Response of oceanic hydrate-bearing sediments to thermalstresses

In this study, we evaluate the response of oceanicsubsurface systems to thermal stresses caused by the flow of warm fluidsthrough noninsulated well systems crossing hydrate-bearing sediments.Heat transport from warm fluids, originating from deeper reservoirs underproduction, into the geologic media can cause dissociation of the gashydrates. The objective of this study is to determine whether gasevolution from hydrate dissociation can lead to excessive pressurebuildup, and possibly to fracturing of hydrate-bearing formations andtheir confining layers, with potentially adverse consequences on thestability of the suboceanic subsurface. This study also aims to determinewhether the loss of the hydrate--known to have a strong cementing effecton the porous media--in the vicinity of the well, coupled with thesignificant pressure increases, can undermine the structural stability ofthe well assembly.Scoping 1D simulations indicated that the formationintrinsic permeability, the pore compressibility, the temperature of theproduced fluids andthe initial hydrate saturation are the most importantfactors affecting the system response, while the thermal conductivity andporosity (above a certain level) appear to have a secondary effect.Large-scale simulations of realistic systems were also conducted,involving complex well designs and multilayered geologic media withnonuniform distribution of properties and initial hydrate saturationsthat are typical of those expected in natural oceanic systems. Theresults of the 2D study indicate that although the dissociation radiusremains rather limited even after long-term production, low intrinsicpermeability and/or high hydrate saturation can lead to the evolution ofhigh pressures that can threaten the formation and its boundaries withfracturing. Although lower maximum pressures are observed in the absenceof bottom confining layers and in deeper (and thus warmer and morepressurized) systems, the reduction is limited. Wellbore designs withgravel packs that allow gas venting and pressure relief result insubstantially lower pressures

Improved extraction of hydrologic information from geophysical data through coupled hydrogeophysical inversion

There is increasing interest in the use of multiple measurement types, including indirect (geophysical) methods, to constrain hydrologic interpretations. To date, most examples integrating geophysical measurements in hydrology have followed a three-step, uncoupled inverse approach. This approach begins with independent geophysical inversion to infer the spatial and/or temporal distribution of a geophysical property (e.g. electrical conductivity). The geophysical property is then converted to a hydrologic property (e.g. water content) through a petrophysical relation. The inferred hydrologic property is then used either independently or together with direct hydrologic observations to constrain a hydrologic inversion. We present an alternative approach, coupled inversion, which relies on direct coupling of hydrologic models and geophysical models during inversion. We compare the abilities of coupled and uncoupled inversion using a synthetic example where surface-based electrical conductivity surveys are used to monitor one-dimensional infiltration and redistribution

On parameterization of the inverse problem for estimating aquifer properties using tracer data

Portrait of a woman, Mary MartinKendall Webb Collectio

A qualitative assessment of microclimatic perturbations in a tunnel

Understanding microclimate dynamics in tunnels is important for designing and maintaining underground facilities. For example, in the geological disposal of radioactive materials, condensation of vapor should be minimized as it can accelerate waste package corrosion and radionuclide release. While microclimate dynamics are known to be dominated by the advection of heat and moisture, additional factors may also be important, such as the presence of fractures or faults. We present a relatively inexpensive method to assess microclimatic perturbations within a tunnel. By combining standard temperature and relative humidity sensors with low-cost sensors designed to detect changes in condensation, we monitored microclimate dynamics along a tunnel at the proposed geological repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. We observed significant differences in the pattern of condensation in a faulted zone relative to that of a nonfaulted zone, suggesting that the microclimate dynamics of excavated cavities in fractured, partially saturated rocks can be highly complex

A truncated Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm for the calibration of highly parameterized nonlinear models

We propose a modification to the Levenberg-Marquardt minimization algorithm for a more robust and more efficient calibration of highly parameterized, strongly nonlinear models of multiphase flow through porous media. The new method combines the advantages of truncated singular value decomposition with those of the classical Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm, thus enabling a more robust solution of underdetermined inverse problems with complex relations between the parameters to be estimated and the observable state variables used for calibration. The truncation limit separating the solution space from the calibration null space is re-evaluated during the iterative calibration process. In between these re-evaluations, fewer forward simulations are required, compared to the standard approach, to calculate the approximate sensitivity matrix. Truncated singular values are used to calculate the Levenberg-Marquardt parameter updates, ensuring that safe small steps along the steepest-descent direction are taken for highly correlated parameters of low sensitivity, whereas efficient quasi-Gauss-Newton steps are taken for independent parameters with high impact. The performance of the proposed scheme is demonstrated for a synthetic data set representing infiltration into a partially saturated, heterogeneous soil, where hydrogeological, petrophysical, and geostatistical parameters are estimated based on the joint inversion of hydrological and geophysical data

Feasibility of monitoring gas hydrate production with time-lapse VSP

In this work we begin to examine the feasibility of using time-lapse seismic methods-specifically the vertical seismic profiling (VSP) method-for monitoring changes in hydrate accumulations that are predicted to occur during production of natural gas