Core and blanket thermal-hydraulic analysis of a molten salt fast reactor based on coupling of OpenMC and OpenFOAM

In the core of a molten salt fast reactor(MSFR),heavy metal fuel and fission products can be dissolved in a molten fluoride salt to form a eutectic mixture that acts as both fuel and coolant.Fission energy is released from the fuel salt and transferred to the second loop by fuel salt circulation.Therefore,the MSFR is characterized by strong interaction between the neutronics and the thermal hydraulics.Moreover,recirculation flow occurs,and nuclear heat is accumulated near the fertile blanket,which significantly affects both the flow and the temperature fields in the core.In this work,to further optimize the conceptual geometric design of the MSFR,three geometries of the core and fertile blanket are proposed,and the thermal-hydraulic characteristics,including the three-dimensional flow and temperature fields of the fuel and fertile salts,are simulated and analyzed using a coupling scheme between the open source codes OpenMC and OpenFOAM.The numerical results indicate that a flatter core temperature distribution can be obtained and the hot spot and flow stagnation zones that appear in the upper and lower parts of the core center near the reflector can be eliminated by curving both the top and bottom walls of the core.Moreover,eight cooling loops with a total flow rate of0.0555 m3 s-1 ensur an acceptable temperature distribusure an acceptable temperature distribution in the fertile blanket.

Changes in filtration and capacitance properties of highly porous reservoir in underground gas storage:CT-based and geomechanical modeling

The paper presents the results of comprehensive studies of filtration and capacitance properties of highly porous reservoir rocks of the aquifer of an underground gas storage facility.The geomechanical part of the research included studying the dependence of rock permeability on the stress-strain state in the vicinity of the wells,and physical modeling of the implementation of the method of increasing the permeability of the wellbore zone-the method of directional unloading of the reservoir.The digital part of the research included computed tomography(CT)-based computer analysis of the internal structure,pore space characteristics,and filtration properties before and after the tests.According to the results of physical modeling of deformation and filtration processes,it is found that the permeability of rocks before fracture depends on the stress-strain state insignificantly,and this influence is reversible.However,when downhole pressure reaches 7-8 MPa,macrocracks in the rock begin to grow,accompanied by irreversible permeability increase.Porosity,geodesic tortuosity and permeability values were obtained based on digital studies and numerical modeling.A weak degree of transversal anisotropy of the filtration properties of rocks was detected.Based on the analysis of pore size distribution,pressure field and flow velocities,high homogeneity and connectivity of the rock pore space is shown.The absence of pronounced changes in pore space characteristics and pore permeability after non-uniform triaxial loading rocks was shown.On the basis of geometrical analysis of pore space,the reasons for weak permeability anisotropy were identified.The filtration-capacitance properties obtained from the digital analysis showed very good agreement with the results of field and laboratory measurements.The physical modeling has confirmed the efficiency of application of the directional unloading method for the reservoir under study.The necessary parameters of its application were calculated:bottomhole geometry,stage of operation,stresses and pressure drawdown value.

Application of Multi-Exponential Inversion Method to NMR Measurements

A new multi-exponential inversion method for NMR relaxation signals is presented and tested, which is based on a solid iteration rebuild technique (SIRT). The T2 spectra inversed by the new method are compared with MAP-II results. The T1 and T2 inversion results with different pre-assigned relaxation times and different SNR show that 16 to 64 logarithm equal spaced time constants is better obviously than MAP-II. And in particular, it can ensure the relaxation time distribution when the SNR of the measured signal is very low. The new algorithm has been applied in rock core NMR analysis and NMR logging data process and interpretation.

Coexistence of natural gas hydrate,free gas and water in the gas hydrate system in the Shenhu Area,South China Sea

Shenhu Area is located in the Baiyun Sag of Pearl River Mouth Basin,which is on the northern continental slope of the South China Sea.Gas hydrates in this area have been intensively investigated,achieving a wide coverage of the three-dimensional seismic survey,a large number of boreholes,and detailed data of the seismic survey,logging,and core analysis.In the beginning of 2020,China has successfully conducted the second offshore production test of gas hydrates in this area.In this paper,studies were made on the structure of the hydrate system for the production test,based on detailed logging data and core analysis of this area.As to the results of nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR)logging and sonic logging of Well GMGS6-SH02 drilled during the GMGS6 Expedition,the hydrate system on which the production well located can be divided into three layers:(1)207.8–253.4 mbsf,45.6 m thick,gas hydrate layer,with gas hydrate saturation of 0–54.5%(31%av.);(2)253.4–278 mbsf,24.6 m thick,mixing layer consisting of gas hydrates,free gas,and water,with gas hydrate saturation of 0–22%(10%av.)and free gas saturation of 0–32%(13%av.);(3)278–297 mbsf,19 m thick,with free gas saturation of less than 7%.Moreover,the pore water freshening identified in the sediment cores,taken from the depth below the theoretically calculated base of methane hydrate stability zone,indicates the occurrence of gas hydrate.All these data reveal that gas hydrates,free gas,and water coexist in the mixing layer from different aspects.

The characteristics of consolidation settlement and its contribution to the topographical change in the northern modern Huanghe River subaqueous delta in China

The sediments of the modern Huanghe River subaqueous delta are easily to generate settlement and lead to topography change which is due to fast deposition rate, high void ratio, moisture content and compressibility. The sediment consolidation settlements and its contribution to the topography change in the northern modern Huanghe River subaqueous delta are studied based on drilling data, laboratory experiment results, and water depth measurements of different time. The results show that the final consolidation settlement of drill holes in the study area is between 1.17 and 3.21 m, and mean settlement of unit depth is between 2.30 and 5.30 cm/m based on the one-dimensional consolidation theory and Plaxis numerical model. The final consolidation settlement obtained by Plaxis numerical model is smaller than that obtained by the one-dimensional consolidation theory, and the difference is 3.4%-39.9% between the methods. The contribution of the consolidation settlement to the topographical change is at 20.2%-86.6%, and the study area can be divided into five different regions based on different contribution rates. In the erosion area, the actual erosion depth caused by hydrodynamics is lower than the changes of measured water depth, however, the actual deposition amount caused by hydrodynamics is much larger than the changes of water depth obtained by measured data in the equilibrium and deposition areas.

A Novel Energy Lifting Approach Using J-Function and Flow Zone Indicator for Oil Fields

The X field is located in the southwestern part of block NX89 of Kentan Basin in Libya.This field is produced from Hailan multilayer consolidated sandstone with moderate rock property and a relatively low energy supplying.The reserve of subsurface energy sources is declining with years.Therefore,techniques were combined to achieve the energy optimization and increase hydrocarbon recovery.In order to understand the subsurface formation of the reservoir and facilitate oil production,global hydraulic element technique was used to quantify the reservoir rock types.In addition,stratigraphic modified Lorenz plot was used for reservoir layering.Reservoir heterogeneity was identified using stratigraphic modified Lorenz plot and Dykstra-Parsons coefficient.Leverett J-functionwas used to average the 13 capillary pressure curves into four main curves to represent the whole reservoir based on flow zone indicator values.Capillary pressure was calculated and plotted with normalized water saturation;a single average curve was defined to represent the rest of the curves.Water saturation was calculated using single and multiple J-functions and compared with the available logs.With multiple J-functions,the matching results were good for both high and low-quality layers,whereas using a single J-function,the match was poor,especially for low FZI layers such as H4c and H6a.Four rock types were identified for this reservoir ranging from medium to good reservoir quality and six different layers were obtained.The reservoir was heterogeneous with a Lorenz coefficient value of approximately 0.72 and a Dykstra-Parsons value of 0.70.All approaches used in this paper were validated and showed improved hydrocarbon recovery factor.

The effect of physical property change on the water flooding development in Changqing oilfield Jurassic low permeability reservoir

Changqing old oilfield Jurassic reservoir's average calibration recovery is 24.7%,with geological reserves recovery of 16.6%,water cut of 65.2%.And most of Jurassic reservoirs are in the middle and later field life,part of them has entered the high water cut and high recovery stage.Traditional water flooding way for improving oil recovery becomes more difficult,and new method has to be considered.Maling oilfield BS district is a typical representative,with high water cut of 90.8%,high recovery percent of 26.1%and low oil recovery rate of 0.25%.To explore the new way to improve oil recovery,the polymer and surfactant(SP for short)important pilot test has been developed.The low permeability reservoir indoor core data in high water cut stage and inspection well results indicate that the reservoir permeability,pore combination characteristics and pore type changed greatly after long-term water flooding development.These changes bring more difficulties to the continue development,especially the high injection pressure,which can cause other problems for well pattern infilling and EOR.This paper takes the high injection pressure problem of Maling BS district Jurassic reservoir for example,analyzes the physical property change law on the following aspects:the development mode in the past,core analysis,formation sensitivity,interstitial matter,well test interpretation results,in order to help to further effective development and provide important parameters for tertiary oil recovery technique for similar reservoirs and others.

A Brief Review of Software Tools for Pangenomics

Since the proposal for pangenomic study, there have been a dozen software tools actively in use for pangenomic analysis. By the end of 2014, Panseq and the pan-genomes analysis pipeline（PGAP） ranked as the top two most popular packages according to cumulative citations of peerreviewed scientific publications. The functions of the software packages and tools, albeit variable among them, include categorizing orthologous genes, calculating pangenomic profiles, integrating gene annotations, and constructing phylogenies. As epigenomic elements are being gradually revealed in prokaryotes, it is expected that pangenomic databases and toolkits have to be extended to handle information of detailed functional annotations for genes and non-protein-coding sequences including non-coding RNAs, insertion elements, and conserved structural elements. To develop better bioinformatic tools, user feedback and integration of novel features are both of essence.

SOLUTION OF RELATIVE PERMEABILITY OF TWO-PHASE FLOW IN POROUS MEDIUM

In view of the resolution of relative Permeability curves of unconsolidated core containing heavy petroleum, a set of equations governing the oil/water coreflood are obtained based on porous medium flow theory, numerical analysis, optimum theory and error analysis.The optimum problems are solved by means of constraint variable metric method. The sensitivity of results to initial data is eliminated. Several examples are included to illustrate the reliability and usefulness of this method.