 location, however, confines the observed phase angles to ∼2°–12°, a nearly backscattering direction, precluding any information on the bidirectional surface reflectance factor (BRF) or cloud/aerosol phase function. Deploying an analog of EPIC on the Moon’s surface would offer a unique opportunity to image the full range of Earth phases, including observing ocean/cloud glint reflection for different phase angles; monitoring of transient volcanic clouds; detection of circum-polar mesospheric and stratospheric …

Remote Sensing-Based Statistical Approach For Defining Drained Lake Basins In A Continuous Permafrost Region, North Slope Of Alaska, Helena Bergstedt, Benjamin M. Jones, Kenneth M Hinkel, Louise Farquharson, Benjamin V. Gaglioti, Andrew D. Parsekian, Mikhail Kanevskiy, Noriaki Ohara, Amy L. Breen, Rodrigo C. Rangel, Guido Grosse, Ingmar Nitze

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Lake formation and drainage are pervasive phenomena in permafrost regions. Drained lake basins (DLBs) are often the most common landforms in lowland permafrost regions in the Arctic (50% to 75% of the landscape). However, detailed assessments of DLB distribution and abundance are limited. In this study, we present a novel and scalable remote sensing-based approach to identifying DLBs in lowland permafrost regions, using the North Slope of Alaska as a case study. We validated this first North Slope-wide DLB data product against several previously published sub-regional scale datasets and manually classified points. The study area covered >71,000 km2, including a …

Characterizing Soil Stiffness Using Thermal Remote Sensing And Machine Learning, Jordan Ewing, T. Oommen, Paramsothy Jayakumar, Russell Alger

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Soil strength characterization is essential for any problem that deals with geomechanics, including terramechanics/terrain mobility. Presently, the primary method of collecting soil strength parameters through in situ measurements but sending a team of people out to a site to collect data this has significant cost implications and accessing the location with the necessary equipment can be difficult. Remote sensing provides an alternate approach to in situ measurements. In this lab study, we compare the use of Apparent Thermal Inertia (ATI) against a GeoGauge for the direct testing of soil stiffness. ATI correlates with stiffness, so it allows one to predict …

Evaluating The Performance Of Extreme Learning Machine Technique For Ore Grade Estimation, Clara Akalanya Abuntori, Sulemana Al-Hassan, Daniel Mireku-Gyimah, Yao Yevenyo Ziggah

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Due to the complex geology of vein deposits and their erratic grade distributions, there is the tendency of overestimating or underestimating the ore grade. These estimated grade results determine the profitability of mining the ore deposit or otherwise. In this study, five Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) variants based on hard limit, sigmoid, triangular basis, sine and radial basis activation functions were applied to predict ore grade. The motive is that the activation function has been identified to play a key role in achieving optimum ELM performance. Therefore, assessing the extent of influence the activation functions will have on the final …

Potentials Of Airborne Hyperspectral Aviris-Ng Data In The Exploration Of Base Metal Deposit—A Study In The Parts Of Bhilwara, Rajasthan, Arindam Guha, Uday Kumar Ghosh, Joyasree Sinha, Amin Beiranvand Pour, Ratnakar Bhaisal, Snehamoy Chatterjee, Nikhil Kumar Baranval, Nisha Rani, K. Vinod Kumar, Pamaraju V.N. Rao

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

In this study, we have processed the spectral bands of airborne hyperspectral data of Advanced Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-Next Generation (AVIRIS-NG) data for delineating the surface signatures associated with the base metal mineralization in the Pur-Banera area in the Bhilwara district, Rajasthan, India.The primaryhost rocks of the Cu, Pb, Zn mineralization in the area are Banded Magnetite Quartzite (BMQ), unclassified calcareous silicates, and quartzite. We used ratio images derived from the scale and root mean squares (RMS) error imagesusing the multi-range spectral feature fitting (MRSFF) methodto delineate host rocks from the AVIRIS-NG image. The False Color Composites (FCCs) of different …

Global Health Effects Of Future Atmospheric Mercury Emissions, Yanxu Zhang, Zhengcheng Song, Shaojian Huang, Peng Zhang, Yiming Peng, Peipei Wu, Jing Gu, Stephanie Dutkiewicz, Huanxin Zhang, Shiliang Wu, Feiyue Wang, Long Chen, Shuxiao Wang, Ping Li

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that poses health risks to the global population. Anthropogenic mercury emissions to the atmosphere are projected to decrease in the future due to enhanced policy efforts such as the Minamata Convention, a legally-binding international treaty entered into force in 2017. Here, we report the development of a comprehensive climate-atmosphere-land-ocean-ecosystem and exposure-risk model framework for mercury and its application to project the health effects of future atmospheric emissions. Our results show that the accumulated health effects associated with mercury exposure during 2010–2050 are $19 (95% confidence interval: 4.7–54) trillion (2020 USD) realized to 2050 (3% discount …

Evaluation Of Undeveloped Hard Coal Deposits And Estimation Of Hard Coal Reserves In The Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland, Tomasz Urych, Jarosław Chećko, Marek Rosa, Anna Wątor

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The article presents the results of works concerning evaluation of undeveloped deposits in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin and an estimation of hard coal reserves which can be developed by 2050. Evaluation of hard coal deposits was established on criterions choice and their score determination. On the basis of obtained the final score and after consultations with experts in the field of hard coal mining, there were selected three areas of undeveloped deposits with the amount of about 1.99 Gt (billion metric tons) of anticipated economic resources which can extend the coal reserve base located in the direct vicinity of …

Effect Of Spectral Bandwidths On Linear Feature Extraction: An Evaluation Of Landsat Etm+ And Oli Sensors, Ali Imanian, Adel Asadi, Majid Hashemi Tangestani, Saeid Homayouni, Ali Faghih

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Hitherto there have been many studies comparing the usefulness of OLI and ETM+ sensors for linear feature extraction. However, not too much attention has been paid to the differences in the bandwidth of the two sensors. In this study, the suitability of Landsat ETM+ and OLI sensors for automatic detection of linear features by LINE algorithm was compared. In this study, eight regions in northern, central and southern parts of Iran were selected based on the diversity of lithology, the pristine status, and lack of human activities for the comparison of the two datasets. Results revealed that LINE algorithm performed …

Downhole Water Drainage From A Gas Reservoir For Water Dumpflood In An Underlying Oil Reservoir, Htet Myet Zin Naing

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

For wells drilled in a bottom water-drive gas reservoir, water coning may lead to a considerable amount of water production which diminishes the gas recovery. If the gas reservoir has an oil reservoir underneath, a method called “Downhole Water Drain for Water Dumpflood” (DWDDF) can be performed to drain water from the aquifer underneath the gas reservoir and dump it into the oil reservoir to perform waterflooding. DWDDF technique can help increase gas production from the upper gas reservoir and oil production from the lower reservoir at the same time. In this study, a simple reservoir model having common rock …

Quality Control Of Chemical Grade Calcium Carbonate From Lopburi Limestone Deposit In Thailand, Pimpichcha Teawpanich

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) is naturally produced from calcite, limestone, chalk, and marble. It is being used as raw material in various industries (e.g., cement, plastic, paint, paper, and pharmaceutical industries). The low-grade CaCO3 samples obtained from a calcite plant at Khoktum Sub-district, Muang Lopburi District, Lopburi Province, Thailand were used in this study. These samples contain more than 98% of CaCO3 while Fe2O3 contents are higher than 0.1% and increased after finished the process. Because of this problem, the products could not be sold since lower Fe2O3 contents are required (e.g., ≤0.05% for filler grade and ≤ 0.1% for animal …

Effects Of Clay Minerals On Oil Recovery Mechanism In Low Salinity Waterflooding In Shaly-Sandstone Formation, Tri Yudha Putra

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Low Salinity Waterflooding (LSWF) is one of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques that are often mentioned nowadays. Several studies showed that injecting low salinity water leads to Multi-component Ion Exchange (MIE) which is one of oil recovery mechanisms provided by this technique. This study was performed to investigate the effects of specific clay mineral in rock and ion in injected water. First, representative clays were analytically tested to ensure their mineral compositions and the selected representative clays were tested by filtration with different water formulations to identify ionic capacities in MIE for each clay. Results obtained from filtration test and …

Evaluation Of Excavated Surface Irregularities And Hardness Of Mechanical Excavations And Their Relationship With Excavator Performance, Prosper Evaristus Akansah Ayawah

Doctoral Dissertations

"This research involved lab and numerical excavation of a clastic sedimentary rock (Roubidoux Sandstone) using a long-bladed disc cutter in a Linear Rock Cutting Machine (LCM) with the aim of establishing relationships between the cutting parameters, excavated surface parameters (underbreaks, overbreaks and hardness), and performance parameters (specific energy and cutting rate). Three-dimensional cutting forces were recorded during the linear cutting. A structured laser imaging system was used to image the excavated surfaces for the estimation of the irregularities (ridge volumes (RV) and overbreak volumes (OV)). The excavated surface hardness was measured using the N-type Schmidt hammer. The numerical simulation was …

Calculation Of Real Evapotranspiration By The Application Of Metric Method On Landsat-8 Data, Ali Imanian, Majid Hashemi Tangestani, Adel Asadi, Mohammad Zare

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

In geological remote sensing approaches for estimating evapotranspiration, METRIC method is among the most modern and precise approaches that many positive experiments have been reported regarding its applicability. In this study, the value of actual evapotranspiration (ET) occurred in Marvdasht farmlands, Fars province, Iran, was calculated instantaneously (hourly) and daily (24 hours), at 24 April 2017 using METRIC method and Lansat-8 data. In order to accuracy assessment of the results, estimated values were compared to the values calculated with Penman Monteith method in places that covers by alfafa crop. Our observations showed that ET values obtained via METRIC model on …

Optimum Location Of Last-Mined Stope With The Influence Of Backfilling, Huawei Xu, Derek B. Apel

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Many mines in Canada have adopted sublevel stoping method or one of its variations, such as blasthole stoping (BHS) and sublevel longhole retreat (SLR), for the extraction of steeply dipping orebodies. Stope, as the basic excavated element, plays a significant role in the whole process of mining activity. In the mining method of BHS, crossing cuts are excavated at tops and bottoms in each stope for drilling blast holes and transportation of mined out orebodies. Crossing cuts failure may result in prolonged production interruption, fatality, and equipment loss. After the completion of orebodies excavation from the sublevel open stope, the …

Version 2 Ozone Monitoring Instrument So2 Product (Omso2 V2): New Anthropogenic So2 Vertical Column Density Dataset, Can Li, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Peter J.T. Leonard, Simon Carn, Joanna Joiner, Robert J.D. Spurr, Alexander Vasilkov

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) has been providing global observations of SO2 pollution since 2004. Here we introduce the new anthropogenic SO2 vertical column density (VCD) dataset in the version 2 OMI SO2 product (OMSO2 V2). As with the previous version (OMSO2 V1.3), the new dataset is generated with an algorithm based on principal component analysis of OMI radiances but features several updates. The most important among those is the use of expanded lookup tables and model a priori profiles to estimate SO2 Jacobians for individual OMI pixels, in order to better characterize pixel-to-pixel variations in SO2 sensitivity including over …

Constructing A Complete Landslide Inventory Dataset For The 2018 Monsoon Disaster In Kerala, India, For Land Use Change Analysis, Lina Hao, Rajaneesh A., Cees Van Westen, Sajinkumar K. S., Tapas Ranjan Martha, Pankaj Jaiswal, Brian G. Mcadoo

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Event-based landslide inventories are important for analyzing the relationship between the intensity of the trigger (e.g., rainfall, earthquake) and the density of the landslides in a particular area as a basis for the estimation of the landslide probability and the conversion of susceptibility maps into hazard maps required for risk assessment. They are also crucial for the establishment of local rainfall thresholds that are the basis of early warning systems and for evaluating which land use and land cover changes are related to landslide occurrence. The completeness and accuracy of event-based landslide inventories are crucial aspects to derive reliable results …

Using Tandem-X To Measure Pyroclastic Flow Source Location, Thickness And Volume: Application To The 3rd June 2018 Eruption Of Fuego Volcano, Guatemala, F. Albino, J. Biggs, R. Escobar-Wolf, A. Naismith, M. Watson, J. C. Phillips, G. A. Chigna Marroquin

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The estimation of the volume of volcanic flows during an ongoing eruption is challenging but this information is crucial for improving risk assessment and for forecasting future events. Although previous studies have shown the ability of TanDEM-X satellite data to derive the thickness and the volume of lava flow fields during effusive eruptions, the method has not been explored yet for pyroclastic flows. Using bi-static interferometry, we produce TanDEM-X DEM on Fuego volcano (Guatemala) to measure the significant topographic changes caused by the 3rd June 2018 eruption, which destroyed the town of San Miguel Los Lotes. We estimate the volume …

Effect Of Geometry And Fluid Viscosity On Dynamics Of Fluid-Filled Cracks: Insights From Analog Experimental Observations, Haitao Cao, Ezequiel F. Medici, Gregory P. Waite, Roohollah Askari

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Fluid-filled volumes in geological systems can change the local stress field in the host rock and may induce brittle deformation as well as crack propagation. Although the mechanisms relating fluid pressure perturbations and seismicity have been widely studied, the fluid-solid interaction inside the crack of a host rock is still not well understood. An analog experimental model of fluid intrusion in cracks between planar layers has been developed to study stress conditions at the margins and tips. A combined high-speed shadowgraph and a photoelasticity imaging system is used to visualize the fluid dynamics and induced stresses on the solid matrix. …

Design And Development Of A Machine Vision System Using Artificial Neural Network-Based Algorithm For Automated Coal Characterization, Amit Kumar Gorai, Simit Raval, Ashok Kumar Patel, Snehamoy Chatterjee, Tarini Gautam

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Coal is heterogeneous in nature, and thus the characterization of coal is essential before its use for a specific purpose. Thus, the current study aims to develop a machine vision system for automated coal characterizations. The model was calibrated using 80 image samples that are captured for different coal samples in different angles. All the images were captured in RGB color space and converted into five other color spaces (HSI, CMYK, Lab, xyz, Gray) for feature extraction. The intensity component image of HSI color space was further transformed into four frequency components (discrete cosine transform, discrete wavelet transform, discrete Fourier …

Global Aeolian Dust Variations And Trends: A Revisit Of Dust Event And Visibility Observations From Surface Weather Stations, Xin Xi

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This study revisits the use of horizontal visibility and manually reported present weather (ww) records from the NOAA Integrated Surface Database (ISD) for characterizing the aeolian dust variability and recent trends over the globe and three largest source regions (North Africa, Middle East, and East Asia). Due to its qualitative nature, ww is combined with visibility to derive a new variable, VI, which has higher correlations with the dust emission and burden from satellite observations and global aerosol reanalyses than does the dust event frequency (FR) derived from ww only. Both FR and VI capture …

Utilizing Hyperspectral Remote Sensing For Soil Gradation, Jordan Ewing, T. Oommen, Paramsothy Jayakumar, Russell Alger

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Soil gradation is an important characteristic for soil mechanics. Traditionally soil gradation is performed by sieve analysis using a sample from the field. In this research, we are interested in the application of hyperspectral remote sensing to characterize soil gradation. The specific objective of this work is to explore the application of hyperspectral remote sensing to be used as an alternative to traditional soil gradation estimation. The advantage of such an approach is that it would provide the soil gradation without having to obtain a field sample. This work will examine five different soil types from the Keweenaw Research Center …

Flow Simulation Considering Adsorption Boundary Layer Based On Digital Rock And Finite Element Method, Yong Fei Yang, Ke Wang, Qian Fei Lv, Roohollah Askari, Qing Yan Mei, Jun Yao, Jie Xin Hou, Kai Zhang, Ai Fen Li, Chen Chen Wang

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Due to the low permeability of tight reservoirs, throats play a significant role in controlling fluid flow. Although many studies have been conducted to investigate fluid flow in throats in the microscale domain, comparatively fewer works have been devoted to study the effect of adsorption boundary layer (ABL) in throats based on the digital rock method. By considering an ABL, we investigate its effects on fluid flow. We build digital rock model based on computed tomography technology. Then, microscopic pore structures are extracted with watershed segmentation and pore geometries are meshed through Delaunay triangulation approach. Finally, using the meshed digital …

Paleomagnetic Evidence For Modern-Like Plate Motion Velocities At 3.2 Ga, Alec R. Brenner, Roger R. Fu, David A.D. Evans, Aleksey V. Smirnov, Raisa Trubko, Ian R. Rose

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The mode and rates of tectonic processes and lithospheric growth during the Archean [4.0 to 2.5 billion years (Ga) ago] are subjects of considerable debate. Paleomagnetism may contribute to the discussion by quantifying past plate velocities. We report a paleomagnetic pole for the ~3180 million year (Ma) old Honeyeater Basalt of the East Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, supported by a positive fold test and micromagnetic imaging. Comparison of the 44°±15° Honeyeater Basalt paleolatitude with previously reported paleolatitudes requires that the average latitudinal drift rate of the East Pilbara was ≥2.5 cm/year during the ~170 Ma preceding 3180 Ma ago, a …

The Potential Of Gold Mine Development Project : A Case Study Of Chifunde District In Mozambique, Sara Mario Mabecuane

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research presents the results of the gold exploration activities developed in the district of Chifunde, Province of Tete in Mozambique. The works showed that in the study area there are two types of deposits which are primary and secondary deposits. There was clear evidence that they have undergone high-grade metamorphism of greenschist due to the grenade occurrences in hornblende in the form of porphyroblast which indicated a high probability of gold occurrence inside amphibolic schist. The results of the SGS laboratory revealed that all samples collected in the area contained gold ranging from 1 to 2,500 ppb, whereas in …

A New Discrete Wavelength Backscattered Ultraviolet Algorithm For Consistent Volcanic So2 Retrievals From Multiple Satellite Missions, Bradford L. Fisher, Nickolay A. Krotkov, Pawan K. Bhartia, Can Li, Simon Carn, Eric Hughes, Peter J. T. Leonard

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

This paper describes a new discrete wavelength algorithm developed for retrieving volcanic sulfur dioxide (SO₂) vertical column density (VCD) from UV observing satellites. The Multi-Satellite SO₂ algorithm (MS_SO2) simultaneously retrieves column densities of sulfur dioxide, ozone, and Lambertian effective reflectivity (LER) and its spectral dependence. It is used operationally to process measurements from the heritage Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) onboard NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite (N7/TOMS: 1978–1993) and from the current Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR: 2015–ongoing) from the Earth–Sun Lagrange (L1) orbit. Results from MS_SO2 algorithm for several volcanic cases were …

Volcano Monitoring From Space Using High-Cadence Planet Cubesat Images Applied To Fuego Volcano, Guatemala, Anna Aldeghi, Simon Carn, Rudiger Escobar-Wolf, Gianluca Groppelli

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Fuego volcano (Guatemala) is one of the most active and hazardous volcanoes in the world. Its persistent activity generates lava flows, pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), and lahars that threaten the surrounding areas and produce frequent morphological change. Fuego’s eruption deposits are often rapidly eroded or remobilized by heavy rains and its constant activity and inaccessible terrain makes ground-based assessment of recent eruptive deposits very challenging. Earth-orbiting satellites can provide unique observations of volcanoes during eruptive activity, when ground-based techniques may be too hazardous, and also during inter-eruptive phases, but have typically been hindered by relatively low spatial and temporal resolution. …