The Colorado School of Mines Uses Simulation to Track Fluid Movement
A. Haas, H. Mahardika, M. Karaoulis, and A. Revil
Colorado School of Mines, USA
Combining acoustic and electromagnetic analyses helps scientists to more efficiently measure and survey subterranean regions. Acoustic waves can travel long distances, but have limitations when it comes to providing details about formation properties, and cannot be used to identify the liquids flowing through them. Electromagnetic waves do not propagate as far as acoustic waves, but can identify and track the flow of pore water. Combining these methods makes the process easier in particular for scientists who track fracking fluids underground.
The Colorado School of Mines has created a system for locating fracking fluids by finding subsurface electromagnetic disturbances that occur based on the kinds of formations the water passes through. They wanted to simulate fracking events and produce synthetic seismograms and electrograms with the help of simulation. By linking COMSOL Multiphysics and MATLAB®, they designed a laboratory experiment in which they repeatedly hydraulically-fractured a porous cement cube by pumping in saline water under high pressure.
Suggested Stories
Graphene Paves the Way for Next-Generation Plasmonics
Alexander V. Kildishev, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering, is leading computational ...
Thermal Characterization of an Electronic Device with a Custom App
BE CAE & Test, a COMSOL Certified Consultant, created a thermal model of a surface-mount device for a client and ...
Modeling of Laminar Flow Static Mixers
Veryst Engineering, a company that provides consulting in engineering design and product manufacturing, has ...
Giving Furniture Testing a Leg Up
Chairs must meet quality standards, which requires lengthy and costly testing. To reduce the burden on manufacturers, ...
