The 4D microgravity method for waterflood surveillance: Part IV — Modeling and interpretation of early epoch 4D gravity surveys at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska

Geophysics ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 73 (6) ◽  
pp. WA173-WA180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Hare ◽  
John F. Ferguson ◽  
Jerry L. Brady

Between March 2003 and March 2007, four high-precision 4D absolute microgravity surveys were performed at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. These surveys are part of an ongoing effort to monitor the progress of a very large water-injection project in the gas cap of the Prudhoe Bay reservoir at a depth of [Formula: see text]. These carefully acquired gravity data must be modeled and interpreted in terms of water movement within the reservoir. A constrained linear inversion scheme was tested on reservoir simulations during the planning and development phase of this project (preinjection). The inver-sion methodology has been applied to data for three epochs (2005–2003, 2006–2003, and 2007–2003), and mass-distribution models have been produced for the reservoir. The time evolution of the water-mass distribution in the reservoir is visualized from these three snapshot models. The waterflood is expanding into the gas cap at the expected rate but is exhibiting nonsymmetric behavior that is consistent with a greater degree of structural control than expected. The waterflood seems to be restrained episodically and guided by fault barriers. These barriers are overcome and fault-bounded blocks filled with water in stages.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristel Izquierdo ◽  
Laurent Montesi ◽  
Vedran Lekic

<p>The shape and location of density anomalies inside the Moon provide insights into processes that produced them and their subsequent evolution. Gravity measurements provide the most complete data set to infer these anomalies on the Moon [1]. However, gravity inversions suffer from inherent non-uniqueness. To circumvent this issue, it is often assumed that the Bouguer gravity anomalies are produced by the relief of the crust-mantle or other internal interface [2]. This approach limits the recovery of 3D density anomalies or any anomaly at different depths. In this work, we develop an algorithm that provides a set of likely three-dimensional models consistent with the observed gravity data with no need to constrain the depth of anomalies a priori.</p><p>The volume of a sphere is divided in 6480 tesseroids and n Voronoi regions. The algorithm first assigns a density value to each Voronoi region, which can encompass one or more tesseroids. At each iteration, it can add or delete a region, or change its location [2, 3]. The optimal density of each region is then obtained by linear inversion of the gravity field and the likelihood of the solution is calculated using Bayes’ theorem. After convergence, the algorithm then outputs an ensemble of models with good fit to the observed data and high posterior probability. The ensemble might contain essentially similar interior density distribution models or many different ones, providing a view of the non-uniqueness of the inversion results.</p><p>We use the lunar radial gravity acceleration obtained by the GRAIL mission [4] up to spherical harmonic degree 400 as input data in the algorithm. The gravity acceleration data of the resulting models match the input gravity very well, only missing the gravity signature of smaller craters. A group of models show a deep positive density anomaly in the general area of the Clavius basin. The anomaly is centered at approximately 50°S and 10°E, at about 800 km depth. Density anomalies in this group of models remain relatively small and could be explained by mineralogical differences in the mantle. Major variations in crustal structure, such as the near side / far side dichotomy and the South Pole Aitken basin are also apparent, giving geological credence to these models. A different group of models points towards two high density regions with a much higher mass than the one described by the other group of models. It may be regarded as an unrealistic model. Our method embraces the non-uniqueness of gravity inversions and does not impose a single view of the interior although geological knowledge and geodynamic analyses are of course important to evaluate the realism of each solution.</p><p>References: [1] Wieczorek, M. A. (2006), Treatise on Geophysics 153-193. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53802-4.00169-X. [2] Izquierdo, K et al. (2019) Geophys. J. Int. 220, 1687-1699, doi: 10.1093/gji/ggz544, [3]  Izquierdo, K. et al., (2019) LPSC 50, abstr. 2157. [4] Lemoine, F. G., et al. ( 2013), J. Geophys. Res. 118, 1676–1698 doi: 10.1002/jgre.20118.</p><p> </p>


Geophysics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer L. Hare ◽  
John F. Ferguson ◽  
Carlos L. V. Aiken ◽  
Jerry L. Brady

Forward and inverse gravity modeling is carried out on a suite of reservoir simulations of a proposed water injection in the Prudhoe Bay reservoir, Alaska. A novel surveillance technique is developed in which surface gravity observations are used to monitor the progress of a gas cap waterflood in the reservoir at 8200-ft (2500-m) depth. This cost‐effective method requires that high‐precision gravity surveys be repeated over periods of years. Differences in the gravity field with time reflect changes in the reservoir fluid densities. Preliminary field tests at Prudhoe Bay indicates survey accuracy of 5–10 μGal can be achieved for gravity data using a modified Lacoste & Romberg “G” type meter or Scintrex CG-3M combined with the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS). Forward gravity modeling predicts variations in surface measurements of 100 μGal after 5 years of water injection, and 180–250 μGal after 15 years. We use a constrained least‐squares method to invert synthetic gravity data for subsurface density distributions. The modeling procedure has been formulated and coded to allow testing of the models for sensitivity to gravity sampling patterns, noise types, and various constraints on model parameters such as density, total mass, and moment of inertia. Horizontal‐feature resolution of the waterflood is about 5000 ft (1520 m) for constrained inverse models from synthetic gravity with 5 μGal standard deviation (SD) noise. The inversion method can account for total mass of injected water to within a few percent. Worst‐case scenarios result from inversion of gravity data which are contaminated by high levels (greater than 10–15 μGal SD) of spatially correlated noise, in which case the total mass estimate from inverse models may over or underestimate the mass by 10–20%. The results of the modeling indicate that inversion of time‐lapse gravity data is a viable technique for the monitoring of reservoir gas cap waterfloods.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Genjiu Wang ◽  
Dandan Hu ◽  
Qianyao Li

Abstract It is generally believed that Cretaceous bioclastic limestone in Mesopotamia basin in central and southern Iraq is a typical porous reservoir with weak fracture development. Therefore, previous studies on the fracture of this kind of reservoir are rare. As a common seepage channel in carbonate rock, fracture has an important influence on single well productivity and waterflooding development of carbonate reservoir. Based on seismic, core and production data, this study analyzes the development characteristics of fractures from various aspects, and discusses the influence of fractures on water injection development of reservoirs. Through special processing of seismic data, it is found that there are a lot of micro fractures in Cretaceous bioclastic limestone reservoir. Most of these micro fractures are filled fractures without conductivity under the original reservoir conditions. However, with the further development of the reservoir, the reservoir pressure, oil-water movement, water injection and other conditions have changed, resulting in the original reservoir conditions of micro fractures with conductivity. The water cut of many production wells in the high part of reservoir rises sharply. In order to describe the three-dimensional spatial distribution of fractures, the core data is used to verify the seismic fracture distribution data volume. After the verification effect is satisfied, the three-dimensional fracture data volume is transformed into the geological model to establish the permeability field including fracture characteristics. The results of numerical simulation show that water mainly flows into the reservoir through high angle micro fractures. Fractures are identified by seismic and fracture model is established to effectively recognize the influence of micro fractures on water injection development in reservoir development process, which provides important guidance for oilfield development of Cretaceous bioclastic limestone reservoir in the central and southern Iraq fields.


Physiology ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Whittembury ◽  
P Carpi-Medina

Transcellular water movement occurs mainly through water channels where water molecules move in single file. These channels, which explain the large water permeability of the proximal tubule cells, are closed by mercurial sulfhydryl reagents. There are similarities between these channels and those of human red cells and those that appear in distal nephron segments and toad urinary bladder after antidiuretic hormone stimulation.


Geophysics ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 820-824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rene E. Chavez ◽  
George D. Garland

Inversion of gravity anomalies in terms of an anomalous mass distribution with irregular outline but uniform density leads to a nonlinear inverse problem. An alternative approach based on the thin‐sheet approximation can, however, be formulated as a linear inverse problem provided the structures are two‐dimensional. The anomalous mass is represented by a thin sheet, which is located at a depth [Formula: see text] and is divided into M strips with N < M data points. Thus, an underdetermined system of linear equations is obtained which is solved by the spectral expansion method for the surface density distribution of each segment. This set of parameters is then transformed into a prismatic structure with variable depth but uniform density. The modeling procedure involves a noniterative method. A gravity problem is investigated, and the solution obtained compares well with previous interpretations.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishwas Iyengar ◽  
Harold Simmons ◽  
David Ransom

The objective of this work is to explore methods to reduce combustor rumble in a water-injected gas turbine. Attempts to use water injection as a means to reduce NOXemissions in gas turbines have been largely unsuccessful because of increased combustion instability levels. This pulsation causes chronic fretting, wear, and fatigue that damages combustor components. Of greater concern is that liberated fragments could cause extensive damage to the turbine section. Combustion instability can be tied to the insufficient atomization of injected water; large water droplets evaporate non-uniformly that lead to energy absorption in chaotic pulses. Added pulsation is amplified by the combustion process and acoustic resonance. Effervescent atomization, where gas bubbles are injected, is beneficial by producing finely atomized droplets; the gas bubbles burst as they exit the nozzles creating additional energy to disperse the liquid. A new concept for effervescent atomization dubbed “flash atomization” is presented where water is heated to just below its boiling point in the supply line so that some of it will flash to steam as it leaves the nozzle. An advantage of flash atomization is that available heat energy can be used rather than mechanical energy to compress injection gas for conventional effervescent atomization.


Geophysics ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1354-1364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glenn W. Bear ◽  
Haydar J. Al‐Shukri ◽  
Albert J. Rudman

We have developed an improved Levenburg‐Marquart technique to rapidly invert Bouguer gravity data for a 3-D density distribution as a source of the observed field. This technique is designed to replace tedious forward modeling with an automatic solver that determines density models constrained by geologic information supplied by the user. Where such information is not available, objective models are generated. The technique estimates the density distribution within the source volume using a least‐squares inverse solution that is obtained iteratively by singular value decomposition using orthogonal decomposition of matrices with sequential Householder transformations. The source volume is subdivided into a series of right rectangular prisms of specified size but of unknown density. This discretization allows the construction of a system of linear equations relating the observed gravity field to the unknown density distribution. Convergence of the solution to the system is tightly controlled by a damping parameter which may be varied at each iteration. The associated algorithm generates statistical measures of solution quality not available with most forward methods. Along with the ability to handle large data sets within reasonable time constraints, the advantages of this approach are: (1) the ease with which pre‐existing geological information can be included to constrain the solution, (2) its minimization of subjective user input, (3) the avoidance of difficulties encountered during wavenumber domain transformations, and (4) the objective nature of the solution. Application to a gravity data set from Hamilton County, Indiana, has yielded a geologically reasonable result that agrees with published models derived from interpretation of gravity, magnetic, seismic, and drilling data.


2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry L. Brady ◽  
John F. Ferguson ◽  
Carlos V.L. Aiken ◽  
John E. Seibert ◽  
Tianyou Chen ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
James E. Corley

A subsynchronous vibration problem with a large water injection pump was solved in 1974 by modifying the discharge piping transition to a long taper configuration. This paper describes a quantitative theory based upon the dynamic modeling of the pump rotor and piping system. The mode] successfully duplicates the experimental results of the pump instability and reproduces the subsynchronous vibration described in the original paper. The analysis results in a log decrement of the system that is dependent upon the time delay of the acoustic pulsation. It shows that the system can be driven unstable for acoustic path lengths that are much less than the quarter wave length. The analysis also shows the log decrement is minimized when the time delay is equivalent to exactly that of an eighth wave length of the resonant frequency of the pump.


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