Coring in deep hardrock formations

The United States Department of Energy is involved in a variety of scientific and engineering feasibility studies requiring extensive drilling in hard crystalline rock. In many cases well depths extend from 6000 to 20,000 feet in high-temperature, granitic formations. Examples of such projects are the Hot Dry Rock well system at Fenton Hill, New Mexico and the planned exploratory magma well near Mammoth Lakes, California. In addition to these programs, there is also continuing interest in supporting programs to reduce drilling costs associated with the production of geothermal energy from underground sources such as the Geysers area near San Francisco, California. The overall progression in these efforts is to drill deeper holes in higher temperature, harder formations. In conjunction with this trend is a desire to improve the capability to recover geological information. Spot coring and continuous coring are important elements in this effort. It is the purpose of this report to examine the current methods used to obtain core from deep wells and to suggest projects which will improve existing capabilities. 28 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs

Acoustical properties of drill strings

The recovery of petrochemical and geothermal resources requires extensive drilling of wells to increasingly greater depths. Real-time collection and telemetry of data about the drilling process while it occurs thousands of feet below the surface is an effective way of improving the efficiency of drilling operations. Unfortunately, due to hostile down-hole environments, telemetry of this data is an extremely difficult problem. Currently, commercial systems transmit data to the surface by producing pressure pulses within the portion of the drilling mud enclosed in the hollow steel drill string. Transmission rates are between two and four data bits per second. Any system capable of raising data rates without increasing the complexity of the drilling process will have significant economic impact. One alternative system is based upon acoustical carrier waves generated within the drill string itself. If developed, this method would accommodate data rates up to 100 bits per second. Unfortunately, the drill string is a periodic structure of pipe and threaded tool joints, the transmission characteristics are very complex and exhibit a banded and dispersive structure. Over the past forty years, attempts to field systems based upon this transmission method have resulted in little success. This paper examines this acoustical transmission problem in great detail. The basic principles of acoustic wave propagation in the periodic structure of the drill string are examined through theory, laboratory experiment, and field test. The results indicate the existence of frequency bands which are virtually free of attenuation and suitable for data transmission at high bit rates. 9 refs., 38 figs., 2 tabs

On Theories for Reacting Immiscible Mixtures

On some small scale each constituent of an immiscible mixture occupies a separate region of space. Given sufficient time and computing power, we could solve the continuum field equations and boundary conditions for this het erogenous system. This usually represents an enormously difficult task that is well beyond today's computational ca- pabilities. Mixture theories approximate this complex heterogeneous formulation with a set of field equations for an equivalent homoge- neous mat erial. In this work, we compare the theory for immiscible mixtures by Drumheller and Bedford with the theory of Passman, Nunziato, and Walsh. We describe the conditions under which these theories reduce to an equivalent formulation, and we also investigate the differences in their microinertial descriptions. Two variables play special roles in both theories. They are t he true material density and the volume fraction. Here we use a kinematical approach based on two new variables-t he true deformation gradient and the distention gradient. We show how the true deformation gra- dient is connected to the true material density and, in the absence of chemical reactions, the volume fraction is the inverse of the deter- minant of the distention gradient. However, when chemical reactions occur, the distention gradient and the volume fraction are not directly connected. We ako present a mixture model for a granuIar expIosive. This model is based upon the work of Baer and Nunziato, but our theory differs from their work in that we Present a three-dimension-al rnodd, `.. ` - - we cast the constitutive postulates in terms of the distention gradient rather than the volume fraction, and we incorporate elastic-plastic effects into the constitutive description of the solid granules

On Theories for Reacting Immiscible Mixtures

On some small scale each constituent of an immiscible mixture occupies a separate region of space. Given sufficient time and computing power, we could solve the continuum field equations and boundary conditions for this het erogenous system. This usually represents an enormously difficult task that is well beyond today's computational ca- pabilities. Mixture theories approximate this complex heterogeneous formulation with a set of field equations for an equivalent homoge- neous mat erial. In this work, we compare the theory for immiscible mixtures by Drumheller and Bedford with the theory of Passman, Nunziato, and Walsh. We describe the conditions under which these theories reduce to an equivalent formulation, and we also investigate the differences in their microinertial descriptions. Two variables play special roles in both theories. They are t he true material density and the volume fraction. Here we use a kinematical approach based on two new variables-t he true deformation gradient and the distention gradient. We show how the true deformation gra- dient is connected to the true material density and, in the absence of chemical reactions, the volume fraction is the inverse of the deter- minant of the distention gradient. However, when chemical reactions occur, the distention gradient and the volume fraction are not directly connected. We ako present a mixture model for a granuIar expIosive. This model is based upon the work of Baer and Nunziato, but our theory differs from their work in that we Present a three-dimension-al rnodd, `.. ` - - we cast the constitutive postulates in terms of the distention gradient rather than the volume fraction, and we incorporate elastic-plastic effects into the constitutive description of the solid granules

Dynamic response of porous calcium carbonate minerals

A theoretical study of the shock-loaded response of calcium carbonate materials is presented in which both dry and water-saturated samples with porosities up to 50 percent are considered. Data are presented for the unloading response from 15.0 and 18.5 GPa, and calculations from a mixture model using a Mie-Grueneisen equation of state with volume-dependent parameters are compared to both the Hugoniot and the isentropic unloading response

Phenomenological modelling of steam explosions. [PWR; BWR]

During a hypothetical core meltdown accident, an important safety issue to be addressed is the potential for steam explosions. This paper presents analysis and modelling of experimental results. There are four observations that can be drawn from the analysis: (1) vapor explosions are suppressed by noncondensible gases generated by fuel oxidation, by high ambient pressure, and by high water temperatures; (2) these effects appear to be trigger-related in that an explosion can again be induced in some cases by increasing the trigger magnitude; (3) direct fuel liquid-coolant liquid contact can explain small scale fuel fragmentation; (4) heat transfer during the expansion phase of the explosion can reduce the work potential

A Coupled Damage and Reaction Model for Simulating Energetic Material Response to Impact Hazards

The Baer-Nunziato multiphase reactive theory for a granulated bed of energetic material is extended to allow for dynamic damage processes, that generate new surfaces as well as porosity. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is employed to constrain the constitutive forms of the mass, momentum, and energy exchange functions as well as those for the mechanical damage model ensuring that the models will be dissipative. The focus here is on the constitutive forms of the exchange functions. The mechanical constitutive modeling is discussed in a companion paper. The mechanical damage model provides dynamic surface area and porosity information needed by the exchange functions to compute combustion rates and interphase momentum and energy exchange rates. The models are implemented in the CTH shock physics code and used to simulate delayed detonations due to impacts in a bed of granulated energetic material and an undamaged cylindrical sample