A risk assessment model for produced water discharge from offshore petroleum platforms-development and validation

Produced water discharge accounts for the greater portion of wastes arising from offshore oil and gas production operations. Development and expansion of Canada’s offshore oil and gas reserves has led to concerns over the potential long-term impacts of produced water discharges to the ocean. To examine this emerging environmental issue at a regional scale, an integrated risk assessment approach was developed in this study based on the princeton ocean model (POM), a random walk (RW) and Monte Carlo simulation. The use of water quality standards arrayed in a Monte Carlo design in the developed approach has served to reflect uncertainties and quantify environmental risks associated with produced water discharge. The model was validated against field data from a platform operating off Canada’s east coast, demonstrating its usefulness in supporting effective management of future produced water discharge.     

Inversion of interference hydraulic pumping tests in both homogeneous and fractal dual media

This work proposes a complete method for automatic inversion of data from hydraulic interference pumping tests based on both homogeneous and fractal dual-medium approaches. The aim is to seek a new alternative concept able to interpret field data, identify macroscopic hydraulic parameters and therefore enhance the understanding of flow in porous fractured reservoirs. Because of its much contrasted sensitivities to parameters, the dual-medium approach yields an ill-posed inverse problem that requires a specific optimization procedure including the calculation of analytical sensitivities and their possible re-scaling. Once these constraints are fulfilled, the inversion proves accurate, provides unambiguous and reliable results. In the fractal context inverting several drawdown curves from different locations at the same time reveals more accurate. Finally, hydraulic parameters drawn from inversion should be taken into account to improve in various situations the conditioning of up-scaled flow in fractured rocks.     

Divergence of solutions to perturbation-based advection-dispersion moment equations

Moment equation methods are popular and powerful tools for modeling transport processes in randomly heterogeneous porous media, but the application of these methods to advection-dispersion equations often leads to erroneous oscillations. Perturbative methods, required to close systems of moment equations, become inaccurate for large perturbations; however, little quantitative theory exists for determining when this occurs for advection-dispersion equations. We consider three different methods (asymptotic approximation, Eulerian truncation, and iterative solution) for closing and solving advection-dispersion moment equations describing transport in stratified porous media with random permeability. We obtain approximate analytical expressions for time above which the asymptotic approximation to the mean diverges, in particular quantifying the impact that dispersion has on delaying—but not eliminating—divergence. We demonstrate that Eulerian truncation and iterative solution methods do not eliminate divergent behavior either. Our divergence criteria provide a priori estimates that signal a warning to the practitioner of stochastic advection-dispersion equations to carefully consider whether to apply perturbative approaches.     

Manifestation and measurement of the fractal characteristics of karst hydrogeological formations

A new method of estimating the fractal dimension of the percolation backbone of karst systems, which are discharged through karst springs, is presented. This method is based on the simulation of the spring by the MODKARST deterministic mathematical model. Application has been made to the Psiloritis karst formation in Crete, which feeds the periodically brackish karst spring “Almiros” in Crete. Furthermore, the estimated dimension justifies an independently determined power law that quantifies the sea intrusion into the karst system.     

Fractal reconstruction of sea-floor topography

Sea-floor bathymetric profiles exhibit features at many different scales of length; this suggests that they could be described as fractals. An algorithm interpolating a fractal line between points has been used to reconstruct bathymetric profiles from a few data points. In general, this fractal line has the same Fourier amplitude spectrum as real bathymetry, and, if the parameters of the interpolation are suitably chosen, it has a very similar appearance. The success of this fractal reconstruction algorithm for the sea-floor raises the possibility that it could be used to extrapolate, from data collected at one scale, the properties of the sea-floor at finer scales, and that similar techniques could be used to interpolate a surface between bathymetric profiles. The fractal character is a sign that the processes that shape the sea-floor are scale invariant and suggests that the renormalization group technique could be used to model these processes.     

River flow mass exponents with fractal channel networks and rainfall

An important problem in hydrologic science is understanding how river flow is influenced by rainfall properties and drainage basin characteristics. In this paper we consider one approach, the use of mass exponents, in examining the relation of river flow to rainfall and the channel network, which provides the primary conduit for transport of water to the outlet in a large basin. Mass exponents, which characterize the power-law behavior of moments as a function of scale, are ideally suited for defining scaling behavior of processes that exhibit a high degree of variability or intermittency. The main result in this paper is an expression relating the mass exponent of flow resulting from an instantaneous burst of rainfall to the mass exponents of spatial rainfall and that of the network width function. Spatial rainfall is modeled as a random multiplicative cascade and the channel network as a recursive replacement tree; these fractal models reproduce certain types of self-similar behavior seen in actual rainfall and networks. It is shown that under these modeling assumptions the scaling behavior of flow mirrors that of rainfall if rainfall is highly variable in space, and on the other hand flow mirrors the structure of the network if rainfall is not so highly variable.     

相位编码多次波逆时偏移成像

随着勘探地质体复杂度日益增大, 反射波成像面临诸多挑战, 作为有潜力提升成像精度的重要补充或替代手段的多次波成像愈发受到重视.然而, 串扰噪声的产生阻碍了多次波成像的实际应用.近年来, 作为压制串扰噪声的有效技术之一, 可控阶多次波成像取得了较大研究进展, 但因其需重复计算各阶多次波成像结果, 计算成本昂贵.为此, 本文引入随机相位编码技术, 并与多次波分阶思想结合, 提出相位编码多次波逆时偏移方法: 首先, 对各阶多次波进行随机相位编码(含随机时间延迟与极性反转); 其次, 叠加编码后的各阶多次波, 产生多次波超道集; 最后, 以编码后0至(N-1)阶多次波组成的超道集为虚拟震源进行正向延拓, 同时反传编码后1至N阶多次波所组成的超道集, 并进行互相关, 得到各阶多次波联合成像结果.本文所提方法能够同步使用各阶多次波, 实现各阶多次波联合成像, 避免各阶多次波单独进行成像, 从而成倍提升计算效率.本文用两套模拟数据与一套实际数据算例对所提方法进行了测试, 成像结果验证了该方法的可行性、有效性与应用前景.

     

煤层气赋存的分形特征研究

本文利用红外热成像手段,对微小煤样内的甲烷吸附区进行了观察,并评估其吸附特征与在煤中的分布规律.研究表明煤中存在不同尺度与甲烷吸附能力的甲烷富集区,吸附/解吸甲烷时,甲烷富集区比邻近区域具有更明显的升温/降温现象.通过图像处理的方法对不同吸附压力条件下的红外热像图中的甲烷富集区进行提取,采用盒维数进行统计发现甲烷富集区符合分形规律.试验表明随着吸附压力升高,甲烷富集区的分形维数增大,分布初值减小.对两个不同煤田的煤层气富集区进行统计表明：从微米级到千米级尺度范围内,甲烷富集区分布具有分形特征,且分形维数均在1.5~2.00之间.

     

Nano-scale pore structure and fractal dimension of organic-rich Wufeng-Longmaxi shale from Jiaoshiba area,Sichuan Basin: Investigations using FE-SEM,gas adsorption and helium pycnometry

Much attention have been recently paid to the upper Ordovician Wufeng shale (O₃w) and lower Silurian Longmaxi shale (S₁l) in the Jiaoshiba area of Sichuan Basin, which is now the largest producing shale gas field in China. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), low pressure gas (N₂ and CO₂) adsorption, helium pycnometry, X-ray diffraction and geochemical analyses were performed to investigate the pore structure and fractal dimension of the pores in O₃w-S₁l shale formation in the Jiaoshiba area. FE-SEM images show that organic matter (OM) pores are dominant in the organic-rich samples and these pores are often irregular, bubble-like, elliptical and faveolate in shape, while in organic-poor samples, limited and isolated interparticle (interP), intraparticle (intraP) and OM pores are observed. Reversed S-shaped isotherms obtained from nitrogen adsorption are type Ⅱ, and hysteresis loops indicate that the shape of micropore in the samples is slit-or plate-like. BET surface areas and total pore volume vary from 12.2 to 27.1 m²/g and from 1.8 × 10⁻² to 2.9 × 10⁻² cm³/g, with an average of 19.5 m²/g and 2.3 × 10⁻² cm³/g, respectively. Adsorption volume from both N₂ and CO₂ adsorption increases with respect to TOC contents. Porosities obtained from helium porosimetry are comparable with these from gas (CO₂ and N₂) adsorption in O₃w-S₁l shale. However, porosity determined by quantitative FE-SEM analysis is much smaller, which is mainly related to limited resolution and the small areas of investigation.Based on the Frenkel-Halsey-Hill (FHH) model of low-pressure N₂ adsorption, fractal dimensions of the pores varied from 2.737 to 2.823. Relationships between pore structure parameters and TOC content, mineral composition and fractal dimension reveal that the fractal dimension is mainly associated with micropores. Samples with higher TOC content, higher quartz content and lower clay content tend to contain more heterogeneous micropores, resulting in higher fractal dimensions and more complicated pore structure in shales. Therefore, fractal dimension is an effective parameter to reflect the complexity of pore structure and the degree of micropore development in O₃w-S₁l shale.     

区域交通网络分形的DBM特征--交通网络Laplacian分形性质的实证研究

城镇体系在理论状态下的三角点阵格局暗示着现实中的交通网络在一定时空条件下具有ＤＢＭ模型的某些特征。从形态分析和维数对比两个方面论证了区域交通网络扔Ｌａｐｌａｃｉａｎ分形性质,认为可用ＤＢＭ模型模拟城镇体系－交通网络的形成和演化过程,从而揭示其动力学机制。