Simulation of complex fluid processes in the subsurface: Numerical models of undergrounds CO2 sequestration, heavy oil, oil shale, and oil sands

Concern over global warming has made the sequestration of CO2 national news. Subsurface storage of CO2, often in depleted oil reservoirs, is being actively studied for this purpose. United States energy security policies have provided motivation for many energy companies to investigate strategies for in-situ extraction of liquid fuels from oil shale and oil sands. Simulation plays a critical role in evaluating the feasibility of both of these processes. While each of these applications has different goals, they are governed by similar physics and chemistry: multi-phase heat and mass transfer, a compositional formulation for the mixed hydrocarbon phase, and supercritical fluid behavior. For each of these problems, I will describe typical geologic settings, goals, and environmental concerns. Current state-of-the-art simulation techniques, including numerical formulation and nonlinear iteration techniques will be presented. Some example simulations will be shown that highlight current capability. Challenges to the accurate simulation of these large scale problems will be summarized and future directions presented

Impacts of and Alternatives to Solitary Confinement in Adult Correctional Facilities

The use of solitary confinement in adult correctional facilities has recently been scrutinized due to concerns surrounding offenders’ mental health and what impacts come from its use. The purpose of this research was to examine the impacts of and alternatives to solitary confinement in adult correctional facilities through the lens of professionals with direct experience working with offenders. A qualitative research design was executed, contacting a total of twenty-two professionals, completing four semi-structured interviews. All participants had professional experience working with offenders in an adult correctional facility in Minnesota. Three major themes emerged within the data: working definitions of solitary confinement, impact on mental health, and alternatives to the use of solitary confinement. Findings were consistent with the literature, emphasizing the importance of the current reform surrounding solitary confinement practices and recognizing the continued need for future research

Great SCO2T! Rapid tool for carbon sequestration science, engineering, and economics

CO2 capture and storage (CCS) technology is likely to be widely deployed in coming decades in response to major climate and economics drivers: CCS is part of every clean energy pathway that limits global warming to 2C or less and receives significant CO2 tax credits in the United States. These drivers are likely to stimulate capture, transport, and storage of hundreds of millions or billions of tonnes of CO2 annually. A key part of the CCS puzzle will be identifying and characterizing suitable storage sites for vast amounts of CO2. We introduce a new software tool called SCO2T (Sequestration of CO2 Tool, pronounced "Scott") to rapidly characterizing saline storage reservoirs. The tool is designed to rapidly screen hundreds of thousands of reservoirs, perform sensitivity and uncertainty analyses, and link sequestration engineering (injection rates, reservoir capacities, plume dimensions) to sequestration economics (costs constructed from around 70 separate economic inputs). We describe the novel science developments supporting SCO2T including a new approach to estimating CO2 injection rates and CO2 plume dimensions as well as key advances linking sequestration engineering with economics. Next, we perform a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis of geology combinations (including formation depth, thickness, permeability, porosity, and temperature) to understand the impact on carbon sequestration. Through the sensitivity analysis we show that increasing depth and permeability both can lead to increased CO2 injection rates, increased storage potential, and reduced costs, while increasing porosity reduces costs without impacting the injection rate (CO2 is injected at a constant pressure in all cases) by increasing the reservoir capacity.Comment: CO2 capture and storage; carbon sequestration; reduced-order modeling; climate change; economic

Site-Scale Saturated Zone Flow Model

The purpose of this model report is to document the components of the site-scale saturated-zone flow model at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in accordance with administrative procedure (AP)-SIII.lOQ, ''Models''. This report provides validation and confidence in the flow model that was developed for site recommendation (SR) and will be used to provide flow fields in support of the Total Systems Performance Assessment (TSPA) for the License Application. The output from this report provides the flow model used in the ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'', MDL-NBS-HS-000010 Rev 01 (BSC 2003 [162419]). The Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport model then provides output to the SZ Transport Abstraction Model (BSC 2003 [164870]). In particular, the output from the SZ site-scale flow model is used to simulate the groundwater flow pathways and radionuclide transport to the accessible environment for use in the TSPA calculations. Since the development and calibration of the saturated-zone flow model, more data have been gathered for use in model validation and confidence building, including new water-level data from Nye County wells, single- and multiple-well hydraulic testing data, and new hydrochemistry data. In addition, a new hydrogeologic framework model (HFM), which incorporates Nye County wells lithology, also provides geologic data for corroboration and confidence in the flow model. The intended use of this work is to provide a flow model that generates flow fields to simulate radionuclide transport in saturated porous rock and alluvium under natural or forced gradient flow conditions. The flow model simulations are completed using the three-dimensional (3-D), finite-element, flow, heat, and transport computer code, FEHM Version (V) 2.20 (software tracking number (STN): 10086-2.20-00; LANL 2003 [161725]). Concurrently, process-level transport model and methodology for calculating radionuclide transport in the saturated zone at Yucca Mountain using FEHM V 2.20 are being carried out in the model report, ''Site-Scale Saturated Zone Transport'', MDL-NBS-HS-000010 Rev 01 (BSC 2003 [162419]). The velocity fields are calculated by the flow model, described herein, independent of the transport processes, and are then used as inputs to the transport model. Justification for this abstraction is presented in the model report, ''Saturated Zone Flow and Transport Model Abstraction'', MDL-NBS-HS-000021 (BSC 2003 [164870])

On the development of a three-dimensional finite-element groundwater flow model of the saturated zone, Yucca Mountain, Nevada

Development of a preliminary three-dimensional model of the saturated zone at Yucca Mountain, the potential location for a high-level nuclear waste repository, is presented. The development of the model advances the technology of interfacing: (1)complex three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework modeling; (2) fully three-dimensional, unstructured, finite-element mesh generation; and (3) groundwater flow, heat, and transport simulation. The three-dimensional hydrogeologic framework model is developed using maps, cross sections, and well data. The framework model data are used to feed an automated mesh generator, designed to discretize irregular three-dimensional solids,a nd to assign materials properties from the hydrogeologic framework model to the tetrahedral elements. The mesh generator facilitated the addition of nodes to the finite-element mesh which correspond to the exact three-dimensional position of the potentiometric surface based on water-levels from wells. A ground water flow and heat simulator is run with the resulting finite- element mesh, within a parameter-estimation program. The application of the parameter-estimation program is designed to provide optimal values of permeability and specified fluxes over the model domain to minimize the residual between observed and simulated water levels

Models and methods summary for the FEHMN application

This models and methods summary provides a detailed description of the mathematical models and numerical methods employed by the finite element heat and mass tranfer code (FEHMN) application

A NEW GHOST-NODE METHOD FOR LINKING DIFFERENT MODELS WITH VARIED GRID REFINEMENT

A flexible, robust method for linking grids of locally refined models that may be constructed using different types of numerical methods is needed to address a variety of hydrologic problems. This work outlines and tests a new ghost-node model-linking method based on the iterative method of Mehl and Hill (2002, 2004). It is applicable to steady-state solutions for ground-water flow. Tests are presented for a homogeneous two-dimensional system that facilitates clear analysis of typical problems. The coupled grids are simulated using the finite-difference and finite-element models MODFLOW and FEHM. Results indicate that when the grids are matched spatially so that nodes and control volume boundaries are aligned, the new coupling technique has approximately twice the error as coupling using two MODFLOW models. When the grids are non-matching; model accuracy is slightly increased over matching grid cases. Overall, results indicate that the ghost-node technique is a viable means to accurately couple distinct models

Mathematical Formulation Requirements and Specifications for the Process Models

The Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management (ASCEM) is intended to be a state-of-the-art scientific tool and approach for understanding and predicting contaminant fate and transport in natural and engineered systems. The ASCEM program is aimed at addressing critical EM program needs to better understand and quantify flow and contaminant transport behavior in complex geological systems. It will also address the long-term performance of engineered components including cementitious materials in nuclear waste disposal facilities, in order to reduce uncertainties and risks associated with DOE EM's environmental cleanup and closure activities. Building upon national capabilities developed from decades of Research and Development in subsurface geosciences, computational and computer science, modeling and applied mathematics, and environmental remediation, the ASCEM initiative will develop an integrated, open-source, high-performance computer modeling system for multiphase, multicomponent, multiscale subsurface flow and contaminant transport. This integrated modeling system will incorporate capabilities for predicting releases from various waste forms, identifying exposure pathways and performing dose calculations, and conducting systematic uncertainty quantification. The ASCEM approach will be demonstrated on selected sites, and then applied to support the next generation of performance assessments of nuclear waste disposal and facility decommissioning across the EM complex. The Multi-Process High Performance Computing (HPC) Simulator is one of three thrust areas in ASCEM. The other two are the Platform and Integrated Toolsets (dubbed the Platform) and Site Applications. The primary objective of the HPC Simulator is to provide a flexible and extensible computational engine to simulate the coupled processes and flow scenarios described by the conceptual models developed using the ASCEM Platform. The graded and iterative approach to assessments naturally generates a suite of conceptual models that span a range of process complexity, potentially coupling hydrological, biogeochemical, geomechanical, and thermal processes. The Platform will use ensembles of these simulations to quantify the associated uncertainty, sensitivity, and risk. The Process Models task within the HPC Simulator focuses on the mathematical descriptions of the relevant physical processes