In-situ pressure-preserved coring for deep exploration:Insight into the rotation behavior of the valve cover of a pressure controller

In-situ pressure-preserved coring(IPP-Coring)is considered to be the most reliable and efficient method for the identification of the scale of oil and gas resources.During IPP-Coring,because the rotation behavior of the pressure controller valve cover in different medium environments is unclear,interference between the valve cover and inner pipe may occur and negatively affect the IPP-Coring success rate.To address this issue,we conducted a series of indoor experiments employing a high-speed camera to gain greater insights into the valve cover rotation behavior in different medium environments,e.g.,air,water,and simulated drilling fluids.The results indicated that the variation in the valve cover rotation angle in the air and fluid environments can be described by a one-phase exponential decay function with a constant time parameter and by biphasic dose response function,respectively.The rotation behavior in the fluid environments exhibited distinct elastic and gravitational acceleration zones.In the fluid environments,the density clearly impacted the valve cover closing time and rotation behavior,whereas the effect of viscosity was very slight.This can be attributed to the negligible influence of the fluid viscosity on the drag coefficient found in this study;meanwhile,the density can increase the buoyancy and the time period during which the valve cover experienced a high drag coefficient.Considering these results,control schemes for the valve cover rotation behavior during IPP-Coring were proposed for different layers and geological conditions in which the different drilling fluids should be used,e.g.,the use of a high-density valve cover in high-pore pressure layers.

Effect of Blasting Stress Wave on Dynamic Crack Propagation

Stress waves affect the stress field at the crack tip and dominate the dynamic crack propagation.Therefore,evaluating the influence of blasting stress waves on the crack propagation behavior and the mechanical characteristics of crack propagation is of great significance for engineering blasting.In this study,ANSYS/LS-DYNA was used for blasting numerical simulation,in which the propagation characteristics of blasting stress waves and stress field distribution at the crack tip were closely observed.Moreover,ABAQUS was applied for simulating the crack propagation path and calculating dynamic stress intensity factors(DSIFs).The universal function was calculated by the fractalmethod.The results show that:the compressive wave causes the crack to close and the reflected tensile wave drives the crack to initiate and propagate,and failure mode is mainly tensile failure.The crack propagation velocity varies with time,which increases at first and then decreases,and the crack arrest occurs due to the attenuation of stress waves and dissipation of the blasting energy.In addition,crack arrest toughness is smaller than the crack initiation toughness,applied pressure waveforms(such as the peak pressure,duration,waveforms,wavelengths and loading rates)have a great influence on DSIFs.It is conducive to our deep understanding or the study of blasting stress waves dominated fracture,suggesting a broad reference for the further development of rock blasting in engineering practice.

Mechanical behavior of coal under different mining rates:A case study from laboratory experiments to field testing

During the development of hot dry rock,the research on thermal fatigue damage caused by thermal shock of cold and heat cycles is the basis that ensures the long-term utilization of geothermal resources,but there are not enough relevant studies at present.Based on this,the thermal damage tests of granite at different temperatures(250,350,450°C)and quenching cycles(1,5,10,15 cycles)were carried out.Preliminary reveals the damage mechanism and heat transfer law of the quenching cycle effect on hot dry rock.The results show that with the increase of temperature and cycles,the uneven thermal expansion of minerals and the thermal shock caused by quenching promote the crack development of granite,resulting in the decrease of P-wave velocity,thermal conductivity and uniaxial compressive strength of granite.Meanwhile,the COMSOL was used to simulate the heat transfer of hot dry rock under different heat treatment conditions.It concluded that the increase in the number of quenching cycles reduced the heat transfer capacity of the granite,especially more than 10 quenching cycles,which also reflects that the thermal fatigue damage leads to a longer time for the temperature recovery of the hot dry rock mass.In addition,the three-dimensional nonlinear fitting relationship among thermal conductivity,temperature and cycle number was established for the first time,which can better reveal the change rule of thermal conductivity after quenching thermal fatigue effect of hot dry rock.The research results provide theoretical support for hot dry rock reservoir reconstruction and production efficiency evaluation.

Numerical simulation of spatial distributions of mining-induced stress and fracture fields for three coal mining layouts

In this study, the spatial distributions of stress and fracture fields for three typical underground coal mining layouts, Le, non-pillar mining （NM）, top-coal caving mining （TCM） and protective coal-seam mining （PCM）, are modeled using discrete element software UDEC, The numerical results show that different mining layouts can lead to different mining-induced stress fields, resulting in diverse fracture fields, For the PCM, the mining influenced area in front of the mining faces is the largest, and the stress concentration factor in front of the mining faces is the lowest, The spatial shapes of the mining-induced fracture fields under NM, TCM and PCM differ, and they are characterized by trapezoidal, triangular and tower shapes, respectively, The fractal dimensions of mining-induced fractures of the three mining layouts decrease in the order of PCM, TCM and NM, It is also shown that the PCM can result in a better gas control effect in coal mines with high outburst potential, The numerical results are expected to provide a basis for understanding of mining-induced gas seepage fields and provide a reference for high- efficiency coal mining,

Research and application of thermal insulation effect of natural gas hydrate freezing corer based on the wireline-coring principle

Natural gas hydrate(NGH)holds great promise as a source of clean energy.It is critical for acquiring the largest possible in situ NGH core for NGH eigen features and resource assessment.However,the existing NGH coring technology has limitations,such as temperature increments,limited coring diameters,low coring rates,and complex coring structures.Therefore,this study designs and proposes an NGH freezing coring(NGHFC)method and verifies the freezing and coring capacities of the NGHFC method in laboratories and experimental wells.Results suggest that NGHFC shows good freezing and heat-retention properties.A freezing core heat transfer model is developed.According to the actual air temperature and operating time,the optimum initial temperature of the cold source can be determined using this model.The average coring rate of NGHFC can reach 77.86%.The research results will provide a new idea of coring gas hydrates.

Contact performance analysis of pressure controller's sealing interface in deep in-situ pressure-preserved coring system

The sealing performance of contact interfaces plays the most important role in the design and operation of the in-situ pressure-preserved coring system.To meet the demand of ultra-high pressure-retained coring for oil and gas exploration in deep reservoirs,a quantitative analysis of the contact mechanical behavior of the pressure controller was performed.Based on the micro-contact theory of rough surfaces,a three-dimensional numerical model of the rough contact interface between the valve cover and the valve seat was constructed,and the micro-contact behavior of the metal contact surfaces was comprehensively studied.The results show that the actual contact area of the valve interface increases with the increase of surface roughness before the critical contact point,but decreases after that.Compared with the real contact model with double rough surfaces,although the simplified hard-contact model with a single rough surface can reflect the micro-contact behavior of the rough surface to a certain extent,it cannot truly reveal the microchannel morphology between the sealing interfaces under pressure.Therefore,the realistic double-rough-surface model should be recommended to evaluate the sealing performance of coring tools,particularly for high pressure conditions.The material properties of valves have a significant effect on the contact characteristics of rough surfaces,which suggested that the actual contact area decreases with the increase of the elastic modulus of the contact material under the same loading conditions.The knowledge of this work could help to enhance the seal design of pressure controllers for in-situ pressure-preserved coring.

The Effect of Loading Rates on Crack Dynamic Behavior Under Medium-Low Speed Impacts

Rock structures are often subjected to dynamic loads,such as blasts,impacts and earthquakes,and their loading rates differ largely.To investigate the effect of loading rates on the dynamic behavior of crack propagation,impact tests were conducted on large single-cleavage semicircle compression(LSCSC)specimens using a drop weight impact test system.Five types of rock materials were selected to prepare the LSCSC specimens,and crack propagation gauges were mounted along the crack propagation paths to measure crack initiation time and propagation speeds.Finite element models were established by using ABAQUS code,and the dynamic stress intensity factors(SIFs)were calculated.The curves of dynamic SIFs versus time were obtained,and the initiation toughness was determined by using these curves and the initiation time measured in the impact tests.The results show that loading rate has a significant effect on crack propagation behavior,and both the crack propagation speed and initiation toughness increase with the loading rate,whereas the delayed fracture time decreases with the increase in loading rate.