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At least 451 records · Page 25

A Play-Based Exploration of CO 2 Storage in the Illinois Basin (Final Technical Report)

This report documents the results of "A Play-Based Exploration of CO₂ Storage in the Illinois Basin" (DE-FE0032366), a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management and conducted by the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in partnership with Visage Energy. The project adapted play-based exploration (PBE), a systematic basin-scale evaluation methodology from the petroleum industry, to screen areas of Illinois for commercial geologic carbon storage (GCS) in Cambro-Ordovician strata. The traditional play concept was expanded to encompass three play element groups, subsurface geologic factors, surface features, and societal factors, yielding 24 play elements with defensible suitability criteria applied through a five-tier classification scheme. An integrated geospatial database was assembled from ISGS, MGSC, MRCI, NATCARB, and public data sources, supported by significant data-improvement work including correction of legacy well locations, digitization of more than 1,300 well construction records using the DOE CATALOG team's OGRRE tool, compilation of a statewide 2D seismic database, and production of a refined fault and fold geodatabase.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Wavelength division multiplexing

Wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) represents an approach for expanding the communication capacity and for implementing special data techniques in a fiber optics system. This technology is implemented by adding optical sources of different wavelengths at optical transmitting locations. The present paper is concerned with some of the current efforts in WDM. WDM applications are related to long haul communications, local area data networks, spacecraft and aircraft data systems, fault tolerant computer networks, special sensor devices, high speed data processors, closed circuit and cable television, and submarine cable systems. Attention is given to the current state of wavelength division multiplexing applications, the availability and status of WDM components semiconductor lasers/transmitters, availability and status of fiber optic detectors/receivers, optical fibers/cables/connectors/taps/star couplers, wavelength multiplexers/demultiplexers, and future WDM for local area networks.

Hendricks, H. D.↗

Earthquake source mechanisms and transform fault tectonics in the Gulf of California

The source parameters of 19 large earthquakes in the Gulf of California were determined from inversions of long-period P and SH waveforms. The goal was to understand the recent slip history of this dominantly transform boundary between the Pacific and North American plates as well as the effect on earthquake characteristics of the transition from young oceanic to continental lithosphere. For the better recorded transform events, the fault strike is resolved to + or - 4 deg at 90 percent confidence. The slip vectors thus provide important constraints on the direction of relative plate motion. Most centroid depths are poorly resolved because of tradeoffs between depth and source time function. On the basis of waveform modeling, historical seismicity, and other factors, it is appropriate to divide the Gulf into three distinct zones. The difference in seismic character among the three zones is likely the result of differing levels of maturity of the processes of rifting, generation of oceanic crust, and formation of stable oceanic transform faults. The mechanism of an earthquake on the Tres Marias Escarpment is characterized by thrust faulting and likely indicates the direction of relative motion between the Rivera and North American plates. This mechanism requires revision in plate velocity models which predict strike slip motion at this location.

Goff, John A.↗

Advanced Diagnostic and Prognostic Testbed (ADAPT) Testability Analysis Report

As system designs become more complex, determining the best locations to add sensors and test points for the purpose of testing and monitoring these designs becomes more difficult. Not only must the designer take into consideration all real and potential faults of the system, he or she must also find efficient ways of detecting and isolating those faults. Because sensors and cabling take up valuable space and weight on a system, and given constraints on bandwidth and power, it is even more difficult to add sensors into these complex designs after the design has been completed. As a result, a number of software tools have been developed to assist the system designer in proper placement of these sensors during the system design phase of a project. One of the key functions provided by many of these software programs is a testability analysis of the system essentially an evaluation of how observable the system behavior is using available tests. During the design phase, testability metrics can help guide the designer in improving the inherent testability of the design. This may include adding, removing, or modifying tests; breaking up feedback loops, or changing the system to reduce fault propagation. Given a set of test requirements, the analysis can also help to verify that the system will meet those requirements. Of course, a testability analysis requires that a software model of the physical system is available. For the analysis to be most effective in guiding system design, this model should ideally be constructed in parallel with these efforts. The purpose of this paper is to present the final testability results of the Advanced Diagnostic and Prognostic Testbed (ADAPT) after the system model was completed. The tool chosen to build the model and to perform the testability analysis with is the Testability Engineering and Maintenance System Designer (TEAMS-Designer). The TEAMS toolset is intended to be a solution to span all phases of the system, from design and development through health management and maintenance. TEAMS-Designer is the model-building and testability analysis software in that suite.

Ossenfort, John↗

Using Satellite Soil Moisture and Rainfall in the Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness System

The Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness system(LHASA)gives a global view of landslide hazard in nearly real time. Currently, it is being upgraded from version 1 to version 2, which entails improvements along several dimensions. These include the incorporation of new predictors, machine learning, and new event-based landslide inventories. As a result, LHASA version 2 substantially improves on the prior performanceand introduces a probabilistic element to the global landslide nowcast. Data from the soil moisture active-passive (SMAP) satellite has been assimilated into a globally consistent data product with a latency less than 3 days, known as SMAP Level 4. In LHASA, thesedata representthe antecedent conditions prior to landslide-triggering rainfall. In some cases, soil moisture may have accumulated over aperiod of many months. The model behind SMAP Level 4 also estimates the amount of snow on the ground, which is an important factor in some landslide events. LHASA also incorporates this information as an antecedent condition that modulates the response torainfall. Slope, lithology, and active faults were also used as predictor variables. These factors can have a strong influence on where landslides initiate.LHASA relies on precipitation estimates from the Global Precipitation Measurement mission to identify the locations where landslides are most probable. The low latency and consistent global coverage of these data make them ideal for real-time applications at continental to global scales. LHASA relies primarily on rainfall from the last 24 hours to spothazardous sites, which is rescaled by the local 99thpercentile rainfall.However, the multi-day latency of SMAP requires the use of a 2-day antecedent rainfall variable to represent the accumulation of rain between the antecedent soil moisture and current rainfall. LHASA merges these predictors with XGBoost, a commonly used machine-learning tool, relying on historical landslide inventories to develop the relationship between landslide occurrence and various risk factors. The resulting model relies heavily on current daily rainfall, but other factors also play an important role. LHASA outputsthe probability oflandslide occurrence ona grid of roughly one kilometer over all continents from 60 North to 60 South latitude. Evaluation over the period 2019-2020 showsthat LHASA version 2 doubles the accuracy of the global landslide nowcast without increasing the global false alarm rate. LHASA also identifies the areas where the human exposure to landslide hazard is most intense. Landslide hazard is divided into 4 levels: minimal, low, moderate, and high. Next, the number of persons and the length of major roads (primary and secondary roads)within each of these areas is calculated for every second-level administrative district (county). These results can be viewedthrough a web portal hosted at the Goddard Space Flight Center. In addition, users can download daily hazard and exposure data.LHASAversion 2uses machine learning and satellite data to identify areas of probable landslide hazard within hours of heavy rainfall. Itsglobal maps are significantly more accurate, and it now includes rapid estimates of exposed populations and infrastructure. In addition, a forecast mode will be implemented soon.

Thomas Stanley↗

Crustal extension and transform faulting in the southern Basin Range Province

The author has identified the following significant results. Field reconnaissance and study of geologic literature guided by analysis of ERTS-1 MSS imagery have led to a hypothesis of tectonic control of Miocene volcanism, plutonism, and related mineralization in part of the Basin Range Province of southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. The easterly trending right-lateral Las Vegas Shear Zone separates two volcanic provinces believed to represent areas of major east-west crustal extension. One volcanic province is aligned along the Colorado River south of the eastern termination of the Las Vegas Shear Zone; the second province is located north of the western termination of the shear zone in southern Nye County, Nevada. Geochronologic, geophysical, and structural evidence suggests that the Las Vegas Shear Zone may have formed in response to crustal extension in the two volcanic provinces in a manner similar to the formation of a ridge-ridge transform fault, as recognized in ocean floor tectonics.

Liggett, M. A.↗

Ares I-X Ground Diagnostic Prototype

Automating prelaunch diagnostics for launch vehicles offers three potential benefits. First, it potentially improves safety by detecting faults that might otherwise have been missed so that they can be corrected before launch. Second, it potentially reduces launch delays by more quickly diagnosing the cause of anomalies that occur during prelaunch processing. Reducing launch delays will be critical to the success of NASA's planned future missions that require in-orbit rendezvous. Third, it potentially reduces costs by reducing both launch delays and the number of people needed to monitor the prelaunch process. NASA is currently developing the Ares I launch vehicle to bring the Orion capsule and its crew of four astronauts to low-earth orbit on their way to the moon. Ares I-X will be the first unmanned test flight of Ares I. It is scheduled to launch on October 27, 2009. The Ares I-X Ground Diagnostic Prototype is a prototype ground diagnostic system that will provide anomaly detection, fault detection, fault isolation, and diagnostics for the Ares I-X first-stage thrust vector control (TVC) and for the associated ground hydraulics while it is in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and on the launch pad. It will serve as a prototype for a future operational ground diagnostic system for Ares I. The prototype combines three existing diagnostic tools. The first tool, TEAMS (Testability Engineering and Maintenance System), is a model-based tool that is commercially produced by Qualtech Systems, Inc. It uses a qualitative model of failure propagation to perform fault isolation and diagnostics. We adapted an existing TEAMS model of the TVC to use for diagnostics and developed a TEAMS model of the ground hydraulics. The second tool, Spacecraft Health Inference Engine (SHINE), is a rule-based expert system developed at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. We developed SHINE rules for fault detection and mode identification. The prototype uses the outputs of SHINE as inputs to TEAMS. The third tool, the Inductive Monitoring System (IMS), is an anomaly detection tool developed at NASA Ames Research Center and is currently used to monitor the International Space Station Control Moment Gyroscopes. IMS automatically "learns" a model of historical nominal data in the form of a set of clusters and signals an alarm when new data fails to match this model. IMS offers the potential to detect faults that have not been modeled. The three tools have been integrated and deployed to Hangar AE at KSC where they interface with live data from the Ares I-X vehicle and from the ground hydraulics. The outputs of the tools are displayed on a console in Hangar AE, one of the locations from which the Ares I-X launch will be monitored. The full paper will describe how the prototype performed before the launch. It will include an analysis of the prototype's accuracy, including false-positive rates, false-negative rates, and receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves. It will also include a description of the prototype's computational requirements, including CPU usage, main memory usage, and disk usage. If the prototype detects any faults during the prelaunch period then the paper will include a description of those faults. Similarly, if the prototype has any false alarms then the paper will describe them and will attempt to explain their causes.

Schwabacher, Mark↗

Locating fast-varying line disturbances with the frequency mismatch

In an attempt to provide an efficient method for line disturbance identification in complex networks of diffusively coupled agents, we recently proposed to leverage the frequency mismatch. The frequency mismatch filters out the intricate combination of interactions induced by the network structure and quantifies to what extent the trajectory of each agent is affected by the disturbance. In this previous work, we provided some analytical evidence of its efficiency when the perturbation is assumed to be slow. Here we claim that the frequency mismatch performs actually well for most disturbance regimes. This is shown through a series of simulations and is backed up by an analytical argument. Therefore, we argue that the frequency mismatch is an efficient and elegant tool for line disturbance location in complex networks of diffusively coupled agents.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Report on High Energy Arcing Fault Experiments

This report documents an experimental program designed to investigate High Energy Arcing Fault (HEAF) phenomena for medium voltage electrical switchgear containing aluminum conductors. This report covers full-scale laboratory experiments using representative nuclear power plant (NPP) three-phase electrical equipment. Electrical, thermal, and pressure data were recorded for each experiment and documented in this report. This report covers four of the fourteen planned medium voltage electrical enclosure experiments. Subsequent reports will document the additional experiments performed in the future. The experiments were performed at KEMA Labs located in Chalfont, Pennsylvania. The experimental design, setup, and execution were completed by staff from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and KEMA. In addition, representatives from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) observed some of the experimental setups and execution. The HEAF experiments were performed on four near-identical units of General Electric metal-clad medium voltage switchgear. The three-phase arcing fault was initiated on the primary cable connection bus. All four experiments used the same system voltage (6.9 kV) but varied the current and duration. Real-time electrical operating conditions, including voltage, current and frequency, were measured during the experiments. Heat fluxes and incident energies were measured with plate thermometers and slug calorimeters at various locations around the electrical enclosures. Internal enclosure pressures were measured during the experiments. The experiments were documented with normal and high-speed videography, infrared imaging, and photography. Insights from the experimental series included timing information related to enclosure breach, event progression, mass loss measurements for electrodes and steel enclosures, peak pressure rise, particle analysis, along with visual and thermal imaging data to better understand and characterize the hazard. These results will be used in subsequent efforts to advance the state of knowledge related to HEAF.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Relation Inference among Sensor Time Series in Smart Buildings with Metric Learning

Smart Building Technologies hold promise for better livability for residents and lower energy footprints. Yet, the rollout of these technologies, from demand response controls to fault detection and diagnosis, significantly lags behind and is impeded by the current practice of manual identification of sensing point relationships, e.g., how equipment is connected or which sensors are co-located in the same space. This manual process is still error-prone, albeit costly and laborious.We study relation inference among sensor time series. Our key insight is that, as equipment is connected or sensors co-locate in the same physical environment, they are affected by the same real-world events, e.g., a fan turning on or a person entering the room, thus exhibiting correlated changes in their time series data. To this end, we develop a deep metric learning solution that first converts the primitive sensor time series to the frequency domain, and then optimizes a representation of sensors that encodes their relations. Built upon the learned representation, our solution pinpoints the relationships among sensors via solving a combinatorial optimization problem. Extensive experiments on real-world buildings demonstrate the effectiveness of our solution.

96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION↗

Structural and lithologic study of Northern Coast Range and Sacramento Valley, California

The author has identified the following significant results. Preliminary analysis of the data received has disclosed two potentially important northwest-trending systems of linear features within the Northern California Coast Ranges. A third system, which trends northeast, can be traced with great uncertainty across the alluviated part of the Sacramento Valley and into the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. These linear features may represent fault systems or zones of shearing. Of interest, although not yet verified, is the observation that some of the mercury concentrations and some of the geothermally active areas of California may be located at the intersection of the Central and the Valley Systems. One, perhaps two, stratigraphic unconformities within the Late Mesozoic sedimentary rocks were detected during preliminary examination of the imagery; however, more analysis is necessary in order to verify this preliminary interpretation. A heretofore unrecognized, large circular depression, about 15 km in diameter, was detected within the alluviated part of the Sacramento Valley. The depression is adjacent to a large laccolithic intrusion and may be geologically related to it. Changes in the photogeologic characteristics of this feature will continue to be monitored.

Rich, E. I.↗

Postseismic viscoelastic surface deformation and stress. Part 1: Theoretical considerations, displacement and strain calculations

A model of viscoelastic deformations associated with earthquakes is presented. A strike-slip fault is represented by a rectangular dislocation in a viscoelastic layer (lithosphere) lying over a viscoelastic half-space (asthenosphere). Deformations occur on three time scales. The initial response is governed by the instantaneous elastic properties of the earth. A slower response is associated with viscoelastic relaxation of the lithosphere and a yet slower response is due to viscoelastic relaxation of the asthenosphere. The major conceptual contribution is the inclusion of lithospheric viscoelastic properties into a dislocation model of earthquake related deformations and stresses. Numerical calculations using typical fault parameters reveal that the postseismic displacements and strains are small compared to the coseismic ones near the fault, but become significant further away. Moreover, the directional sense of the deformations attributable to the elastic response, the lithospheric viscoelastic softening, and the asthenospheric viscoelastic flow may differ and depend on location and model details. The results and theoretical arguments suggest that the stress changes accompanying lithospheric relaxation may also be in a different sense than and be larger than the strain changes.

Cohen, S. C.↗

Mission Services Evolution Center Message Bus

The Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC) Message Bus is a robust, lightweight, fault-tolerant middleware implementation that supports all messaging capabilities of the GMSEC API. This architecture is a distributed software system that routes messages based on message subject names and knowledge of the locations in the network of the interested software components.

Mayorga, Arturo↗

Plate motion in sheared granular fault system

Plate motion near the fault gouge layer, and the elastic interplay between the gouge layer and the plate under stick-slip conditions, is key to understanding the dynamics of sheared granular fault systems. Here, a two-dimensional implementation of the combined finite-discrete element method (FDEM), which merges the finite element method (FEM) and the discrete element method (DEM), is used to explicitly simulate a sheared granular gouge fault system. In this work we focus on investigating the influence of normal load, driving shear velocity and plate stiffness on the velocities and displacements in the direction parallel to the shear direction (x-direction) measured at locations on the upper and lower plates just adjacent to the gouge. The simulations show that during slip phases the magnitudes of the measured velocities on the upper and lower plates are proportional to the normal load and may be inversely proportional to the square root of the plate's shear modulus. Whereas, the driving shear velocity does not show distinct influence on the measured velocities. Additionally, large slip velocities are generally associated with large macroscopic friction coefficient drops. For the models subjected to smaller normal loads, larger shear velocities and with stiffer shear plates, the same magnitude of slip velocity could cause a larger drop of macroscopic friction coefficient. During stick phases, the velocities of the upper and lower plates are respectively slightly greater and slightly smaller than half of the driving shear velocity and are both in the same direction of shear. The shear strain rate of the gouge is calculated from this velocity difference between the upper and lower plate during stick phases and thus the gouge effective shear modulus can be calculated. The results show that the gouge effective shear modulus increases proportionally with normal load, while the influence of shear velocity and plate stiffness on gouge effective shear modulus is minor. The simulations address the dynamics of a laboratory-scale fault gouge system and may aid in revealing the complexities of earthquake frictional dynamics.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

Microseismicity Modulation Due To Changes in Geothermal Production at San Emidio, Nevada, USA

Brief cessations of geothermal production can induce seismicity, a phenomenon that has drawn increasing attention in recent years. Such observations are rare, and the underlying mechanism requires careful analysis. In April 2022, a dense seismic and hydrologic monitoring system was deployed at the San Emidio geothermal field, Nevada, to accompany a planned power plant shutdown. Using the dense seismic array data, we detected and located ∼1,800 microseismic events (MSEs) and developed a high-resolution tomographic P-wave velocity model. We observed substantially increased microseismicity during shutdown. Most MSEs occurred on pre-existing normal faults, which are contained within extremely low-velocity zones that are likely damaged, fluid-filled, and hydraulically connected to nearby production wells. Hydrologic data show rapid fluid pressure increases of <60 kPa following the shutdown. We suggest that the cessation of production rapidly increased fluid pressures along pre-existing fault zones, activating critically stressed fault patches and fractures and producing microseismicity.

Guo, Hao [University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI (Uni↗

Historical seismicity near Chagos - A complex deformation zone in the equatorial Indian Ocean

The historical seismicity of the Chagos region of the Indian Ocean is analyzed, using earthquake relocation methods and a moment variance technique to determine the focal mechanisms of quakes occurring before 1964. Moment variance analysis showed a thrust faulting mechanism associated with the earthquake of 1944 near the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge; a strike-slip mechanism was associated with a smaller 1957 event occurring west of the Chagos Bank. The location of the 1944 event, one of the largest intraplate earthquakes known (1.4 x 10 to the 27th dyne/cm), would imply that the Chagos seismicity is due to a zone of tectonic deformation stretching across the equatorial Indian Ocean. The possibility of a slow diffuse boundary extending west of the Central Indian Ridge is also discussed. This boundary is confirmed by recent plate motion studies which suggest that it separates the Australian plate from a single Indo-Arabian plate.

Wiens, D. A.↗

Diagnostic assessment of reservoir response to fracturing: a case study from Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site (HFTS) in Midland Basin

Abstract This paper outlines a data collection and diagnostics case study involving multiple horizontal shale wells. We look at well production profiles using rate transient analysis, differences in near wellbore complexity, geologic variations within the area of interest, as well as compositional differences in the rocks based on cores obtained from within the stimulated reservoir. The Hydraulic Fracturing Test Site is a multi-well experiment involving stimulation of unconventional shale wells in the southeastern Midland portion of the Permian Basin. The targeted formations include both the upper as well as the middle Wolfcamp formations, also referred alternatively as Wolfcamp A and Wolfcamp B. Data integration and analysis shared in this paper help us understand the various geologic controls impacting well productivity, particularly the wide variance observed between the Wolfcamp A and Wolfcamp B formations. Rate transient analysis indicates similar system permeabilities for stimulated wells. However, we observe higher effective fracture half-lengths for upper Wolfcamp wells. Using observations from 3D seismic interpretations (such as pad scale faults) as well as petrophysical and image log data, we highlight the substantial differences in stimulation as we move along the well laterals from the heel toward the toe sections. These differences are further reconciled with observations from zones with high data density at the core locations through stimulated rock, as well as independent data such as microseismic emissions. At the test site, Wolfcamp A was found to be relatively quartz rich with significant heterogeneity whereas Wolfcamp B is richer in clay and organic content. This impacts the geomechanical characteristics of the rock mass with much higher natural fracture density in the shallower interval. Thus, the fracture growth is more uniform in the deeper interval and more heterogeneous with branching likely in upper interval. Increased complexity also leads to consistently better productivity from the wells in the shallower interval as demonstrated from RTA results. This case study is unique because it provides valuable insights from actual sampling of the stimulated zones in hydraulically fractured wells and helps understand impact of various factors that contribute toward variability in well production. The findings from this study provides insights into need for optimization of completion designs in the various Wolfcamp landing zones, such as optimization of cluster or fracture spacing in various Wolfcamp intervals. In addition, it provides a useful template for data collection and research direction in future field test sites of similar nature in unconventional reservoirs.

Energy & Fuels↗

Report on High Energy Arcing Fault Experiments: Experimental Results from Low-Voltage Switchgear Enclosures

This report documents an experimental program designed to investigate High Energy Arcing Fault (HEAF) phenomena for low-voltage metal enclosed switchgear containing aluminum conductors. This report covers full-scale laboratory experiments using representative nuclear power plant (NPP) three-phase electrical equipment. Electrical, thermal, and pressure data were recorded for each experiment and documented in this report. This report covers experiments performed on two low-voltage switchgear units with each unit consisting of two vertical sections. The data collected supports characterization of the low-voltage HEAF hazard and these results will be used to support potential improvements in fire probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) methods. The experiments were performed at KEMA Labs located in Chalfont, Pennsylvania. The experimental design, setup, and execution were completed by staff from the NRC, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) and KEMA. In addition, representatives from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) observed some of the experimental setup and execution. The HEAF experiments were performed between August 26 and Augsut 29, 2019 on nearidentical Westinghouse Type DS low-voltage metal-enclosed indoor switchgear. The threephase arcing fault was initiated on the aluminum main bus or in select cases on the copper bus stabs near the breaker. These experiments used either nominal 480 volts AC or 600 volts AC. Durations of the experiments ranged from approximately 0.4 s to 8.3 s with fault currents ranging from approximately 9.2 kA to 19.3 kA. Real-time electrical operating conditions, including voltage, current and frequency, were measured during the experiments. Heat fluxes and incident energies were measured with plate thermometers, radiometers, and slug calorimeters at various locations around the electrical enclosures. Environmental measurements of breakdown, conductivity and electromagnetics were also taken. The experiments were documented with normal and high-speed videography, infrared imaging and photography. The results, while limited, indicated the difficulty in maintaining and sustaining low-voltage arcs on aluminum components of sufficient duration and at a single point as observed operating experience.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗