Integrated Geothermal Well Testing: Test Objectives and Facilities

A new and highly integrated geothermal well test program was designed for three geothermal operators in the US (MCR, RGI and Mapco Geothermal). This program required the design, construction and operation of new well test facilities. The main objectives of the test program and facilities are to investigate the critical potential and worst problems associated with the well and produced fluids in a period of approximately 30 days. Field and laboratory investigations are required to determine and quantify the problems of fluid production, utilization and reinjection. The facilities are designed to handle a flow rate from a geothermal well of one million pounds per hour at a wellhead temperature of approximately 268 C (515 F). The facilities will handle an entire spectrum of temperature and rate conditions up to these limits. All pertinent conditions for future fluid exploitations can be duplicated with these facilities, thus providing critical information at the very early stages of field development. The new well test facilities have been used to test high temperature, liquid-dominated geothermal wells in the Imperial Valley of California. The test facilities still have some problems which should be solvable. The accomplishments of this new and highly integrated geothermal well test program are described in this paper

Non-commutative desingularization of determinantal varieties, I

We show that determinantal varieties defined by maximal minors of a generic matrix have a non-commutative desingularization, in that we construct a maximal Cohen-Macaulay module over such a variety whose endomorphism ring is Cohen-Macaulay and has finite global dimension. In the case of the determinant of a square matrix, this gives a non-commutative crepant resolution.Comment: 52 pages, 3 figures, all comments welcom

A Review of the Geothermal Reservoir Well Stimulation Program

Republic Geothermal, Inc., and its subcontractors have planned and executed four experimental fracture stimulation treatments under the Department of Energy-funded Geothermal Reservoir Well Stimulation Program (GRWSP). The 2-year program, begun in February 1979, is Ultimately to include six full-scale field hydraulic and chemical stimulation experiments in geothermal wells. This paper describes the overall program and the four treatments completed to date. The GRWSP is organized into two phases. Phase I consists of literature and theoretical studies, laboratory investigations, and numerical work. The main purpose of this work is to establish the technological bases for geothermal well stimulation design. Phase I1 will include the planning, execution, and evaluation of six well stimulation treatments which utilize the technology developed in Phase I. Two stimulation experiments were performed at the Raft River, Idaho, known geothermal resource area (KGRA) in late 1979. This is a naturally fractured, hard rock reservoir with a relatively low geothermal resource temperature 149 C {+-} (300 F{+-}). A conventional planar hydraulic fracture job was performed in Well RRGP-5 and a ''Kiel'' dendritic, or reverse flow, technique was utilized in Well RRGP-4. In mid-1980, two stimulation experiments were performed at the East Mesa, California, KGRA. The stimulation of Well 58-30 provided the first geothermal well fracturing experience in a moderate temperature, 177 C {+-} (350 F{+-}), reservoir with matrix-type rock properties. The two treatments consisted of a conventional hydraulic fracture of a deep, low-permeability zone and a mini-frac ''Kiel'' treatment of a shallow, high-permeability zone in the same well. The stimulation experiment results to date were evaluated using short-term production tests, conventional pressure transient analysis, interference pressure data, chemical and radioactive tracers, borehole acoustic televiewer surveys and numerical models. This combination of evaluation techniques yielded an interpretation of fracture geometry and productivity enhancement. However, the evaluation of artificially induced fractures in naturally fractured formations was found to lead to possibly non-unique solutions. In all the field experiments, artificial fractures were created and well productivity was increased. A discussion of the prestimulation and poststimulation data and their evaluation are provided for each experiment in this report

Coupled-channels analysis of the 16^{{\bf 16}}O+208^{{\bf 208}}Pb fusion barrier distribution

Analyses using simplified coupled-channels models have been unable to describe the shape of the previously measured fusion barrier distribution for the doubly magic $^{16}$O+$^{208}$Pb system. This problem was investigated by re-measuring the fission excitation function for $^{16}$O+$^{208}$Pb with improved accuracy and performing more exact coupled-channels calculations, avoiding the constant-coupling and first-order coupling approximations often used in simplified analyses. Couplings to the single- and 2-phonon states of $^{208}$Pb, correctly taking into account the excitation energy and the phonon character of these states, particle transfers, and the effects of varying the diffuseness of the nuclear potential, were all explored. However, in contrast to other recent analyses of precise fusion data, no satisfactory simultaneous description of the shape of the experimental barrier distribution and the fusion cross-sections for $^{16}$O+$^{208}$Pb was obtained.Comment: RevTex, 29 pages, 7 postscript figures, to appear in PR

Geothermal Well Stimulation

The stimulation of geothermal wells presents some new and challenging problems. Formation temperatures in the 300-600 F range can be expected. The behavior of stimulation fluids, frac proppants, and equipment at these temperatures in a hostile brine environment must be carefully evaluated before performance expectations can be determined. In order to avoid possible damage to the producing horizon of the formation, high temperature chemical compatibility between the in situ materials and the stimulation materials must be verified. Perhaps most significant of all, in geothermal wells the required techniques must be capable of bringing about the production of very large amounts of fluid. This necessity for high flow rates represents a significant departure from conventional petroleum well stimulation and demands the creation of very high near-wellbore permeability and/or fractures with very high flow conductivity

Strong fragmentation of low-energy electromagnetic excitation strength in 117^{117}Sn

Results of nuclear resonance fluorescence experiments on $^{117}$Sn are reported. More than 50 $\gamma$ transitions with $E_{\gamma} < 4$ MeV were detected indicating a strong fragmentation of the electromagnetic excitation strength. For the first time microscopic calculations making use of a complete configuration space for low-lying states are performed in heavy odd-mass spherical nuclei. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the data. It is concluded that although the E1 transitions are the strongest ones also M1 and E2 decays contribute substantially to the observed spectra. In contrast to the neighboring even $^{116-124}$Sn, in $^{117}$Sn the $1^-$ component of the two-phonon $[2^+_1 \otimes 3^-_1]$ quintuplet built on top of the 1/2$^+$ ground state is proved to be strongly fragmented.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Effective charge of the [pi]h11/2 orbital and the electric field gradient of Hg from the yrast structure of 206Hg

The γ-ray decay of excited states of the two-proton hole nucleus, 206Hg, has been identified using Gammasphere and 208Pb+238U collisions. The yrast states found include a T1/2 = 92(8)ns 10+ isomer located above the known 5- isomer. The B(E2;10+→8+) strength is used to derive the quadrupole polarization charge induced by the h11/2 proton hole. Also, the implied quadrupole moment has been used to provide an absolute scale for the electric field gradient of Hg in Hg metal

Spatial representation of temporal information through spike timing dependent plasticity

We suggest a mechanism based on spike time dependent plasticity (STDP) of synapses to store, retrieve and predict temporal sequences. The mechanism is demonstrated in a model system of simplified integrate-and-fire type neurons densely connected by STDP synapses. All synapses are modified according to the so-called normal STDP rule observed in various real biological synapses. After conditioning through repeated input of a limited number of of temporal sequences the system is able to complete the temporal sequence upon receiving the input of a fraction of them. This is an example of effective unsupervised learning in an biologically realistic system. We investigate the dependence of learning success on entrainment time, system size and presence of noise. Possible applications include learning of motor sequences, recognition and prediction of temporal sensory information in the visual as well as the auditory system and late processing in the olfactory system of insects.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figures, completely revised and augmented versio