Geological Engineering Commons^™

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 …

Challenges Of Modeling Rainfall Triggered Landslides In A Data-Sparse Region: A Case Study From The Western Ghats, India, C. L. Vishnu, T. Oommen, Snehamoy Chatterjee, K. S. Sajinkumar

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Accurate rainfall estimates are required to forecast the spatio-temporal distribution of rain-triggered landslides. In this study, a comparison between rain gauge and satellite rainfall data for assessing landslide distribution in a data-sparse region, the mountainous district of Idukki, along the Western Ghats of southwestern India, is carried out. Global Precipitation Mission Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM-Late (GPM IMERG-L) rainfall products were compared with rain gauge measurements, and it was found that the satellite rainfall observations were underpredicting the actual rainfall. A conditional merging algorithm was applied to develop a product that combines the accuracy of rain gauges and the spatial …

Flood Hazard Index Application In Arid Catchments: Case Of The Taguenit Wadi Watershed, Lakhssas, Morocco, Mustapha Ikirri, Farid Faik, Fatima Zahra Echogdali, Isabel Margarida Horta Ribeiro Antunes, Mohamed Abioui, Kamal Abdelrahman, Mohammed S. Fnais, Abderrahmane Wanaim, Mouna Id-Belqas, Said Boutaleb, Kochappi Sathyan Sajinkumar, Adolfo Quesada-Román

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

During the last decade, climate change has generated extreme rainfall events triggering flash floods in short periods worldwide. The delimitation of flood zones by detailed mapping generally makes it possible to avoid human and economic losses, especially in regions at high risk of flooding. The Taguenit basin, located in southern Morocco, is a particular case. The mapping of the flood zones of this basin by the method of the Flood Hazard Index (FHI) in a GIS geographic information systems environment was based on the multi-criteria analysis, taking into consideration the seven parameters influencing these extreme phenomena, namely rainfall, slope, flow …

The Process Of Soil Salinization In The Irrigated Territories, T M. Khudoyberdiyev, M M. Zakirov, S Schulz, D K. Begimkulov, G E. Ochilov

Technical science and innovation

The paper studiessalinization of soils in the areas of the Syrdarya region as a result of influence human economic activities. The peculiarities of salinization problems, which was an integral part of land degradation, are considered.In general, the authors in the article "salinization of soils"are considered as a decrease or loss of biological and economic productivity of irrigated lands or areas under the influence of natural and anthropogenic factors. The object of the study was the irrigated territories of the Hungry Steppe belonging to the Syrdarya region,were there is a significant rise in groundwater of 1.5-3m and more, compared with natural …

Features Of Filtrationcapacitance Properties Of Complexly Constructed Productive Jurassic Terrigenous Reservoirs Of The Ustyurt Oil And Gas Region, I Kh Khalismatov, Sh E. Shomurodov, R T. Zakirov, R R. Isanova

Technical science and innovation

Based on geological and technological factors, it is necessary to take into account the gas extraction coefficient when calculating reserves for gas and gas condensate fields. The increase in gas reserves should be drained only by recoverable reserves, which most realistically reflect the availability of resources for the oil and gas industry. The purpose of the work. Analysis of the dynamics of the development of the Surgil, East deposits.Berdakh-Uchsay, Urga with the whole determination of the final volume of drained gas reserves, the assessment of the gas recovery coefficient and the development of a recommendation on the methodology for determining …

Evaluation Of Various Data Acquisition Scenarios For The Retrieval Of Seismic Body Waves From Ambient Noise Seismic Interferometry Technique Via Numerical Modeling, Haitao Cao, Erdi Apatay, Garvie Crane, Boming Wu, Ke Gao, Roohollah Askari

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Seismic interferometry is often proposed as a cost-efficient technique for reservoir monitoring including CO2 sequestration due to its low cost and environmental advantages over active source imaging. Although many studies have demonstrated the ability of seismic interferometry to retrieve surface waves, body wave imaging remains challenging due to their generally lower amplitudes of body waves in seismic interferometry data. An optimum data acquisition strategy can help retrieve low amplitude body waves better, however, rare attempts have been made to evaluate various data acquisition strategies. In this study, we use numerical modeling to examine three different acquisition schemes to evaluate the …

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 …

Novel Mlr-Rf-Based Geospatial Techniques: A Comparison With Ok, Waqas Ahmad, Khan Muhammad, Hylke Jan Glass, Snehamoy Chatterjee, Asif Khan, Abid Hussain

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Geostatistical estimation methods rely on experimental variograms that are mostly erratic, leading to subjective model fitting and assuming normal distribution during conditional simula-tions. In contrast, Machine Learning Algorithms (MLA) are (1) free of such limitations, (2) can in-corporate information from multiple sources and therefore emerge with increasing interest in real-time resource estimation and automation. However, MLAs need to be explored for robust learning of phenomena, better accuracy, and computational efficiency. This paper compares MLAs, i.e., Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) and Random Forest (RF), with Ordinary Kriging (OK). The techniques were applied to the publicly available Walkerlake dataset, while the exhaustive …

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 …

The Tertiary Sequence Of Varkala Coastal Cliffs, Southwestern India: An Ideal Site For Global Geopark, K. S. Sajinkumar, M. Santosh, V. R. Rani, Subhash Anand, A. P. Pradeepkumar, Anil Chavan, K. P. Thrivikramji, P. V. Ramachandran

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Varkala, along the southwestern coast of Peninsular India, has a unique place in Indian geology and geomorphology due to the presence of coastal lateritic cliffs, which exposes the entire Mio-Pliocene sequence of Warkalli Formation, and is declared as the type area. Stratigraphically, this formation exposes carbonaceous clay with lenses of lignite and sticks of marcasite, followed by variegated clays and sandstone. The presence of variegated lithounits endows beauty to these cliffs. Varkala cliffs, edging the Arabian Sea, run for a length of 7.5 km. These cliffs, together with confined beaches, made Varkala a popular tourist destination. Several geodiversity spots within …

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. …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Regularized Ridge Regression Models To Estimate Static Elastic Moduli From Wireline Measurements: Case Study From Southern Iraq, Husam H. Alkinani, Abo Taleb T. Al-Hameedi, Shari Dunn-Norman, Munir Aldin, Deepak Gokaraju, Andreina Guedez, Atheer M. Alattar

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Elastic moduli such as Young's modulus (E), Poisson's ratio (v), and bulk modulus (K) are vital to creating geomechanical models for wellbore stability, hydraulic fracturing, sand production, etc. Due to the difficulty of obtaining core samples and performing rock testing, alternatively, wireline measurements can be used to estimate dynamic moduli. However, dynamic moduli are significantly different from elastic moduli due to many factors. In this paper, correlations for three zones (Nahr Umr shale, Zubair shale, and Zubair sandstone) located in southern Iraq were created to estimate static E, K, and ν from dynamic data. Core plugs from the aforementioned three …

A Review Of Current Construction Guidelines To Inform The Design Of Rammed Earth Houses In Seismically Active Zones, David Thompson, Charles Augarde, Juan Pablo Osorio

Articles

Sustainability in the materials we use for construction is a prime concern, focusing on reducing the embodied energy and carbon footprints of the materials used. The cement used in concrete products is responsible for a significant proportion of Man's CO2 emissions and its production requires substantial energy input, as do fired clay products. For this reason, products formed from unfired earthen materials are of increasing interest and the current challenges include devising means of robust design for strength and to address durability concerns. One form of earthen construction that employs an in-situ method is rammed earth, and it is a …

Correlations Of Subsurface Geotechnical And Geophysical Parameters In Central Montana, David Barrick

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

This paper summarizes the results of a suite of tests performed in conjunction with a site investigation for the replacement of six timber bridges in Central Montana and four investigative geotechnical boreholes from a nearby ranch. The sites at the six timber bridges consist of Cretaceous sedimentary rocks (shale with stratified sandstone), overlain by thin layers of residual clays or Quaternary alluvium. The geology at the nearby ranch consists of either Quaternary vuggy travertine or Quaternary alluvium/colluvium deposits overlying residual shale of the Mississippian Heath Formation. In total, 49 samples were collected ranging from three Quaternary travertine HQ core samples, …

The Living Breakwaters Pdr Efforts: Conceptual Scheduling, Calvin O. Walters Jr.

Publications and Research

On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy caused nearly $19 billion in damages in New York City including 69,000 residential units across the five boroughs. This disaster precipitated a post-disaster-rebuilding (PDR) project including roughly $4.2 billion in a Community Development Block Grant allocated towards PDR projects. A portion of the grant was used to construct a living breakwater in Tottenville, Staten Island, consisting of a resiliency approach to risk reduction through erosion prevention, wave energy attenuation, and enhancement of ecosystems and social resiliency to improve resistance to storms for the community of Tottenville. The ridges of each breakwater are designed with …

Probing Myosin Ensemble Mechanics In Actin Filament Bundles Using Optical Tweezers, Omayma Al Azzam, Janie C. Watts, Justin E. Reynolds, Juliana E. Davis, Dana N. Reinemann

Faculty and Student Publications

Myosins are motor proteins that hydrolyze ATP to step along actin filament (AF) tracks and are essential in cellular processes such as motility and muscle contraction. To understand their force-generating mechanisms, myosin II has been investigated both at the single-molecule (SM) level and as teams of motors in vitro using biophysical methods such as optical trapping. These studies showed that myosin force-generating behavior can differ greatly when moving from the single-molecule level in a three-bead arrangement to groups of motors working together on a rigid bead or coverslip surface in a gliding arrangement. However, these assay constructions do not permit …

A New Look At Landslides Of The Vermilion And Echo Cliffs, Northern Arizona, Conor M. Watkins, J. David Rogers

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Vermilion and Echo Cliffs form a nearly continuous escarpment more than 160 km long within the Colorado Plateau physiographic province of North America. The cliffs overlie the Marble Platform in northern Arizona and are located along the Colorado River, just upstream of the Grand Canyon. Large rotational block landslides mantle the erosional escarpment along most of its extent. Although these landslides have been noted for over 100 years, their likely origin has never been explained. Landslide failure surfaces appear to be influenced by the Petrified Forest Member of the Triassic Chinle Formation, a shale layer containing smectite clay weathered …

Strain-Based Design Of Steel-Polymer-Steel Composite Pipes, Vul Thang

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Many offshore single-wall pipelines and structural failures have occurred in the past. As a result, lives were lost, and billions of dollars were spent. In addition, natural disasters such as earthquake fault zones can cause a large volume of soil movement. This can easily damage single-wall pipelines or piles of fixed offshore platforms in the earthquake fault zone.

Currently, the single-wall pipelines are used for the offshore and onshore oil and gas industry. This research investigated the use of double-wall composite pipe steel-polymer-steel (SPS) in place of single-wall pipe to prevent such failures. The double-wall composite pipe has a larger …

Lithospheric Structure Underneath The Archean Tanzania Craton And Adjacent Regions From A Joint Inversion Of Receiver Functions And Rayleigh-Wave Phase Velocity Dispersion, Tuo Wang, Stephen S. Gao, Qiuyue Yang, Ling Chen, Kelly H. Liu

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Lithospheric structure beneath the Archean Tanzania craton and adjacent regions, including segments of the East African rift system (EARS) and the Proterozoic-early Paleozoic orogenic belts between the EARS and the craton, is imaged by a joint inversion of receiver functions and Rayleigh wave dispersion measurements derived from ambient seismic noise for shorter periods and teleseismic data for longer periods. Our resulting crustal thickness, crustal VP= VS measurements and 3D shear-wave velocity model for the upper 120 km show a clear spatial correspondence with major surficial geological features. The new results suggest the presence of a mafic layer in the bottom …

Comprehensive Evaluation Of Self-Healing Polyampholyte Gel Particles For The Severe Leakoff Control Of Drilling Fluids, Lili Yang, Chunlin Xie, Tian Ao, Kaixiao Cui, Guancheng Jiang, Baojun Bai, Yongwei Zhang, Jun Yang, Xingxing Wang, Weiguo Tian

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Lost circulation has been a serious problem to be solved in many drilling practices during oil, gas and geothermal well drillings. Many materials have been developed and evaluated for the purpose. However, their performance to plug severe leakoff is very limited. Herein, an injectable self-healing hydrogel based on polyampholyte with sulfonated and quaternary ammonium functionalities (P(MPTC-co-NaSS)) was developed and comprehensively evaluated to prevent the severe loss of fluids to formation. By incorporating cation-π (π is for aromatic residues) interaction, the hydrogel shown self-healing property and robustness in severe environment (temperature, salt) by comparison with other hydrogels merely consisting of cation-anion …

Fate And Transport Of Toxoplasma Gondii Oocysts In Saturated Porous Media: Effects Of Electrolytes And Natural Organic Matter, Christian Pullano

All Theses

Toxoplasma gondii is a pathogenic microorganism that is currently a threat to public health. Understanding the fate and transport of T. gondii through the soil and groundwater is vital in determining the risk it poses to water resources and human health. The physico-chemical interactions between the groundwater and the bio colloid within an aquifer will dictate its mobility and its ability to infect humans. This research examines how various naturally occurring groundwater chemistries containing organic compounds and monovalent and divalent salt solutions will alter the fate and transport of T. gondii. Solutions containing various concentrations of humic acid, fulvic …

Final Inversion Of The Midcontinent Rift During The Rigolet Phase Of The Grenvillian Orogeny, Eben B. Hodgin, Nicholas L. Swanson-Hysell, James M. Degraff, Andrew R.C. Kylander-Clark, Mark D. Schmitz, Andrew C. Turner, Yiming Zhang, Daniel A. Stolper

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Despite being a prominent continental-scale feature, the late Mesoproterozoic North American Midcontinent Rift did not result in the break-up of Laurentia, and subsequently underwent structural inversion. The timing of inversion is critical for constraining far-field effects of orogenesis and processes associated with the rift’s failure. The Keweenaw fault in northern Michigan (USA) is a major thrust structure associated with rift inversion; it places ca. 1093 Ma rift volcanic rocks atop the post-rift Jacobsville Formation, which is folded in its footwall. Previous detrital zircon (DZ) U-Pb geochronology conducted by laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) assigned a ca. 950 Ma maximum …

Improving The Work Efficiency Of An Air Conditioning System Based On A Chiller, N Usmonov, A Khazratov, J Usmonov

Technical science and innovation

This article deals with evaporative cooling devices used in air conditioning systems. Various ways of lowering the air temperature to the dew point have been identified as a result of improvements to the devices considered. It is also indicated that the circulating water temperature in the system can be lowered to the air temperature on the wet bulb thermometer. As is known, recirculating water is often used as a cooling water in process units to reduce water consumption in industrial plants. Circulating water is heated by recirculation and the heated water is cooled in ventilated cooling towers. This method of …

Identification Of Intrusive Massifs In The Nurata Mineralized Zones Based On Satellite Images, Samariddin Rabbimkulov, Abdulla Almordonov, Akmal Asadov, Abdimutal Tangirov

Technical science and innovation

The article presents the results of processing space images using PCA, ISODATA, K-Means and similar methods, as well as analysis based on GIS technologies. As a result of automatic and visual interpretation of the obtained images, intrusive complexes, linear and ring structures scattered throughout the Nurata region were identified. In particular, the result obtained by X-ray diffraction analysis proved that the composition of the 2R4G1B and 2R4G3B channels is one of the most effective methods for separating the intrusive massifs distributed in the region. Given that isolated intrusive massifs, linear and ring structures are directly related to gold mining zones …

Current State And Ways Of Increasing The Efficiency Of Technologies For Isolating Water Influxes, A Karshiev, R Suleimanova, K Akhmedova, M Rakhmonkulov

Technical science and innovation

The results of the application of the technology of isolation of water inflows in the wells of the fields of the Mubarek Oil and Gas Production Department are presented. The efficiency is assessed and the problems of the applied technologies for isolation of water inflows are shown. The technical and economic efficiency of the technology for isolating water inflows in wells with collapse of the columns is shown. The flow rates of wells in the fields of the Mubarek oil and gas production department are decreasing due to an increase in the water cut of the produced product. At the …