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
From Spreadsheets to Multiphysics Applications, ABB Continues to Power Up the Transformer Industry
The buzzing sound you sometimes hear when walking past high-voltage transmission lines is caused by transformers used ...
Light, Strong, and Defect-Free Laser Welding: Perfecting the Process for the Automotive Industry
Dozens of safety features in modern automobiles help reduce risk while driving, but regardless of their complexity, ...
Application Builder and COMSOL Server: A Review
William Vetterling, research fellow and manager of the Image Science Laboratory at Zink Imaging, created an intuitive ...
Designing a Lightweight Hyperloop Pod with Composite Materials
The EPFLoop team competed at the 2019 SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition with a Hyperloop pod that was half the weight ...
