3D Geomechanical Modeling of Casing Collapse in Plastic Formations (Cap Rock of Hydrocarbon Reservoir)

Natural Resources Research - In the Gachsaran Formation, the casing pipes driven into a number of wells have collapsed within a short span of time in one of the southwest fields of Iran. The casing...     

ANN-Based Prediction of Laboratory-Scale Performance of CO2-Foam Flooding for Improving Oil Recovery

Natural Resources Research - Improving oil recovery by CO2 injection continues to gain momentum in mature oil fields due to its favorable industrial and environmental benefits. One remediation for...     

Towards simulation of 3D nonlinear high-speed vessels motion

A numerical simulation algorithm based on the finite volume discretisation is presented for analyzing ship motions. The algorithm employs a fractional step method to deal with the coupling between the pressure and velocity fields. The free surface capturing is fulfilled by using a volume of fluid method in which the interface between the liquid (water) and gas (air) phases are computed by solving a scalar transport equation for the volume fraction of the liquid phase. The computed velocity field is employed to evaluate the acting forces and moments on the vessel. Using the strategy of boundary-fitted body-attached mesh and calculating all six degrees-of-freedom of motion in each time step, time history of ship motions including displacements, velocities and accelerations are evaluated.To verify the proposed algorithm, a series of verification tests are conducted. First, a two-dimensional asymmetrical wedge slamming is simulated as a simple type of a common case for high-speed vessels. Then, the steady-state forward motion of a high-speed planing catamaran is investigated. Results of both test cases show good agreement with experimental data. It is concluded that the proposed algorithm can be a promising strategy for both performance prediction and design of high-speed vessels.     

Modeling the near-field effects of the worst-case tsunami in the Makran subduction zone

As a first step towards the development of inundation maps for the northwestern Indian Ocean, we simulated the near-field inundation of two large tsunami in the Makran subduction zone (MSZ). The tsunami scenarios were based on large historical earthquakes in the region. The first scenario included the rupture of about 500 km of the plate boundary in the eastern MSZ, featuring a moment magnitude of M_w 8.6. The second scenario involved the full rupture of the plate boundary resulting from a M_w 9 earthquake. For each scenario, the distribution of tsunami wave height along the coastlines of the region is presented. Also, detailed runup modeling was performed at four main coastal cities in the region for the second scenario. To investigate the possible effect of splay fault branching on tsunami wave height, a hypothetical splay fault was modeled which showed that it can locally increase the maximum wave height by a factor of 2. Our results showed that the two tsunami scenarios produce a runup height of 12-18 m and 24-30 m, respectively. For the second scenario, the modeled inundation distance was between 1 and 5 km.     

A framework for automatic modeling of underground excavations and optimizing three‐dimensional boundary and finite element meshes derived from them—framework

Many problems in mining and civil engineering require using numerical stress analysis methods to repeatedly solve large models. Widespread acceptance of tunneling methods, such as New Austrian Tunneling Method, which depend heavily on numerical stress analysis tools and the fact that the effects of excavation at the face of a tunnel are distinctively three–dimensional (3D), necessitates the use of 3D numerical analysis for these problems. Stress analysis of a practical mining problem can be very lengthy, and the processing time can be measured in days or weeks at times. A framework is developed to facilitate efficient modeling of underground excavations and to create an optimal 3D mesh by reducing the number of surface and volume elements while keeping the result of stress analysis accurate enough at the region of interest, where a solution is sought. Fewer surface and volume elements mean fewer degrees of freedom in the numerical model, which directly translates into savings in computational time and resources. The mesh refinement algorithm is driven by a set of criteria that are functions of distance and visibility of points from the region of interest, and the framework can be easily extended by adding new types of criteria. This paper defines the framework, whereas a second companion paper will investigate its efficiency, accuracy and application to a number of practical mining problems. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluation of drought events in various climatic conditions using data-driven models and a reliability-based probabilistic model

Natural Hazards - Due to a wide range of socio-economic losses caused by drought over the past decades, having a reliable insight of drought properties plays a key role in monitoring and...     

Developing the Rule of Thumb for Evaluating Penetration Rate of TBM,Using Binary Classification

Geotechnical and Geological Engineering - Using the tunnel boring machine (TBM) in tunneling projects contributes significantly to increased efficiency and reducing the time of project...