An empirical method to compensate the NMR calibrated porosity of the tight volcanic rocks based on comprehensive laboratory studies

The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) response is known to deviate from the true value for the volcanic reservoirs, particularly when the pore throat size is ultralow. Consequently, the related petrophysical parameters such as porosity, permeability, and pore size distribution from NMR measurements are greatly influenced. An empirical method to correct the NMR calibrated porosity for the tight volcanic rocks is proposed after comprehensive investigations of influential factors combined with mineralogical and petrophysical analyses. The laboratory result indicates that the relative porosity deviation is negatively correlated with the geometric mean of the transversal relaxation time (T2) but positively correlated with the clay content. Moreover, both the paramagnetic materials, such as the manganese (Mn) content, and the diamagnetic materials, such as the magnesium (Mg) content, contribute to the NMR relaxation intensity reduction but with different mechanisms. The NMR calibrated porosity can be compensated through multiple regressions with these controlling factors, which can be generalized to other tight volcanic reservoirs

Global oceanic mesoscale eddies trajectories prediction with knowledge-fused neural network

Efficient eddy trajectory prediction driven by multiinformation fusion can facilitate the scientific research of oceanography, while the complicated dynamics mechanism makes this issue challenging. Benefiting from ocean observing technology, the eddy trajectory dataset can be qualified for data-intensive research paradigms. In this article, the dynamics mechanism is used to inspire the design idea of the eddy trajectory prediction neural network (termed EddyTPNet) and is also transformed into prior knowledge to guide the learning process. This study is among the first to implement eddy trajectory prediction with physics informed neural network. First, an in-depth analysis of the kinematic characteristics indicates that the longitude and latitude of the trajectory should be decoupled; second, the directional dispersion prior knowledge of global eddy propagation is embedded into the decoder of the EddyTPNet to improve the performance; finally, EddyTPNet predicts global eddy trajectories through pretraining and adapts to complex local regions via model transfer. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that EddyTPNet can reliably forecast the motion of eddies for the next seven days, ensuring a low daily mean geodetic error. This exploratory study provides valuable insights into solving the prediction problem of ocean phenomena by using knowledge-based time-series neural networks

Quantitative analysis of guided wave in dielectric logging through numerical simulation

A good knowledge of the electromagnetic (EM) wave propagation behaviors in dielectric logging (DL) and borehole radar (BHR) surveying is critically important for the optimization of tool design and implementation, and interpretation of the acquired logging data, as well as understanding the influences of the dielectric permittivity and conductivity of the formation on the EM waves. This letter reported a novel method for the numerical simulation and analysis of the guided wave (GW) propagating along a metallic pipe in a typical DL configuration. A numerical simulation with the 3-D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method was applied to the broadband DL tool to obtain the wavefield and responses of the receiver. By monitoring the wave attenuation along the metallic drill collar, the intensity of the GW and loss factor can be determined. The coupling efficiency of the GW can be obtained when the total power emitted from the transmitting antenna is known. Simulation results revealed that the coupling efficiency of the GW changes with the water saturation of the formation and frequency. The simulation also suggest, by installing a slope structure adjacent to the transmitting antenna, the energy coupled into the GW could be reduced at different levels. Finally, the relationship between the received signals' amplitude and GW's coupling efficiency showed the quantified contribution of the GW to the received sign

Comprehensive Experimental Study on the Gas Breakthrough Pressure and Its Implication for the Reservoir Performance

AbstractIt is challenging to interpret the gas breakthrough mechanisms, controlling factors, and its relationships with the reservoir parameters for unconventional reservoirs such as the gas shale, due to the accumulation characteristics of source-reservoir integration. Take the typical marine shale gas of the B field for example, we use the step-by-step (SBS) test to measure the gas breakthrough pressure of the water saturated shales, and investigate the influential factors such as the pore size distribution, mineral composition, and organic geochemical properties. Moreover, the implication of the gas breakthrough capability for the reservoir quality such as the porosity, permeability, the gas content, and the gas occurrence state are addressed. Based on our work, it is observed that the gas breakthrough capability in shale is influenced by many factors. Generally, the gas breakthrough pressure is positively with the amount of ductile minerals such as the clay and the plagioclase, but negatively with the amount of brittle minerals such as the quartz. In addition, the gas breakthrough pressure is decreased with the increase of the pore radius and the specific surface areas. What is more, the influences of geochemical properties on the gas breakthrough capability should not be neglected. Due to the development of organic pores in the kerogen, the gas breakthrough pressure is found to decrease with the increase of the total organic carbon content (TOC) and the residual carbon content (RC). The breakthrough pressure can be used as the significant parameter to indicate the reservoir quality of the shale gas. It is shown that the breakthrough pressure is inversely with the porosity, permeability, the total gas content, and the adsorbed gas content. It is practical and meaningful to measure and estimate the breakthrough pressure for the formation evaluation in shale gas reservoirs

Integrated dielectric model for unconsolidated porous media containing hydrate

This article reports a novel dielectric model developed for estimating the complex permittivity of unconsolidated porous media containing gas hydrate. The complex permittivity spectra were experimentally obtained by using open-ended-coaxial-probes over a frequency range between 1 MHz and 3 GHz, in which the dielectric dispersion of both hydrate and liquid solution are covered. With tetrahydrofuran used as the hydrate former, reflection coefficients were recorded during the hydrate formation and dissociation processes in quartz sands and the complex permittivity spectra were inversed. Volumetric fractions estimated from the X-ray-tomography were used as the referenced values. Experimental data showed that the Maxwell-Wagner effect, surface conductance, and phase configuration can affect the bulk permittivity. The discrepancy was found to be unacceptable when the fitting was conducted with pre-existing models such as complex-refractive-index-method (CRIM) and Maxwell-Wagner-Bruggeman-Hanai (MWBH). In this study, by modifying the nested Wagner's theory, a shell-coated model was applied, and the surface of the solid sphere was assumed to possess surface conductance when it was humidified by the liquid solution. In contrast to CRIM and MWBH, the proposed model allows more accurate estimation of the volumetric fraction. By adopting this model with a range of dielectric measurements with different phase configurations, temperature, particle size, surface conductivity, and frequency, the contents of components and their influences onto the bulk permittivity can be physically estimated. The proposed model provides an essential tool for the interpretation of dielectric dispersion curves and the prediction of the volumetric fractions, which can be useful for both the field and laboratory applications

Human Developmental Chondrogenesis as a Basis for Engineering Chondrocytes from Pluripotent Stem Cells

Joint injury and osteoarthritis affect millions of people worldwide, but attempts to generate articular cartilage using adult stem/progenitor cells have been unsuccessful. We hypothesized that recapitulation of the human developmental chondrogenic program using pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) may represent a superior approach for cartilage restoration. Using laser-capture microdissection followed by microarray analysis, we first defined a surface phenotype (CD166(low/neg)CD146(low/neg)CD73(+)CD44(low)BMPR1B(+)) distinguishing the earliest cartilage committed cells (prechondrocytes) at 5-6 weeks of development. Functional studies confirmed these cells are chondrocyte progenitors. From 12 weeks, only the superficial layers of articular cartilage were enriched in cells with this progenitor phenotype. Isolation of cells with a similar immunophenotype from differentiating human PSCs revealed a population of CD166(low/neg)BMPR1B(+) putative cartilage-committed progenitors. Taken as a whole, these data define a developmental approach for the generation of highly purified functional human chondrocytes from PSCs that could enable substantial progress in cartilage tissue engineering.Fil: Wu, Ling. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Bluguermann, Carolina. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia. Laboratorio de Biología del Desarrollo Celular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Kyupelyan, Levon. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Latour, Brooke. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Gonzalez, Stephanie. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Shah, Saumya. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Galic, Zoran. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Ge, Sundi. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Zhu, Yuhua. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Petrigliano, Frank A.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Nsair, Ali. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Miriuka, Santiago Gabriel. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia. Laboratorio de Biología del Desarrollo Celular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Li, Xinmin. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Lyons, Karen M.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Crooks, Gay M.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: McAllister, David R.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Van Handel, Ben. Novogenix Laboratories; Estados UnidosFil: Adams, John S.. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados UnidosFil: Evseenko, Denis. University of California at Los Angeles; Estados Unido

A Novel Method to Predict the Permeability of Heterogeneous Sandstones Using Multiple Echo Spacing NMR Measurements

We propose a novel method for estimating the permeability of heterogeneous sandstones based on the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data with multiple echo spacings. The decaying curves and their corresponding spectra are obtained for different echo spacings to investigate the relaxation property, the diffusion term, and the signal loss contributed by higher echo spacing. Moreover, an empirical model is developed to correlate permeability with the differential decay rate. The result shows that the geometric transversal relaxation time is positively related to echo spacing, which disobeys the traditional cognition. Moreover, the absolute value of the differential decay rate is positively correlated with the echo spacing and exhibits a power law behavior. More interestingly, it is observed that the permeability diminishes in a power law behavior with respect to fitting parameters. This marks the first attempt to establish a relationship between the permeability and NMR data with different echo spacings, which is hopeful to be extended to other complex reservoirs with the availability of multiple echo spacing data

Laboratory NMR Study to Quantify the Water Saturation of Partially Saturated Porous Rocks

The low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique is widely used as a noninvasive method to characterize the water content of subsurface porous media, such as aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs, but the quantitative correlation between the water saturation and the NMR relaxation signal has not been fully addressed. We conducted a laboratory study to measure the NMR signals of sandstone samples with different water saturations and to develop an empirical model for estimating the water saturation. The partially saturatinthe irreducible water saturationg states were derived by a high-speed centrifuge. The result shows that the water saturation is proportional to the geometric mean of the transverse relaxation time and can be fitted through a power function. Moreover, it has been found that the fitting parameters vary with the porosity and exhibit similar behaviors with the parameters of the classical Archie equation. The water saturation as well as its mobility state can be estimated with the NMR signals and porosity data. The proposed method has the potential to be applied to detect and quantify the water content in vadose zones, phreatic aquifers, permafrost regions, and gas hydrate reservoirs

Numerical study on complex conductivity characteristics of hydrate-bearing porous media

The complex conductivity method is frequently used in hydro-/petro-/environmental geophysics, and considered to be a promising tool for characterizing and quantifying the properties of subsurface rocks, sediments and soils. We report a study on the complex conductivity characteristics of porous media containing gas hydrates through numerical modelling. The effects of the hydrate saturation, pore-water salinity and micro-distribution mode were studied, and hydrate-saturation evaluation correlations based on complex conductivity parameters were developed. A pore-scale numerical approach for developing the finite-element based models for hydrate-bearing porous media is proposed and a two-dimensional (2D) model is built to compute the complex conductivity responses of porous media under various conditions. We demonstrate that the simple 2D model can capture the dominant characteristics of the complex conductivity of hydrate-bearing porous media within the frequency range related to the induced polarization. The in-phase conductivity, quadrature conductivity and effective dielectric constant can be correlated with the saturation based on a power law in the log-log space, by which the hydrate-saturation evaluation models can be derived. A constant saturation exponent of the power-law correlation between the hydrate saturation and quadrature conductivity can be obtained when the pore-water conductivity exceeds 1.0 S/m. This is highly desirable in the hydrate-saturation models due to the variations of the pore-water conductivity in the processes of hydrate formation and dissociation. Within the framework of the complex conductivity analysis, the micro-distribution modes of hydrates in porous media can be categorized into two types. These are the fluid-suspending mode and grain-attaching mode. The in-phase conductivity exhibits significant variations under the same saturation and salinity but different micro-distribution modes, which can be attributed to the change in the tortuosity of the electrical conduction paths in the void space of porous media