On the dynamical interaction between overshooting convection and an underlying dipole magnetic field -- I. The non-dynamo regime

Motivated by the dynamics in the deep interiors of many stars, we study the interaction between overshooting convection and the large-scale poloidal fields residing in radiative zones. We have run a suite of 3D Boussinesq numerical calculations in a spherical shell that consists of a convection zone with an underlying stable region that initially compactly contains a dipole field. By varying the strength of the convective driving, we find that, in the less turbulent regime, convection acts as turbulent diffusion that removes the field faster than solely molecular diffusion would do. However, in the more turbulent regime, turbulent pumping becomes more efficient and partially counteracts turbulent diffusion, leading to a local accumulation of the field below the overshoot region. These simulations suggest that dipole fields might be confined in underlying stable regions by highly turbulent convective motions at stellar parameters. The confinement is of large-scale field in an average sense and we show that it is reasonably modeled by mean-field ideas. Our findings are particularly interesting for certain models of the Sun, which require a large-scale, poloidal magnetic field to be confined in the solar radiative zone in order to explain simultaneously the uniform rotation of the latter and the thinness of the solar tachocline.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS, 14 figure

Rockburst and gas outburst forecasting using a probabilistic risk assessment framework in longwall top coal caving faces

A probabilistic risk assessment framework was developed to mathematically represent the complex engineering phenomena of rock bursts and gas outbursts for a heterogeneous coal seam. An innovative object-based non-conditional simulation approach was used to distribute lithological heterogeneity present in the coal seam to respect their geological origin. The changing mining conditions during longwall top coal caving mining (LTCC) were extracted from a coupled numerical model to provide statistically sufficient data for probabilistic analysis. The complex interdependencies among abutment stress, pore pressure, the volume of total gas emission and incremental energy release rate, their stochastic variations and uncertainty were realistically implemented in the GoldSim software, and 100,000 equally likely scenarios were simulated using the Monte Carlo method to determine the probability of rock bursts and gas outbursts. The results obtained from the analysis incorporate the variability in mechanical, elastic and reservoir properties of coal due to lithological heterogeneity and result in the probability of the occurrence of rock bursts, coal and gas outbursts, and safe mining conditions. The framework realistically represents the complex mining environment, is resilient and results are reliable. The framework is generic and can be suitably modified to be used in different underground mining scenarios, overcoming the limitations of earlier empirical indices used

An investigation into co2–brine–cement–reservoir rock interactions for wellbore integrity in co2 geological storage

Geological storage of CO2 in saline aquifers and depleted oil and gas reservoirs can help mitigate CO2 emissions. However, CO2 leakage over a long storage period represents a potential concern. Therefore, it is critical to establish a good understanding of the interactions between CO2–brine and cement–caprock/reservoir rock to ascertain the potential for CO2 leakage. Accordingly, in this work, we prepared a unique set of composite samples to resemble the cement–reservoir rock inter-face. A series of experiments simulating deep wellbore environments were performed to investigate changes in chemical, physical, mechanical, and petrophysical properties of the composite samples. Here, we present the characterisation of composite core samples, including porosity, permeability, and mechanical properties, determined before and after long‐term exposure to CO2‐rich brine. Some of the composite samples were further analysed by X‐ray microcomputed tomography (X‐ray μ‐CT), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy–energy‐dispersive X‐ray (SEM–EDX). Moreover, the variation of ions concentration in brine at different timescales was studied by per-forming inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis. Although no significant changes were observed in the porosity, permeability of the treated composite samples increased by an order of magnitude, due mainly to an increase in the permeability of the sandstone component of the composite samples, rather than the cement or the cement/sandstone interface. Mechanical properties, including Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio, were also reduced

Fracture behaviour and seismic response of naturally fractured coal subjected to true triaxial stresses and hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing of coalbed methane wells has been widely practised as an effective method to increase drainage efficiency in low-permeability, low-pressure and low-saturated coal seams. To investigate hydraulic fracture performance and associated seismic response in coal, hydraulic fracturing experiments were carried out on two cubic coal blocks containing a host of natural fractures using a true triaxial rock testing machine equipped with loading, injection and acoustic systems. The acoustic system uses transducers with active sources to repetitively generate and receive ultrasonic P/S wave pulses for characterising mechanical properties of the coal blocks and revealing fracture growth. Silicon oil was injected into the middle of coal blocks to create hydraulic fractures under deviatoric stress conditions, and the stress and displacement, borehole pressure and volume, and seismic response were recorded over the injection process. X-ray computed tomography (CT) was conducted before and after the experiments to identify the location and geometry of hydraulic and natural fractures. Results have shown that the fracturing behaviour, the drawdown period of borehole pressure and the intrusion of fracturing fluid are dominated by the complexity and insulation offered by internal natural fracture networks of coal blocks. In addition, seismic spectrograms captured both fracture initiation and its subsequent interaction with natural fractures, which indicates that the induced fracture and fracturing fluid interfere with the propagation of seismic waves and influence ultrasonic seismic characteristics. Seismic velocity tomography of ultrasonic acoustic signals recorded also provided the spatial information of fractures, such as approximate locations of pre-existing fractures and injection-disturbed regions

Key site abandonment steps in CO2 storage

The European Commission published a set of Guidance Documents to assist countries and stakeholders to implement the EU Directive 2009/31/EC on geological storage of CO2. The main objectives of the CO2CARE project are closely linked to the three high-level requirements of the Directive with regard to post-closure transfer of liability of a storage site to the relevant competent authority: (i) absence of any detectable leakage, (ii) conformity of actual behaviour of the injected CO2 with the modelled behaviour, and (iii) the storage site is evolving towards a situation of long-term stability. Guidelines for regulatory compliance and “Best Practice” for site abandonment are being established by distillation and integration of all research findings into site closure and abandonment protocols. The work is based on 9 key injection sites in Europe and worldwide

SUCCEED: A CO2 storage and utilisation project aimed at mitigating against greenhouse gas emissions from geothermal power production

The non-condensable gases in most geothermal resources include CO2 and smaller amounts of other gases. Currently, the worldwide geothermal power is a small sector within the energy industry, and CO2 emissions related to the utilisation of geothermal resources are consequently small. In some countries, however, geothermal energy production contributes significantly to their energy budget and their CO2 emissions are relatively significant. SUCCEED is a targeted innovation and research project which aims to investigate the reinjection of CO2 produced at geothermal power production sites and develop, test and demonstrate at field scale innovative measurement, monitoring and verification (MMV) technologies that can be used in most CO2 geological storage projects. The project is carried out at two operating geothermal energy production sites, the Kızıldere geothermal field in Turkey and the CarbFix project site at the Hellisheiði geothermal field. Together with a brief description of the seismic monitoring technologies proposed in the project, this paper presents the details of the two field sites and the progress made in installing and testing of the surface fibre-optic cables at the Hellisheiði geothermal field in Iceland