Fabrication and Testing of Apparatus for Laboratory Simulation of Alaska Frozen Rock Encountered during Hydrate Gas Reservoir Coring
Publication: Journal of Cold Regions Engineering
Volume 18, Issue 2
Abstract
Gas hydrates are inclusion compounds in which gas is trapped in ice. They are widely found in nature in permafrost and deep-sea sediments and hold huge potential as a methane gas resource. As a result, a National Methane Hydrate R&D program was launched in 2000 by the United States Department of Energy. One of the projects under the program, run by the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL/DOE DE-FC26-01NT41331), is to drill, core, and test one gas hydrate well in the Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River area of northern Alaska. In this project, cores are studied to gather field data on a hydrate reservoir in permafrost regions. Tests were required to develop coring techniques and handling procedures on frozen rocks prior to actual coring in Alaska. These tests were performed at a Houston research facility where frozen rocks were prepared using an apparatus fabricated to simulate hydrate reservoir in permafrost. The permafrost formation was simulated with a water-saturated sand pack, which was frozen using liquid nitrogen. Frozen rocks of up to 3.6 m (12 ft) high and 0.254 m (10 in.) diameter were prepared with the apparatus. The setup was designed and evaluated in several stages. First, a computer model was developed to understand the rock-freezing process. Then a prototype setup was constructed to have similar radial dimensions as the full-scale apparatus, but with a smaller height. Several experiments were performed to test the prototype and the full-scale apparatus. The apparatus has been successfully employed to prepare frozen rock, thereby assisting in development of improved coring methodology for Alaskan permafrost hydrates exploration.
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Copyright © 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 30, 2002
Accepted: Sep 16, 2003
Published online: May 14, 2004
Published in print: Jun 2004
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