Geological Engineering Commons^™

Combining Machine Learning And Empirical Engineering Methods Towards Improving Oil Production Forecasting, Andrew J. Allen

Master's Theses

Current methods of production forecasting such as decline curve analysis (DCA) or numerical simulation require years of historical production data, and their accuracy is limited by the choice of model parameters. Unconventional resources have proven challenging to apply traditional methods of production forecasting because they lack long production histories and have extremely variable model parameters. This research proposes a data-driven alternative to reservoir simulation and production forecasting techniques. We create a proxy-well model for predicting cumulative oil production by selecting statistically significant well completion parameters and reservoir information as independent predictor variables in regression-based models. Then, principal component analysis (PCA) …

Prospects For The Development Of Production Of Reagents For Drilling Solutions Based On Secondary Resources, S.B. Gaibnazarov

Technical science and innovation

The article discusses the prospects for the development of production of reagents for drilling fluids based on secondary resources. Currently, the big problem is the creation of new, highly efficient and affordable drilling fluids and they are essential for successful drilling, to increase productivity and reduce the amount of time. To solve these problems, the article considers the possibilities of synthesis and practical application of new stabilizers for drilling fluids based on waste from chemical enterprises of our republic. The basic physicochemical, rheological and applied properties of the developed stabilizer-reagents are investigated. Specific areas of practical application of the developed …

A Feasible Approach To Predicting Time-Dependent Bearing Performance Of Jacked Piles From Cptu Measurements, Lin Li, Jingpei Li, De'an Sun, Weibing Gong

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, a simple but feasible approach is proposed to predict the time-dependent load carrying behaviors of jacked piles from CPTu measurements. The corrected cone resistance, which considers the unequal area of the cone rod and the cone, is used to determine the soil parameters used in the proposed approach. The pile installation effects on the changes in the stress state of the surrounding soil are assessed by an analytical solution to undrained expansion of a cylindrical cavity in K0-consolidated anisotropic clayey soil. Considering the similarity and scale effects between the piezocone and the pile, the CPTu measurements are …

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 …

Development Of Water Coning Control Design Metrics In Naturally Fractured Reservoirs, Samir Prasun

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Naturally fractured reservoirs (NFRs) with bottom-water are known for their instant water breakthrough and severe water coning that reduces oil recovery. This is because water channels through the highly permeable fractures easily connecting the well to the aquifer bypassing the oil contained in the matrix. Remedial techniques such as producing below critical-oil rate, optimizing the well spacing and installing the downhole water sink (DWS)/ downhole water loop (DWL) technology, have already been successfully tested in single-porosity reservoirs (SPR). However, applicability of these techniques in NFRs are unknown since only a few studies have been performed on their feasibility in NFRs, …

Flooding, Landslides, Wildfires, Air Pollution, And Income: Risk In California, Brittany Bondi, Alyssa J. Kaewwilai

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

California is infamously known for its likelihood of environmental hazards such as flooding, landslides, air pollution, and forest fires which can be attributed to the natural climate of the area as well as anthropologically influenced climate change. Air pollution also poses potential threats and dangers to the civilians of California as increasing populations and uses of fossil fuels continue to contribute to the growing issue of climate change. The goal of this study was to examine and analyze the geospatial trends environmental hazards in California such as landslides, air pollution, flooding, and forest fires. A weighted test, zone and slope …

Soil Fatigue Hazard Screening Analyses Framework For Spacio-Temporally Clustered Induced Seismicity With Examples Of Damage Potential Due To Liquefaction, Merissa L. Zuzulock, Oliver Denzil S. Taylor, Norbert H. Maerz

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Current studies that focus solely on the cause of the increase in seismicity neglect to include considerations for effects of small magnitude cluster events on federal infrastructure. These effects can be almost undetectable at first, but if left unchecked can evolve into a larger issue. The need to reassess and potentially modify the established risk assessment practices for evaluations of federal infrastructure needs to be reviewed to ensure the continued ability of the structure to function as intended. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is responsible for hydroelectric power, flood protection, recreational areas, navigational channels and water supply along …

Prediction On Service Life Of Concrete Pipeline Buried In Chlorinated Environment Under Nonuniformly Distributed Earth Pressure, Lin Li, Weibing Gong, Jingpei Li

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper proposes an analytical model to estimate the service life of concrete pipelines buried in chloride contaminated soils, which properly considers the effects of nonuniformly distributed earth pressures on both the internal tensile stress of concrete protective cover and the chloride diffusion coefficient through the nonhomogeneous coefficient of earth pressure. It is assumed that the underground concrete pipeline arrives at the service life end when cracking induced by expansion pressure due to the corrosion products occurs in the concrete protective cover. Hence, the whole service life of underground concrete pipeline is composed of chloride diffusion period and protective cover …

Sensitivity Analysis Of Data-Driven Groundwater Forecasts To Hydroclimatic Controls In Irrigated Croplands, Alessandro Amaranto, Francesca Pianosi, Dimitri Solomatine, Gerald Corzo-Perez, Francisco Munoz-Arriola

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

In the last decades, advancements in computational science have greatly expanded the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) in hydrogeology, including applications on groundwater forecast, variable selection, extended lead-times, and regime-specific analysis. However, ANN-model performance often omits the sensitivity to ob- servational uncertainties in hydroclimate forcings. The goal of this paper is to implement a data-driven modeling framework for assessing the sensitivity of ANN-based groundwater forecasts to the uncertainties in observational inputs across space, time, and hydrological regimes. The objectives are two-folded. The first objective is to couple an ANN model with the PAWN sensitivity analysis (SA). The second objective …

The Long-Term Outlook Of The Mississippi-Atchafalaya Bifurcation: A Convergence Of Engineering, Economics, And Deltaic Evolution, Thomas Mitchell Andrus

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The most recent and currently active delta lobe of the Mississippi River (MR) is the Atchafalaya-Wax Lake lobe, which was initiated approximately 400 years ago as a result of MR stream capture by the Atchafalaya River (AR). This capture process accelerated in the early to mid-1900s but further progress was prevented by construction and operation of the Old River Control Structure (ORCS) Complex. Many recent studies indicate that MR system below the ORCS is on a retreating geologic trajectory due to contributing factors such as sea level rise, subsidence, faulting, and declining hydraulic stream power. Diversions along the Lower MR …

Mineralogy, Fluid Inclusion, And Stable Isotope Studies Of The Hog Heaven Mining District, Flathead County, Montana, Ian Kallio

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

The Hog Heaven mining district in northwestern Montana is unique in that it is a high-sulfidation epithermal system containing high Ag-Pb-Zn relative to Au-Cu, with a very high Ag to Au ratio (2,330:1). The deposits are hosted within the Cenozoic Hog Heaven volcanic field (HHVF), a 30 to 36 Ma suite that consists predominantly of rhyodacite flow-dome complexes and pyroclastic rocks. The HHVF is underlain by shallow-dipping siliclastic sediments of the Mesoproterozoic Belt Supergroup. These sediments are known to host important SEDEX (e.g., Sullivan) and red-bed copper (e.g., Spar Lake, Rock Creek, Montanore) deposits rich in Ag-Pb-Zn-Cu-Ba. The HHVF erupted …

Hydrologic Response Of Headwater Streams Restored With Beaver Dam Analogue Structures, Evan Norman

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

In the semiarid and arid western United States, it is important to understand the potential effects of stream restoration on surface-water and groundwater. In this study, we evaluate the seasonal and annual hydrologic impacts of beaver-dam analogue (BDA) restoration in the Blacktail Creek (BTC) Watershed south of Butte, Montana. We monitored surface water flow, groundwater levels, temperature, and specific conductance primarily using a control-treatment study design. In treated reaches, groundwater levels were closer to the ground surface and showed less seasonal fluctuation. Changes in overall streamflow in the control reaches had stream losses and gains varying from -21.0 to 19.9 …

The Evolution Of The Southeastern North American Margin From Integrated Analyses Of Potential Field Data: Continent-Continent Collision And Rifting, Patrick D. Duff

Theses and Dissertations

The southeastern North American margin (SENAM) is one of the world’s oldest intact passive margins, containing the ancient southern Appalachian Mountains, the South Georgia Rift (SGR), and the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP).

Potential field data is used in combination with seismic imaging, borehole data, and surface geology to better constrain the lithospheric configuration created by Appalachian orogenesis and Atlantic rifting. In combination with filtering techniques, maps and 2D potential field forward models, and Euler inverse modeling are used to illuminate the pre-Cretaceous basement including basement faults, shear zones, and granites in the hinterland of the southern Appalachians, and rift …

Structural Evolution Of La Florida And Guavio Anticlines, Fractures, And Petroleum Systems In A Foreland Fold Belt, Eastern Cordillera Foothills, Colombia, Ziyad Albesher

Theses and Dissertations

Geological structures and petroleum systems associated with La Florida anticline and the Cusiana fault system in the Llanos foothills and the Guavio anticline and the Guaicaramo fault system in the Medina basin were interpreted based on 3D seismic data from La Florida anticline in the foothills, 2D seismic data in the Medina basin and Guavio anticline, well, and surface geology maps. Unlike previous interpretations of the Guavio anticline and Medina basin area, our interpretation shows that thin-skinned thrusting on the Guaicaramo fault preceded thick-skinned basement thrusting. Late Miocene thin-skinned ramp thrusting was followed by a Pliocene thick-skinned fault-bend fold ramping …

Seismic Attribute Fracture Analysis And Thin And Thick-Skinned Structural Controls On The Evolution Of A Foreland Basin - Parrando And Guavio Anticlines, Eastern Cordillera Foothills, Colombia, Ibraheem Khalil Hafiz

Theses and Dissertations

The Parrando and Guavio anticlines are located in the Llanos foothills on the eastern flank of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. This study presents new 3D horizon maps, seismic and stratigraphic interpretations, and 1D burial models based on a 3D seismic volume, 2D seismic lines, and well logs. The Guavio anticline was formed by overlapping Miocene-Pliocene fault-bend folds and inversion of the Guaicaramo normal fault. Unlike previous models, the basement fold is interpreted as formed by a ramp from pre-Cretaceous basement to a double wedge fault probably preceded by a thin-skinned bedding plane thrust fault. A new 1D burial model …

Geophysical Study Of Gold Mineralized Zones In The Carolina Terrane Of South Carolina, Saad Saud Alarifi

Theses and Dissertations

T

he goal of this study was to calibrate and test geophysical methods for the detection of geological structural and disseminated sulfides in the area of the four largest gold deposits in the Southern Appalachian of South Carolina. The Coastal plain sediments, vegetation and saprolite covering the mining areas remain the most challenging in this region. The work focused on the calibration of high-resolution gravity, and helicopter electromagnetic (EM) and magnetic data provided by OceanaGold over the Haile and Brewer Mines; then calibrating the regional gravity and aeromagnetic data over the four gold mines in South Carolina. Observed geophysical fields …

Prediction Of Tunnel Wall Convergences For Natm Tunnels Which Are Excavated In Weak-To-Fair-Quality Rock Masses Using Decision-Tree Technique And Rock Mass Strength Parameters, Özgür Satici, Tamer Topal

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tunnel wall convergences should be predicted before the excavation and should be determined accurately in order to ensure safe and economic tunnel excavation media. For this to be possible, rock mass behaviors in the tunnel should also be estimated prior to excavation. This could be ensured by site investigation studies, numerical models and predictive statistics. In this study, the development of convergences during a tunnel excavation in Turkey, excavated by NATM technique, was evaluated by using statistical prediction techniques for weak-to-fair-quality rock masses. For this aim, actual tunnel wall convergence data and rock mass strength parameters were used. For prediction …

Nadir And Oblique Uav Photogrammetry Techniques For Quantitative Rock Fall Evaluation In The Rimrocks Of South-Central Montana, Micah Gregory-Lederer

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

As our cities expand into geologically sensitive areas across the greater Rocky Mountain region and beyond, quantitative methods of assessment are increasingly critical for the development of evidence-based alternatives to avoid or mitigate geologic hazards. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) photogrammetry can improve these geologic investigations by enabling remote visual inspection, measurement, and spatial analysis while eliminating many of the physical access limitations that contribute to field sampling bias and human error. UAV photogrammetry technology was employed to evaluate fragmental rock fall hazards at two locations in the Rimrocks region of south-central Montana, Zimmerman Trail Road and Phipps Park. At these …

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 …

Identified Gold Nanoforms In Geogenic And Technogenic Mineral Raw Material, A.E. Vorobev, U.F. Nasirov, К.А Vorobev

Gorniy vestnik Uzbekistana

The main forms of nanoparticles of gold are considered, specification of its main types is given (colloidal, cluster, etc.), factors of its losses at enrichment are described.

Petrology, Physicochemical And Thermal Analyses Of Selected Cretaceous Coals From The Benue Trough Basin In Nigeria, S. A. Akinyemi, O. F. Adebayo, B. B. Nyakuma, A. K. Adegoke, O. A. Aturamu, O. A. Olaolorun, A. Adetunji, James C. Hower, Madison M. Hood, A. Jauro

Center for Applied Energy Research Faculty and Staff Publications

Abundant coal resources that were previously neglected due to a crude oil boom need revitalisation and integration into the national electricity mix to address the energy demands of the Nigerian population. Selected coal samples from the Benue Trough sedimentary basin in Nigeria were examined by various techniques, including proximate and ultimate analyses, organic petrography, Fourier transform infrared ray spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. Based on vitrinite reflectance, the Lafia-Obi (OLB), Garin Maiganga (GMG), Imiegba (IMG), and Okaba (OKB) coals are classified as subbituminous, while the Lamja1 (LMJ1), Lamja2 (LMJ2) and Chikila (CHK) coals are high volatile B bituminous. The Enugu (ENG) …

Mass Spectrometric Calibration For Real -Time Hydrocarbon Detection, Makuachukwu Mbaegbu

LSU Master's Theses

Determining gas compositions from live well fluids on a drilling rig is critical for real time formation evaluation. However, development and utilization of a reliable mass spectrometric method to accurately characterize these live well fluids is always a challenging issue because of lack of a robust, quick and effectively selective instrument and method. The primary goal of this research is to understand reasons of such discrepancies in results between “good” spectra, and “poor” ones. The objectives are thus to identify the detection issues, calibrate and QA/QC the instruments, and analyze the results in lab settings. In this study, we used …

A Flood Risk Management Program Of Wadi Baysh Dam On The Downstream Area: An Integration Of Hydrologic And Hydraulic Models, Jizan Region, Ksa, Mazen M. Abu-Abdullah, Ahmed M. Youssef, Norbert H. Maerz, Emad Abu-Alfadail, Hasan M. Al-Harbi, Nasser S. Al-Saadi

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

For public safety, especially for people who dwell in the valley that is located downstream of a dam site, as well as the protection of economic and environmental resources, risk management programs are urgently required all over the world. Despite the high safety standards of dams because of improved engineering and excellent construction in recent times, a zero-risk guarantee is not possible, and accidents can happen, triggered by natural hazards, human actions, or just because the dam is aging. In addition to that is the impact of potential climate change, which may not have been taken into account in the …

Load-Balancing Rendezvous Approach For Mobility-Enabled Adaptive Energy-Efficient Data Collection In Wsns, Jian Zhang, Jian Tang, Zhonghui Wang, Feng Wang, Gang Yu

Faculty and Student Publications

Copyright © 2020 KSII The tradeoff between energy conservation and traffic balancing is a dilemma problem in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). By analyzing the intrinsic relationship between cluster properties and long distance transmission energy consumption, we characterize three node sets of the cluster as a theoretical foundation to enhance high performance of WSNs, and propose optimal solutions by introducing rendezvous and Mobile Elements (MEs) to optimize energy consumption for prolonging the lifetime of WSNs. First, we exploit an approximate method based on the transmission distance from the different node to an ME to select suboptimal Rendezvous Point (RP) on the …

Revisiting Lightweight Encryption For Iot Applications: Error Performance And Throughput In Wireless Fading Channels With And Without Coding, Yazid M. Khattabi, Mustafa M. Matalgah, Mohammed M. Olama

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2013 IEEE. Employing heavy conventional encryption algorithms in communications suffers from added overhead and processing time delay; and in wireless communications, in particular, suffers from severe performance deterioration (avalanche effect) due to fading. Consequently, a tremendous reduction in data throughput and increase in complexity and time delay may occur especially when information traverse resource-limited devices as in Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. To overcome these drawbacks, efficient lightweight encryption algorithms have been recently proposed in literature. One of those, that is of particular interest, requires using conventional encryption only for the first block of data in a given frame being transmitted. …

Cooperative Relay Selection For Load Balancing With Mobility In Hierarchical Wsns: A Multi-Armed Bandit Approach, Jian Zhang, Jian Tang, Feng Wang

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2013 IEEE. Energy efficiency is the major concern in hierarchical wireless sensor networks(WSNs), where the major energy consumption originates from radios for communication. Due to notable energy expenditure of long-range transmission for cluster members and data aggregation for Cluster Head (CH), saving and balancing energy consumption is a tricky challenge in WSNs. In this paper, we design a CH selection mechanism with a mobile sink (MS) while proposing relay selection algorithms with multi-user multi-armed bandit (UM-MAB) to solve the problem of energy efficiency. According to the definition of node density and residual energy, we propose a conception referred to …

Deep Direct Use Geothermal Energy In The North Dakota Clean Energy Transition Strategy, Al Thibeault, Moones Alamooti, Nnaemeka Ngobidi, Will Gosnold

Geology and Geological Engineering Faculty Publications

The geothermal heat in the Williston Basin is an energy giant that can provide sustainable, renewable, and ecologically sound heat and power for the state of North Dakota (ND). We have known of this resource for decades, but development has been delayed for reasons which can be summed as economic competition from existing fossil fuel energy sources. With the “seismic” shock of the Covid-19 pandemic reverberating through the state’s carbon-centric economy, the timing is ideal for acting quickly to develop this energy resource.

Coincidentally, the State Energy Research Center (SERC) within the Energy & Environmental Research Center (EERC), has recently …

Timcc: On Data Freshness In Privacy-Preserving Incentive Mechanism Design For Continuous Crowdsensing Using Reverse Auction, Xiaoqiang Ma, Weiwei Deng, Feng Wang, Menglan Hu, Fei Chen, Mohammad Mehedi Hassan

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2013 IEEE. As an emerging paradigm that leverages the wisdom and efforts of the crowd, mobile crowdsensing has shown its great potential to collect distributed data. The crowd may incur such costs and risks as energy consumption, memory consumption, and privacy leakage when performing various tasks, so they may not be willing to participate in crowdsensing tasks unless they are well-paid. Hence, a proper privacy-preserving incentive mechanism is of great significance to motivate users to join, which has attracted a lot of research efforts. Most of the existing works regard tasks as one-shot tasks, which may not work very …

Using Geothermal Energy To Reduce Oil Production Costs, Will Gosnold, Mark Ballesteros, Dongmei Wang, Josh Crowell

Geology and Geological Engineering Faculty Publications

The economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the oil industry has been devastating. The decline in demand and price collapse have been particularly disruptive for shale oil extraction which is inherently more expensive than conventional operations. Survival and continuing operations will depend partly on reducing operating costs, and a ubiquitous and substantial cost in oil production is electrical power used primarily for pumping the wells. The Bakken in North Dakota play is particularly vulnerable because there is not an adequate electrical grid in the region. Many Bakken fields rely on generators burning propane, gasoline or diesel fuel at costs …

Proceedings Of The 2020 Undergraduate Research Conference, Ryan C. Winters, Baylee E. Guillory, Baton Rouge Community College, Grambling State University, Louisiana College, Louisiana State University, Mcneese State University, Northwestern State University Of Louisiana, Southern University And A&M College, University Of Louisiana At Lafayette

Advance: Student Research Experience

Proceedings of the 2020 Undergraduate Research Conference, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, November 9-10, 2020.