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At least 217 records · Page 12

Utah FORGE Well 78B-32 Daily Drilling Reports and Logs

This data set includes the daily drilling reports and Pason data for well 78B-32 and Schlumberger logs acquired after drilling completion. This well was drilled between June 27th and July 31st of 2021. Also included is raw and processed data for a variety of well data metrics including temperature, porosity, density, and sonic data. This data was taken at the Utah FORGE site as part of the Utah FORGE project.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Machine-learning predictions of the shale wells’ performance

The ultra-low permeability nature of shale reservoirs leads to an extended linear flow and necessitates horizontal wells with multi-stage engineered fractures to efficiently extract hydrocarbons resources. These artificially-generated and naturally-occurring fractures form complex networks that create complex flow regimes which control oil production. These fractures are neither identical nor equally-spaced, which leads to a production profile with a masked onset of the boundary-dominated flow. The combination of the extended linear flow with the indeterminate onset of the boundary-dominated flow challenges the current deterministic analytic approaches to forecast the estimated ultimate recovery (EUR). In this work, we propose a novel machine-learning approach which overcomes these challenges and provides reliable EUR estimates based on field-wide analyses. We implement a novel unsupervised machine learning (ML) methodology, which allows for automatic identification of the optimal number of features (signals) present in the data based on non-negative matrix/tensor factorization coupled with k-means clustering incorporating regularization and physics constraints. In the presented analyses, the input data to the ML algorithm is the available (public) production history from the field collected at existing unconventional reservoirs. We validate our approach through hindcasting of the production data, where we achieved an excellent agreement. In addition, our approach is able to identify the poorly-performing wells, which could benefit from early refracing. Our approach provides fast and accurate estimations of the well performance without presumptions about the state of the well or the flow regime.

03 NATURAL GAS↗

Sampling in Long-Screened Wells: Issues, Misconceptions, and Solutions

The issues associated with long-screened wells (LSWs) (and open boreholes) at contaminated sites are well documented in the groundwater literature but are still not fully appreciated in practice. As established in seminal and review papers going back over three decades, the interpretation of sampling results from LSWs is challenging in the presence of vertical hydraulic gradients and borehole flow; furthermore, LSWs allow for vertical redistribution of contamination between aquifer layers. Acknowledgment of these issues has led to the development of new technologies and well designs to enable discrete-zone monitoring (DZM), yet LSWs remain common for many reasons, for example, as multipurpose wells, for geophysical logging, and (or) as legacy installations. Despite the literature on LSWs and despite the adoption of DZM at many sites, the use of LSWs persists and the challenges of interpreting sampling results from LSWs remain. In this issue paper, we provide a conceptual overview of the problems posed by LSWs and review existing literature and past work to improve the interpretation of sampling in LSWs. We draw on experience from previous studies at the Hanford Site in eastern WA, USA, and use synthetic examples to illustrate key concepts and challenges for interpretation. A recently published analytical modeling framework is used to develop illustrative synthetic examples and demonstrate a workflow for building scientific intuition to understand issues around interpreting samples from LSWs, which is critical to effective characterization and groundwater remediation at sites with LSWs.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗

FINAL TECHINICAL REPORT THUNDERING BUFFALO HEALTH AND WELLNESS CENTER

This U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Indian Energy supported project consists of energy conservation measures (ECMs) and a solar photovoltaic (PV) system to reduce cost of utility bills in a newly constructed Fort Peck Wellness Center, for use by tribal members in improving their physical and mental wellness. Construction of the building was outside the scope of the DOE supported project. A new 2-story wellness center was designed and constructed in Poplar, Montana. The wellness center is comprised of fitness areas, gymnasium, pool and spa, offices, and BOH support areas. The building was completed and has been operational for more than a year. A final measurement and verification of energy savings was completed after one year of operation and the results are presented herein, showing an energy savings 20% higher than the originally models indicated.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

Gravity Well Commercial Economics Assessment: Potential Revenue and Cost: Cooperative Research and Development (Final Report)

In the Gravity Well Revenue Study, we evaluate the potential revenue from energy storage using historical energy-only electricity prices, forward-looking projections of hourly electricity prices, and actual reported revenue. This analysis examines the impact of storage duration and round-trip efficiency, as well as the location of the storage, on storage revenue within the current and projected U.S. power system. We also investigated the impact of round-trip efficiency on storage revenue. We found that the relationship between storage revenue and round-trip efficiency is nonlinear. The value of improved round-trip efficiency declines as round-trip efficiency increases. In the Gravity Well Future Cost Study, we applied learning curves to predict the future cost trajectory of Gravity Wells (GrWs). Two types of analysis were implemented. The first was a bottom-up analysis that used historical learning rates for cost components, such as motors and gearboxes, and cost categories (e.g., engineering and design, etc.) to determine the learning-by-doing based single-factor learning curve. The single factor learning curve expresses the relationship between the cost of GrW and the number of units deployed (or the cumulative capacity). In the second analysis, we predicted future GrW costs via a top-down approach. This approach accounts for historical cost trends in other renewable energy and storage technologies, which have similarities with GrWs. Using a multifactor learning curve that accounts for both intrinsic (cumulative capacity) and extrinsic (the elasticity in the price of steel) factors, we estimated the future cost of GrWs.

25 ENERGY STORAGE↗

High Mobility and Electrostatics in GeSn Quantum Wells With SiGeSn Barriers

GeSn is an emerging material with potential applications in next‐generation integrated optoelectronics and quantum information processing. While GeSn/SiGeSn quantum wells exhibit promising optical properties, their electrical transport characteristics and governing electrostatics in gated structures remain unexplored. Heterostructure field‐effect transistors are fabricated using GeSn/SiGeSn quantum wells and electronic transport properties of 2D holes are characterized. At 2 K, heterostructure field‐effect transistors with well/barrier compositions of Ge 0.945 Sn 0.055 /Si 0.03 Ge 0.93 Sn 0.04 and Ge 0.9 Sn 0.1 /Si 0.017 Ge 0.927 Sn 0.056 , show peak mobilities of 9000 and 19 000 cm 2 /Vs, respectively, the latter setting a record for the highest mobility reported for GeSn quantum wells with a Sn concentration around 6 % or greater. Remarkably, at low carrier densities, devices with a SiGeSn barrier exhibit mobilities several times higher than previously reported for GeSn quantum wells with a Ge barrier. This higher mobility contrasts with the expectation that alloy scattering from the barrier would reduce carrier mobility. Two mechanisms based on atom probe tomography data analyses are proposed: i) unintentionally improved SiGeSn/GeSn interface and/or ii) reduced alloy scattering from short‐range order. Significant current–voltage hysteresis is observed, with the effective threshold gate voltage shifting by more than 5 V, attributed to non‐equilibrium trapped charge at various interfaces within the SiGeSn heterostructure.

GeSn↗

Establishing a silica gel zone in well annulus and evaluating its performance in blocking vertical water flow

Wells are often constructed for monitoring purposes with relatively long screen lengths (e.g., >10 m). Vertical water flows can occur within the artificial or natural filterpack annulus that surrounds the screened interval, bypassing packer assemblies installed inside the wellbore. Attempts to isolate discrete vertical zones during groundwater sampling are unsuccessful when annular flow occurs and lead to remedy decisions based on biased or incorrect interpretations. Blocking vertical annular water flow and contaminant transport will help obtain more accurate concentrations of contaminants from sampling in targeted depth intervals. The application of silica gels formed from the injected colloidal silica CS suspensions is a novel approach to minimize or prevent movement of vertical movement of groundwater in the surrounding filterpack annulus. In this work, we tested the feasibility of injecting CS suspensions to target locations and developed a modified CS formulation that is injectable and prevents gravity sinking. We studied the distribution and penetration of silica gel at laboratory scale in mock well annulus with surrounding formations. We evaluated the performance of the silica gel in blocking vertical water flow in the annulus and in minimizing chemical transport through the gel zone. CS suspension formulations have been defined that are ready for injection, stay in target locations, and form gel within desired time frames. Injection of CS suspensions achieved uniform distribution in a well annulus filter pack, fully occupied the annulus pore space, and penetrated the formation surrounding the filter packer with a sufficient distance to create a hydraulic annular seal when the injection was applied at a sufficient rate. The depth of penetration into the formation was dependent on the permeability contrast between the filter pack and the surrounding formation. Silica gel that formed in the annulus blocked vertical water flow and stopped the chemical transport through the gel zone. In conclusion, this research reveals that using CS suspension injection and sequential gelation (CS-GEL) is a promising technology for blocking vertical water flow and chemical transport through the filter pack in targeted zones within the annulus of long-screened well systems.

Colloidal silica suspension↗

Multilevel well modeling in aggregation-based nonlinear multigrid for multiphase flow in porous media

A full approximation scheme (FAS) nonlinear multigrid solver for two-phase flow and transport problems driven by wells with multiple perforations is developed here. It is an extension to our previous work on FAS solvers for diffusion and transport problems. The solver is applicable to discrete problems defined on unstructured grids as the coarsening algorithm is aggregation-based and algebraic. To construct coarse basis that can better capture the radial flow near wells, coarse grids in which perforated well cells are not near the coarse-element interface are desired. This is achieved by an aggregation algorithm proposed in this paper that makes use of the location of well cells in the cell-connectivity graph. Numerical examples in which the FAS solver is compared against Newton's method on benchmark problems are given. In particular, for a refined version of the SAIGUP model, the FAS solver is at least 35% faster than Newton's method for time steps with a CFL number greater than 10.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Dynamic modeling studies of basin-scale pressure interference and CO 2 plume evolution in multi-well geologic CO 2 storage

This research employs numerical modeling to analyze how CO 2 plumes and pressure fronts evolve when CO 2 is injected into a single storage formation from multiple projects located in proximity. Here, this analysis also evaluates the extent to which injection well spacing alleviates pressure buildup in the absence of active pressure management tactics. The simulation approach was based on a single, homogenous saline aquifer in which CO 2 injection occurs under a one-injector baseline case and several multi-well cases where well spacing varies. Analysis results show that the extent of pressure buildup is in the range of tens or a few hundreds of kilometers and contingent upon the defining pressure buildup demarcating the front edge. For the geological setting evaluated in this paper, our analysis suggests that without active basin pressure management strategies, commercial-scale projects would likely need to be sited far apart to avoid pressure interference from one another. Analysis results show the radius of CO 2 plume varies approximately from 2 to 3 km from injection wells (each injecting 1 Mt/year for 30 years) depending on cases and modeling parameters assumed. Given the pressure interference, this paper thus draws attention to the importance of greater coordination among storage operators and regulatory stakeholders. Because this analysis assumes a very specific geologic setting, this exploratory analysis bears further investigations across other geologic scenarios.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Characterization of Shallow, Undoped Ge/SiGe Quantum Wells Commercially Grown on 8-in. (100) Si Wafers

Hole spins in Ge quantum wells have shown success in both spintronic and quantum applications, thereby increasing the demand for high-quality material. We performed material analysis and device characterization of commercially grown shallow and undoped Ge/SiGe quantum well heterostructures on 8-in. (100) Si wafers. Material analysis reveals the high crystalline quality, sharp interfaces, and uniformity of the material. We demonstrate a high mobility (1.7 × 10 5 cm 2 V –1 s –1 ) 2D hole gas in a device with a conduction threshold density of 9.2 × 10 10 cm –2 . We study the use of surface preparation as a tool to control barrier thickness, density, mobility, and interface trap density. We report interface trap densities of 6 × 10 12 eV –1 . Our results validate the material’s high quality and show that further investigation into improving device performance is needed. We conclude that surface preparations which include weak Ge etchants, such as dilute H 2 O 2 , can be used for postgrowth control of quantum well depth in Ge-rich SiGe while still providing a relatively smooth oxide–semiconductor interface. Our results show that interface state density is mostly independent of our surface preparations, thereby implying that a Si cap layer is not necessary for device performance. Transport in our devices is instead limited by the quantum well depth. Commercially sourced Ge/SiGe, such as studied here, will provide accessibility for future investigations.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Origin of the $ν$ = 1/2 fractional quantum Hall effect in wide quantum wells

The nature of the fractional quantum Hall effect at ν = 1/2, observed in wide quantum wells al- most three decades ago, is still under debate. Previous studies have investigated it by the variational Monte Carlo method, which assumes that the transverse wave function and the gap between the symmetric and antisymmetric subbands obtained in a local density approximation at zero magnetic field remain valid even at high perpendicular magnetic fields; this method also ignores the effect of Landau level mixing. We develop in this work a three-dimensional fixed phase diffusion Monte Carlo method, which gives, in a single framework, the total energies of various candidate states in a finite width quantum well, including Landau level mixing, directly in a large magnetic field. This method can be applied to one-component states, and also to two-component states in the limit where the symmetric and antisymmetric bands are nearly degenerate. Our three-dimensional fixed-phase diffusion Monte Carlo calculations find that the one-component composite-fermion Fermi sea and the one-component Pfaffian states are very close in energy for a range of quantum well widths and densities, suggesting that the observed 1/2 fractional quantum Hall state in wide quantum wells is likely to be the one-component Pfaffian state. Furthermore, we hope that this will motivate further experimental studies of this state.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

EGS Collab Experiment 2: Testbed Well Orientation Data

This dataset contains the north seeking gyro data for each of the 11 boreholes drilled at the Experiment 2 testbed on the 4100 foot level of the SURF (Sanford Underground Research Facility). Each gyro file is in individual folders for each well. A single folder called 'E2 All Well Trajectories' contains the trajectories for all the wells but in the mine coordinate system. An image of the well layout is provided in a PowerPoint.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Supplementary Data for "Evaluation of the Economic Implications of Varied Pressure Drawdown Strategies Generated Using a Real-time, Rapid Predictive, Multi-fidelity Model for Unconventional Oil and Gas Wells" by Bello, K., Vikara, D., Sheriff, A., Viswanathan, H., Carr, T., Sweeney, M., O'Malley, D., Marquis, M., Vactor, R.T., and Cunha, L.

The Bello et al. study evaluates the impact of contrasting pressure drawdown on gas productivity and the resulting economics of a well in the Marcellus Shale of the Appalachian Basin. This research applies a techno-economic analysis approach to help identify potential ways pressure management strategies can be used to improve cumulative recovery of hydraulically fractured horizontal wells while maintaining project profitability. Gas production forecast outlook scenarios of the Marcellus Shale Energy and Environment Laboratory Laboratory's MIP-3H well were generated under varying pressure drawdowns using two approaches: 1) a novel physics-informed machine learning (PIML) workflow and 2) via traditional reservoir simulation in Computer Modeling Group’s (CMG) GEM Compositional & Unconventional Simulator. Cash flow and other economic metrics of interest were compiled on the production outlook using the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) Unconventional Shale Well Economic Model (UShWEM).The sheets within this Microsoft ExcelTM workbook provide the economic metric outputs for the baseline condition and the one-at-a-time (OAT) sensitivity analysis of UShWEM's input parameters for each of the production scenarios evaluated.

Fracture Network Model↗

Building a better framework for evaluating human well-being impacts in global change analysis: The example of energy security

Human well-being can be greatly impacted by the global environmental and socio-economic change captured in Integrated Models of Global Change (IMGCs). Though most IMGCs address some aspects of well-being, their underlying modeling approach and ‘philosophy’ differ widely, and some key elements – like energy security – are omitted. In this report, we describe a project in which we set out to a create a framework through which the well-being dimensions of the household are connected to key drivers of socio-economic and environmental change – and how the needed metrics, data and modeling methods can be brought to bear. We focus on the well-being dimensions of energy, and lay out the necessary elements to capturing household energy security – using household energy burden as the relevant metric. We begin by showing the conceptual linkage of energy burden to environmental drivers like temperature change, using a simple and straightforward conceptual framework. We then go further to use the example of GCAM-USA to show how some key analytical features of the model can provide insight into how energy security across different groups can change along alternative pathways to sustainability. We compare our preliminary assessment of household energy burden to existing data and suggest further steps to improve and refine this analysis in future research.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Toward Drilling the Perfect Geothermal Well: An International Research Coordination Network for Geothermal Drilling Optimization Supported by Deep Machine Learning and Cloud Based Data Aggregation

The EDGE project, supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Geothermal Technologies Office under award DE-EE0008793, established a data-driven framework for improving the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and reliability of geothermal well drilling. The project focused on developing scalable data infrastructure, advanced machine learning and probabilistic models, and integrated analytics tools to support continuous drilling optimization. A central objective was to reduce geothermal drilling costs by up to seventy percent while minimizing the risk of well failure through predictive diagnostics and adaptive planning. Over the project period, a comprehensive data repository was designed and deployed, incorporating records from over one hundred geothermal wells across varied geological settings. This repository supported both structured and unstructured data and adhered to FAIR data principles, enabling provenance tracking, quality control, and standardized metadata. The project introduced automated ingestion pipelines and a cloud-hosted platform that facilitated access to raw, processed, and derived datasets. This infrastructure served as the foundation for model development and analysis. Machine learning workflows were developed to predict key drilling metrics including rate of penetration, non-productive time, and total drilling costs. Self-organizing maps and dimensionality reduction methods were used to uncover operational patterns and outliers, while supervised learning algorithms such as random forests and deep neural networks were applied to forecast performance outcomes. The models were validated on heterogeneous datasets from both U.S. and Icelandic fields, demonstrating variable but significant predictive accuracy. The results indicated that finer temporal resolution, inclusion of lithological data, and consistency in operational annotations could substantially improve model performance. The project also implemented process mining techniques to reconstruct state-transition models from drilling event logs. These models enabled the identification of deviations from optimal workflows and provided insights into recurring failure modes. Analysis of non-productive time highlighted the impact of equipment failures, geological challenges, and human factors, offering opportunities for targeted mitigation strategies. The EDGE Dashboard was developed as a web-based expert system integrating data visualization, model outputs, and user-driven queries. It provided an accessible interface for operators to explore historical data, evaluate predicted outcomes, and compare drilling scenarios. Initial feedback from project partners suggested that the dashboard could serve as a foundation for more advanced advisory and optimization tools. Overall, the EDGE project demonstrated the feasibility and value of applying modern data science techniques to geothermal drilling. It delivered a set of interoperable tools and models that can support more efficient, lower-risk well development. The findings point toward a viable path for transitioning from advisory analytics to semi-autonomous drilling systems, contingent on continued collaboration, expanded datasets, and field validation. The project results have immediate relevance for drilling operations, data management practices, and future geothermal R&D efforts aimed at achieving reliable, cost-competitive geothermal energy at scale.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Unconventional Wells Interference: Supervised Machine Learning for Detecting Fracture Hits

The primary objective of the study was development of a machine learning (ML)-based workflow for fracture hit (“frac hit”) detection and monitoring using shale oil-field data such as drilling surveys, production history (oil and produced water), pressure, and fracking start time and duration records. The ML method takes advantage of long short-term memory (LSTM) and multilayer perceptron (MLP) neural networks to identify the frac hits due to hydraulic communication between the fracking child well(s) and the producing parent well(s) within the same pad (intra-pad interaction) and/or on different pads (inter-pad interaction). It utilizes time series of pressure and production data from within a pad and from adjacent pads. The workflow can capture time variable features of frac hits when the model architecture is deep and wide enough, with enough trainable parameters for deep learning and feature extraction, as demonstrated in this paper by using training and testing subsets of the field data from selected neighboring pads with over a couple of hundred wells. The study was focused on frac-hit interaction among paired wells and demonstrated that the ML model, once trained, can predict the frac-hit probability.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Effect of Computational Schemes on Coupled Flow and Geo-Mechanical Modeling of CO 2 Leakage through a Compromised Well

Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) describes a set of technically viable processes to separate carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) from industrial byproduct streams and inject it into deep geologic formations for long-term storage. Legacy wells located within the spatial domain of new injection and production activities represent potential pathways for fluids (i.e., CO 2 and aqueous phase) to leak through compromised components (e.g., through fractures or micro-annulus pathways). The finite element (FE) method is a well-established numerical approach to simulate the coupling between multi-phase fluid flow and solid phase deformation interactions that occur in a compromised well system. We assumed the spatial domain consists of a three-phases system: a solid, liquid, and gas phase. For flow in the two fluids phases, we considered two sets of primary variables: the first considering capillary pressure and gas pressure (PP) scheme, and the second considering liquid pressure and gas saturation (PS) scheme. Fluid phases were coupled with the solid phase using the full coupling (i.e., monolithic coupling) and iterative coupling (i.e., sequential coupling) approaches. The challenge of achieving numerical stability in the coupled formulation in heterogeneous media was addressed using the mass lumping and the upwinding techniques. Numerical results were compared with three benchmark problems to assess the performance of coupled FE solutions: 1D Terzaghi’s consolidation, Liakopoulos experiments, and the Kueper and Frind experiments. We found good agreement between our results and the three benchmark problems. For the Kueper and Frind test, the PP scheme successfully captured the observed experimental response of the non-aqueous phase infiltration, in contrast to the PS scheme. These exercises demonstrate the importance of fluid phase primary variable selection for heterogeneous porous media. We then applied the developed model to the hypothetical case of leakage along a compromised well representing a heterogeneous media. Considering the mass lumping and the upwinding techniques, both the monotonic and the sequential coupling provided identical results, but mass lumping was needed to avoid numerical instabilities in the sequential coupling. Additionally, in the monolithic coupling, the magnitude of primary variables in the coupled solution without mass lumping and the upwinding is higher, which is essential for the risk-based analyses.

deformation flow↗

Subsurface Characterization for Evaluating Geothermal Resource Potential from Existing Oil and Gas Wells in Tuttle, Oklahoma: Preprint

Oil and gas (O&G) wells often encounter co-produced hot water, possibly suitable for geothermal direct-use applications. The City of Tuttle is located on the eastern part of the Anadarko sedimentary basin in Oklahoma with high heat-in-place potential and recovery capability at depth. This study aims at demonstrating the potential of geothermal energy production for direct-use applications in two public schools and 250 nearby houses in Tuttle via repurposing existing O&G wells. In this scope, geochemistry, geology, and borehole log data were collected and incorporated into a 3D conceptual subsurface model. A digital elevation model (DEM) was used to represent the study area topography with four O&G wells. In addition, hydrogeochemical characteristics of the geothermal fluid and scaling potential were analyzed using ternary diagrams and chemical ratios to develop mixing models. The subsurface geology model indicated that the study area primarily consists of Permian to Mississippian Sandstone and Limestone formations, implying a porosity ranging between 12% and 22%, and a permeability up to 3.90E-14 m2 in certain reservoir levels. The reservoir temperature is expected to be ranging between 80 degrees C to 95 degrees C around 3 km depth with an average temperature gradient of 22.8 degrees C/km. Chemical geothermometers also estimated the reservoir temperature as 90 degrees C. Findings of the chemical model demonstrated that the geothermal fluid is Sodium-Potassium-Chloride-Sulfate type and possibly mixed with shallow groundwater resulting in higher Ca and Mg concentrations and lower Na/K ratio implying lower calcite scaling. These results comprehensively characterize the potential of geothermal resources in the study area and imply that geothermal energy production by repurposing existing O&G wells is suitable for low-temperature direct-use applications.

GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗