3,669 research outputs found
Pore structure characterization of low permeability rocks
No full textTese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência e Engenharia de Materiais, Florianópolis, 2014.Hoje as pesquisas em rochas de baixa permeabilidade (grande tendência no mundo e em breve na indústria petrolífera brasileira) se voltam à escala de poros seja para investigação petrofísica, morfológica, de distribuição de tamanhos de grãos ou poros ou escoamento de fluidos, prática descrita pelos valores de permeabilidade. A avaliação destas propriedades por sua vez, é essencial ao desenvolvimento e exploração de reservas de hidrocarbonetos. No entanto, a determinação de parâmetros do sistema poroso nessas rochas, arenitos de baixa permeabilidade (TGS) e rochas selantes (SR), continua a ser um grande desafio devido à extrema variabilidade de ambientes deposicionais e complexa microestrutura composta por argilas e tamanhos de poros de submícrons a ångströms. Nesta tese empregou-se um conjunto de técnicas experimentais para a caracterização da estrutura porosa de TGS e SR. De tal modo, o trabalho foi dividido em dois tópicos principais: (i) Caracterização do sistema poroso e propriedades petrofísicas em TGS utilizando-se as técnicas de permeabilidade por decaimento de pulso (PDP), NMR de baixo campo, adsorção gasosa N2 (N2GA), porosimetria por intrusão Hg (MICP), nano- e microtomografia de raios X (res. Abstract : Nowadays, significant research effort in low-permeability rocks (a wide tendency elsewhere and soon in the Brazilian petroleum industry) has been focused on pore-scale petrophysics, morphologies and distributions, as well as fluid flow circulation described by the values of permeability. The evaluation of these properties in turn is essential for the assessment and exploitation of hydrocarbon reserves; however, determining pore system parameters in such rocks as tight gas sandstones (TGS) and seal rocks (SR) remains challenging because of the extreme variability in depositional environments resulting in complex pore structures comprised by clays and length scales from sub-microns to Angstroms. In this work we applied a set of techniques to characterize submicron-pore structures in TGS and SR. Therefore it was divided into two main topics of interest: (i) Characterization of petrophysical properties and pore systems in very low permeability TGS using Pulse-Decay Permeability (PDP), Low Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LFNMR), Nitrogen Gas Adsorption (N2GA), Mercury Intrusion Capillary Pressure (MICP) and Multi-scale 3D X-ray Nano- and MicroCT (down to 0.7 µm resolution) techniques; (ii) Study of Photoacoustic Spectrometry (PAS) for determining thermal diffusivity (TD) and porosity in three seal rocks originating from dissimilar fields as a key issue for safe exploration, storage purposes (CO2 sequestration) and developments in shale characterization. The values obtained for TD were between 0.01667 and 0.09298 (cm2/s) while porosity ranged from 1.42 to 9%. For the analyzed TGS the 3D pore-structure characterization lead to pore tortuosity and shape factors ranges of 2.19-5.47 and 3.2-8.5, respectively, and pore size distributions tended to be bimodal for MICP, trimodal for 3D multi-scale and tetramodal for LFNMR measurements. The porosity values ranged from 1.94 to 11.96% obtained by the combination of N2GA and MICP techniques and permeability from 0.036 to 0.00066 mD by PDP technique. The measured pore-structure parameters were also used to predict empirical permeability in TGS (using e.g. Carman-Kozeny (Dullien, 1992) and Coates (1999) models). The set of applied methods has shown to be a useful tool for the unconventional reservoir characterization since it allows obtaining pore morphological and quantitative parameters which account for the permeability values
The response of the tandem pore potassium channel TASK-3 (K2P9.1) to voltage : gating at the cytoplasmic mouth
No full textAlthough the tandem pore potassium channel TASK-3 is thought to open and shut at its
selectivity filter in response to changes of extracellular pH, it is currently unknown whether the
channel also shows gating at its inner, cytoplasmic mouth through movements of membrane
helices M2 and M4.We used two electrode voltage clamp and single channel recording to show
that TASK-3 responds to voltage in a way that reveals such gating. In wild-type channels, Popen
was very low at negative voltages, but increased with depolarisation. The effect of voltage was
relatively weak and the gating charge small, ∼0.17.Mutants A237T (in M4) and N133A (in M2)
increased Popen at a given voltage, increasing mean open time and the number of openings per
burst. In addition, the relationship between Popen andvoltagewas shifted to lesspositive voltages.
Mutation of putative hinge glycines (G117A, G231A), residues that are conserved throughout
the tandem pore channel family, reduced Popen at a given voltage, shifting the relationship
with voltage to a more positive potential range. None of these mutants substantially affected
the response of the channel to extracellular acidification. We have used the results from single
channel recording to develop a simple kinetic model to show how gating occurs through two
classes of conformation change, with two routes out of the open state, as expected if gating
occurs both at the selectivity filter and at its cytoplasmic mouth
Compressible vs. incompressible pore water in fully-saturated poroelastic soil
No full textThis thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of how waves interact with soil. It is crucial for various applications in Civil Engineering to analyze the behaviour of soil and to understand the physics behind it. This master thesis contributes to this understanding via studying the impact of the boundary conditions on the model results with the aim of being able to model interaction between waves and soil.We assume a media that is poroelastic and fully-saturated, unless stated otherwise. We also assume that the porous media consists of incompressible soil particles and pore water particles that may either be compressible or incompressible. The main goals of this thesis are (1) to describe the response of porous media to transient hydraulic loads using numerical methods like the Finite-Element Method, and (2) to apply it to a one-dimensional case whereby a sandbed is subjected to waves. Currently, it is common to predict the changes in pore water pressures in porous media subjected to transient hydraulic loads using Biot’s model, which often assumes compressible pore water, assumes zero effective stresses on the surface of the seabed, and assumes that the wave load is completely carried by the pore water pressure only. Recently, a new model is proposed by Van Damme and Den Ouden-Van der Horst suggesting that transient hydraulic loads acting on a porous medium affect both the pore water pressures and effective stresses in soils. Note that this makes sure that the momentum balance equations are satisfied throughout the computational domain and its boundaries. The boundary conditions in this case do not satisfy Terzaghi’s effective stress principle, whereas the standard has been to impose Terzaghi’s effective stress principle when solving Biot’s equations. Terzaghi’s principle states that the sum of the effective stresses and pore water pressures must equal the hydraulic loads, whereas Biot’s model is in line with this principle.The model of Biot and the new model of Van Damme and Den Ouden-Van der Horst describe the physics differently which can have a large impact on the results. For example, the assumption of compressibility can significantly impact the distribution of the effective stress in the soil and thus the results.Biot’s model is more sensitive for changing the compressibility parameter than the new model. Both models give similar solutions to the water pressure. However, they give different solutions to the other variables like the volumetric strain and displacements which appear in both models. Furthermore, the new model in one dimension is in line with the momentum balance equations and satisfies the volume balance equation. On the other hand, the standard is to solve Biot’s model by imposing Terzaghi’s principle at the boundary. For the new model we found promising results for the water pressure, when validating with the data of two experiments. At the end, which model predict the best solutions for volumetricstrain, water pressure and displacements depends on what kind of problem the model is used for and the corresponding physics. The used code can be found at https://github.com/fpmklein/Compressiblevs.-incompressible-pore-water-in-fully-saturated-poroelastic-soil.https://github.com/fpmklein/Compressible-vs.-incompressible-pore-water-in-fully-saturated-poroelastic-soil The used code for this master thesis.Applied Mathematic
Pore network extraction from pore space images of various porous media systems
No full textPore network extraction which is defined as the transformation from irregular pore space to a simplified network in the form of pores connected by throats is significant to microstructure analysis and network modeling. A physically realistic pore network is not only a representation of the pore space in the sense of topology and morphology but also a good tool for predicting transport properties accurately. We present a method to extract pore network by employing the centrally located medial axis to guide the construction of maximal-balls-like skeleton where the pores and throats are defined and parameterized. To validate our method various rock samples including sand pack sandstones and carbonates were used to extract pore networks. The pore structures were compared quantitatively with the structures extracted by medial axis method or maximal ball method. The predicted absolute permeability and formation factor were verified against the theoretical solutions obtained by lattice Boltzmann method and finite volume method respectively. The two-phase flow was simulated through the networks extracted from homogeneous sandstones and the generated relative permeability curves were compared with the data obtained from experimental method and other numerical models. The results show that the accuracy of our network is higher than that of other networks for predicting transport properties so the presented method is more reliable for extracting physically realistic pore network
Dependence of unsaturated chloride diffusion on the pore structure in cementitious materials
No full textConceptual analysis is performed to examine the effects of pore features on the water continuity in unsaturated porous systems. The roles of pore features in relative chloride diffusion coefficient (Drc) of mortar specimens at various degrees of water saturation (Sw) were studied based on mercury intrusion porosimetry and resistivity tests. It is found that the role of pore structure in the Drc-Sw relationship is a result of its effect on the water continuity. Porosity and tortuosity are not relevant to the Drc-Sw relationship. A finer pore size distribution or lower pore connectivity tends to result in a lower Drc. The pore size effect on the Drc is pronounced primarily at high Sw, while the Drc is dominated by the pore connectivity at low Sw. Cement mortar with a higher water-to-binder ratio shows larger chloride diffusion at high relative humidity levels but smaller chloride diffusion at low relative humidity levels.Accepted Author ManuscriptMaterials and Environmen
Pore solution composition of alkali-activated slag/fly ash pastes
No full textThe pore solutions of a series of hardened alkali-activated slag/fly ash pastes were extracted by the steel-die method, and analyzed using ICP-OES analysis technique. According to the saturation index from thermodynamic calculations, the pore solutions of alkali-activated slag pastes kept oversaturated with respect to solid reaction products with time. In the pore solutions of alkali-activated fly ash pastes, an increase of temperature (from 40 °C to 60 °C) led to decreases of the concentrations of Si, Al, Ca, Na, OH−, K, Fe and Mg, while the soluble silicate in the alkaline activator resulted in increases of the concentrations of these elements. Compared to the alkali-activated slag paste with the same alkaline activator, 50% replacement of slag by fly ash did not result in a substantial change of the pore solution composition. Based on the experimental results, conceptual models were proposed to describe the elemental concentrations in the pore solutions.Accepted Author ManuscriptMaterials and Environmen
A Characterization of Tight Sandstone: Effect of Clay Mineralogy on Pore-Framework
No full textMacro-, meso-, micro-pore systems combined with clay content are critical for fluid flow behavior in tight sandstone formations. This study investigates the impact of clay mineralogy on pore systems in tight rocks. Three outcrop samples were selected based on their comparative petrophysical parameters (Bandera, Kentucky, and Scioto). Our experiments carried out to study the impact of clay content on micro-pore systems in tight sandstone reservoirs involve the following techniques: Routine core analysis (RCA), to estimate the main petrophysical parameters such as porosity and permeability, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to assess mineralogy and elemental composition, Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), and Micro-Computed Tomography (Micro-CT) to analyze pore size distributions. Clay structure results show the presence of booklets of kaolinite and platelets to filamentous shapes of illite. The Scioto sample exhibits a micro-pore system with an average pore body size of 12.6±0.6 μm and an average pore throat size of 0.25±0.19 μm. In Bandera and Kentucky samples illite shows pore-bridging clay filling with an average mineral size of around 0.25±0.03 μm, which reduces the micro-pore throat system sizes. In addition, pore-filling kaolinite minerals with a diameter of 5.1±0.21 μm, also reduce the micro-pore body sizes. This study qualifies and quantifies the relationship of clay content with primary petrophysical properties of three tight sandstones. The results help to advance procedures for planning oil recovery and CO2 sequestration in tight sandstone reservoirs.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Reservoir EngineeringApplied Geophysics and Petrophysic
Determinants of the mode of offshoring of services by large US corporations: role of service characteristics, firm capabilities, strategic motives, and concerns
No full textThis study explores the effects of service characteristics, firm capabilities, strategic motives and concerns on mode of offshoring of services of large US
corporations. Firms could offshore services through a wide spectrum of modes ranging from i) complete internalization (foreign subsidiary), to ii) complete externalization (arms length transactions), or iii) intermediate modes (such as licensing, joint venture etc).
Although, factors such as cost savings, time savings, host country incentives, access to skilled resources and markets may motivate firms to engage in offshoring of services; concerns regarding security/privacy of data, intellectual property rights, host country political/economic uncertainty, cultural distance between the host country and the home country and lack of partners/vendors in the host country may discourage firms from either offshoring services completely or may limit the choice of offshoring modes available to the firm in the host country.
Also, factors related to the service such as strategic importance of the service to the firm, customization needs of the customer and use of proprietary technology in the production/performance of the service and firm capabilities may play a part in deciding the mode of offshoring.
All these factors related to the service characteristics, firm capabilities, motives and concerns are used to build a model to explain the modal choice of offshoring of services of large US corporations. Survey data, regarding the above mentioned factors for firms involved in offshoring of services, was collected to empirically test the model.
The model was tested using multinomial, binomial and ordinal regression. Results of the study support the influence of the strategic importance of the service, proprietary technology and cost savings motive on the mode of offshoring. In addition, firm’s concerns regarding security/privacy of data, host country political/economic uncertainty, and lack of partners/vendors in the host country were also found to influence the offshoring mode. But, firm's motives of time savings, accessing host country skills and market and taking advantage of host country incentives were not found to influence the offshoring mode. Moreover, firm capabilities and firm's concerns over intellectual property protection and cultural distance were also not found to influence the mode of offshoring.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 167-187)by Anand Por
Interfacial Phenomena in Multiphase Systems at Pore Scale
No full textPorous materials have high specific surface area and complicated morphology, which dramatically amplifies interfacially driven processes leading to complex transport behaviors. Over the past decade, significant improvements in experimental and computational tools have enabled the direct probing of pore-scale physics. Numerous findings have been reported that provide new insights on how interfacial phenomena modulate Darcy-scale fluid behaviors.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Reservoir Engineerin
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Evidence for suboxic nitrification in recent marine sediments
No full textThe classical scheme of biogeochemical zones (BGZ) is known to be an oversimplification
of the microbial processes that occur in organic-rich marine sediments. Results from a coupled
deployment of pore-water gel probes in Loch Duich, Scotland, provide direct evidence for rapid
recycling within the iron reduction (FeR) and sulphate reduction (SR) zones. High resolution porewater
profiles obtained using diffusive equilibrium in thin films (DET) gel probes found a nitrate peak
at the boundary between the FeR and SR zones. This non-steady state feature is consistent with recycling
of reduced N occurring throughout the FeR zone. Both conventional pore-water iron profiles
and results from diffusive gradient in thin films (DGT) probes indicate that iron is solubilised and precipitated
in rapid Fe/S recycling reactions throughout the SR zone. The presence of such complex
recycling reactions confirms the oversimplification of the classical BGZ scheme
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