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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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24 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Induced Polarization of Clayey Rocks and Soils: Non‐Linear Complex Conductivity Models

Abstract The past decades have witnessed the increased applications of induced polarization (IP) method in the critical zone studies with ubiquitous clay minerals. Although IP outperforms traditional electrical and electromagnetic methods through its unique ability to measure quadrature conductivity, the nonlinearity that quadrature conductivity behaves with salinities and frequencies greatly tortures IP practitioners, as (a) salinity‐dependency makes the quadrature conductivity a varyingly unstable parameter to quantitatively estimate hydraulic properties and clay content; (b) frequency‐dependent Cole‐Cole and Debye/Warburg decomposition models, although mathematically sound, physically mingle the properties of pore water and clay minerals and are empirical in nature. From basic principles, we demonstrate that quadrature conductivity remains a hybrid property involving both clay and water, and develop relevant models to distinguish them. Our models are validated by theories, experiments, simulations, and comparisons, all of which proclaim considerable advantages over previous models and offer the prospect of quantitative applications.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electrical Resistivity Changes During Heating Experiments Unravel Heterogeneous Thermal‐Hydrological‐Mechanical Processes in Salt Formations

Abstract Rock salt is considered a suitable medium for the permanent disposal of heat‐generating radioactive waste due to its isolation properties. However, excavation damage and heating induce complex and heterogeneous thermal‐hydrological‐mechanical (THM) processes across different zones. Quantifying this heterogeneity is crucial for accurate long‐term performance assessment models, but traditional methods lack the necessary resolution. This study employs 4D electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) monitoring during controlled heating experiments in a salt formation to unravel the spatiotemporal dynamics of THM processes. Advanced time‐lapse inversion and clustering analysis quantify subsurface properties and map the heterogeneity of THM dynamics. The ERT results can estimate subsurface properties and delineate the damaged and intact zones, enabling appropriate parameterization and representation of processes for long‐term modeling. This approach may be used in further improving the predictive models and ensuring the safe long‐term disposal of radioactive waste in rock salt.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2026

Complex Electrical Conductivity of a Single‐Fractured Rock: Fracture‐and‐Matrix Coupling Mechanism and Aperture Size Predictions

Fractured rocks play a crucial role in myriad natural and engineered systems, including Earth's critical zone, oil/gas/geothermal reservoirs, and geological CO 2 /H 2 /waste storage systems. While complex electrical conductivity is extensively used to estimate the pore and grain sizes of conventional porous rocks and soils, it is rarely used to predict the aperture size of fractured rocks and this remains poorly understood. Here, integrating theory, simulations, and experiments, we show that under external fields, fractured rocks follow the fracture-and-matrix coupling to make the bulk complex conductivity non-linear with respect to water conductivity. We find that the relaxation time and quadrature conductivity for porous media do not apply to fractured rocks, but, instead, reasonably accurate predictions of aperture size can be made based on the true formation factor. This study unravels the fundamental mechanism governing conduction and polarization of fractured rocks and paves the way for the non-invasive investigation of global fractured rocks.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

Using onset times from frequent seismic surveys to understand fluid flow at the Peace River Field, Canada

With our limited knowledge of the relationship between changes in the state of an aquifer or reservoir and the corresponding changes in the elastic moduli, that is the rock physics model, hampers the effective use of time-lapse seismic observations for estimating flow properties within the Earth. A central problem is the complicated dependence of the magnitude of time-lapse changes on the saturation, pressure, and temperature changes within an aquifer or reservoir. We describe an inversion methodology for reservoir characterization that uses onset times, the calendar time of the change in seismic attributes, rather than the magnitude of the changes. We find that onset times are much less sensitive than magnitudes to the rock physics model used to relate time-lapse observations to changes in saturation, temperature and fluid pressure. We apply the inversion scheme to observations from daily monitoring of enhanced oil recovery at the Peace River field in Canada. An array of 1492 buried hydrophones record seismic signals from 49 buried sources. Time-shifts for elastic waves traversing the reservoir are extracted from the daily time-lapse cubes. In our analysis 175 images of time-shifts are transformed into a single map of onset times, leading to a substantial reduction in the volume of data. These observations are used in conjunction with bottom hole pressure data to infer the initial conditions prior to the injection, and to update the reservoir permeability model. The combination of a global and local inversion scheme produces a collection of reservoir models that are best described by three clusters. The updated model leads to a nearly 70 percent reduction in seismic data misfit. The final set of solutions successfully predict the observed normalized pressure history during the soak and flow-back into the wells between 82 and 175 days into the cyclic steaming operation.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2020

A semblance measure for model comparison

Algorithmic and computational advances have made it possible that geophysical survey and earth model design can be aided by many systematic trial inverse-modelling runs with synthetic data. Such may, for example, come up in machine-learning approaches. Automated image appraisal pertaining to such applications will involve common statistical tests for goodness-of-data fit as a primary evaluation method. However, solution non-uniqueness may render multiple images equivalent in terms of their data fit, requiring secondary categorizers. A logical choice for classifying synthetic-imaging results quantifies the goodness of model fit where a known reference model replaces the observational input. The task of model intercomparison in terms of measuring the resemblance to the reference model poses challenges to common distance-based metrics like root mean square error and mean absolute error. First, distance-based metrics can introduce spurious contributions when smooth models with fuzzy target contours are to be compared against a sharp reference. Second, large differences due to parameter-estimation overshoots can dominate distance metrics. Here, we propose a remedy that is referred to as semblance and is based on the idea of logistic functions, where a binary-dependent variable adds non-zero or zero accumulation terms for the, respectively, passing or failing of preset target thresholds. This classifying approach is amenable to an objective where model feature recognition is primary. Numerical comparisons to distance-based metrics provide evidence for the advantages of the semblance in view of this objective. Geophysical imaging in conjunction with machine-learning is seen as a benefitting upcoming application area.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2025

An alternative electrode design for accurate spectral induced polarization measurements in variably saturated porous media

SUMMARY Applications of spectral induced polarization (SIP) require electrodes that maintain hydrologic contact with surrounding soils to capture small electrical responses, often observed as phase shifts in milliradians. For unsaturated soils, electrodes must overcome increased electrical contact impedance due to reduced pore fluid. Traditional designs use a ceramic membrane electrode (CME) with a water reservoir and metal conductor, requiring periodic maintenance to retain electrolytic solution. For field applications where maintenance is impractical, alternative designs are needed. This study evaluated a new electrode design (silica flour electrode, SFE) alongside a CME. SFEs use packed silica flour to store water via capillary forces against a metal conductor. This study examined both designs in three variably saturated soils at soil suctions up to 700 mbar and soil water contents below 1 percent, with SIP measurements across 0.01 to 10 000 Hz frequencies. SFEs match CMEs at high frequencies and perform better at lower frequencies, without requiring ongoing maintenance, making them ideal for field use. In water-only experiments, CMEs produced errors and high noise below 1.5 Hz, whereas SFEs were more accurate. However, CMEs performed better above 300 Hz. In fine sand, SFEs performed better due to the relatively lower contact impedance as compared to CMEs. Both electrode types performed comparably in silty sand and silt loam soils, although CMEs required ongoing maintenance, suggesting potential for long-term reliability issues.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗