• Geosciences Journal
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.1027-1039
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• 2018

Seismic attributes are often used to identify lithology and evaluate reservoir properties. However, interpretation based only on structural attributes and without knowledge of the Vp/Vs ratio can limit the ability to evaluate changes in heavy oil reservoirs. These limitations are often due to less obvious impedance differences. In order to investigate pieces of evidence of a heavy-oil shaly-sand reservoir from seismic data, besides geochemistry, we studied seismic attributes and characterized the reservoir using seismic stack data and well logging data. The study area was the Muglad rift basin in South Sudan. We conducted a seismic complex analysis to evaluate the target reservoir. To delineate the frequency responses of the different lithological units, we applied the spectral decomposition method to the target reservoir. The most unexpected result was continuous bands of strong seismic reflectors in the target reservoir, which extended across the borehole. Spectral decomposition analysis showed that the low-frequency zone of 25 Hz dominant frequency was consistent with instantaneous attributes. This approach can identify lithology, reveal frequency anomalies, and filter the stacked section into low- and high-frequency bands. The heavy-oil reservoir zones exhibited velocity attenuation and the amplitude was strongly frequency dependent.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.39-48
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• 2018

This study presents optimal design of gas lift considering composition of reservoir oil and injected gas which can affect gas lift performance in offshore oil reservoir. Reservoir simulation was conducted by using reservoir models which were built in accordance with API gravity of oil. The results of simulation reveal that oil production rate is considerably increased by gas lift when the reservoir productivity decrease. As a results of response curve analysis for gas lift using well models, gas injection rate to improve the production rate increases as the API gravity of oil decreases and the specific gravity of injected gas increases. The optimal design of gas lift was carried out using multiple lift valves. Consequently, gas lift can be operated at relatively low injection pressure because of decrease in injection depth in comparison to the single lift valve design. The improved oil production rates were analyzed by coupling between reservoir model and well model. As a results of the coupling, it is expected that natural gas injection in the heavy oil reservoir is the most efficient method for improving oil production by gas lift.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.9 no.5
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• pp.645-667
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• 2015

Single treatment and staged treatments in vertical wells are widely applied in sandstone and mudstone thin interbedded (SMTI) reservoir to stimulate the reservoir. The keys and difficulties of stimulating this category of formations are to avoid hydraulic fracture propagating through the interface between shale and sand as well as control the fracture height. In this paper, the cohesive zone method was utilized to build the 3-dimensional fracture dynamic propagation model in shale and sand interbedded formation based on the cohesive damage element. Staged treatments and single treatment were simulated by single fracture propagation model and double fractures propagation model respectively. Study on the changes of fracture vicinity stress field during propagation is to compare and analyze the parameters which influence the interfacial induced stresses between two different fracturing methods. As a result, we can prejudge how difficult it is that the fracture propagates along its height direction. The induced stress increases as the pumping rate increasing and it changes as a parabolic function of the fluid viscosity. The optimized pump rate is $4.8m^3/min$ and fluid viscosity is $0.1Pa{\cdot}s$ to avoid the over extending of hydraulic fracture in height direction. The simulation outcomes were applied in the field to optimize the treatment parameters and the staged treatments was suggested to get a better production than single treatment.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 2008

As conventional oil and gas reservoirs become depleted, interests for oil sands has rapidly increased in the last decade. Oil sands are mixture of bitumen, water, and host sediments of sand and clay. Most oil sand is unconsolidated sand that is held together by bitumen. Bitumen has hydrocarbon in situ viscosity of >10,000 centipoises (cP) at reservoir condition and has API gravity between $8-14^{\circ}$. The largest oil sand deposits are in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. The reverves are approximated at 1.7 trillion barrels of initial oil-in-place and 173 billion barrels of remaining established reserves. Alberta has a number of oil sands deposits which are grouped into three oil sand development areas - the Athabasca, Cold Lake, and Peace River, with the largest current bitumen production from Athabasca. Principal oil sands deposits consist of the McMurray Fm and Wabiskaw Mbr in Athabasca area, the Gething and Bluesky formations in Peace River area, and relatively thin multi-reservoir deposits of McMurray, Clearwater, and Grand Rapid formations in Cold Lake area. The reservoir sediments were deposited in the foreland basin (Western Canada Sedimentary Basin) formed by collision between the Pacific and North America plates and the subsequent thrusting movements in the Mesozoic. The deposits are underlain by basement rocks of Paleozoic carbonates with highly variable topography. The oil sands deposits were formed during the Early Cretaceous transgression which occurred along the Cretaceous Interior Seaway in North America. The oil-sands-hosting McMurray and Wabiskaw deposits in the Athabasca area consist of the lower fluvial and the upper estuarine-offshore sediments, reflecting the broad and overall transgression. The deposits are characterized by facies heterogeneity of channelized reservoir sands and non-reservoir muds. Main reservoir bodies of the McMurray Formation are fluvial and estuarine channel-point bar complexes which are interbedded with fine-grained deposits formed in floodplain, tidal flat, and estuarine bay. The Wabiskaw deposits (basal member of the Clearwater Formation) commonly comprise sheet-shaped offshore muds and sands, but occasionally show deep-incision into the McMurray deposits, forming channelized reservoir sand bodies of oil sands. In Canada, bitumen of oil sands deposits is produced by surface mining or in-situ thermal recovery processes. Bitumen sands recovered by surface mining are changed into synthetic crude oil through extraction and upgrading processes. On the other hand, bitumen produced by in-situ thermal recovery is transported to refinery only through bitumen blending process. The in-situ thermal recovery technology is represented by Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage and Cyclic Steam Stimulation. These technologies are based on steam injection into bitumen sand reservoirs for increase in reservoir in-situ temperature and in bitumen mobility. In oil sands reservoirs, efficiency for steam propagation is controlled mainly by reservoir geology. Accordingly, understanding of geological factors and characteristics of oil sands reservoir deposits is prerequisite for well-designed development planning and effective bitumen production. As significant geological factors and characteristics in oil sands reservoir deposits, this study suggests (1) pay of bitumen sands and connectivity, (2) bitumen content and saturation, (3) geologic structure, (4) distribution of mud baffles and plugs, (5) thickness and lateral continuity of mud interbeds, (6) distribution of water-saturated sands, (7) distribution of gas-saturated sands, (8) direction of lateral accretion of point bar, (9) distribution of diagenetic layers and nodules, and (10) texture and fabric change within reservoir sand body.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.57 no.6
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• pp.883-890
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• 2019

Two-phase flow near the wellbore in volatile oil reservoirs causes complications in well test analysis. In this study, the flow behavior of volatile oil reservoirs below the bubble-point pressure and the potential of radial composite model for interpretation of two-phase well test in volatile oil reservoirs was investigated. A radial composite model was used for two-phase well test analysis. A new procedure was developed to interpret well test data and estimate the radius of the two-phase region. The changes in fluid composition near the wellbore during drawdown test were found to increase the saturation pressure, which affects the saturation profile during build-up. Well test results showed that the radial composite method is a powerful tool for well test characterization and estimation of reservoir parameters. The proposed procedure was able to estimate the reservoir parameters and radius of the two-phase region with acceptable accuracy.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.403-430
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• 2014

Shale gas formations exhibit strong mechanical and strength anisotropies. Thus, it is necessary to study the effect of anisotropy on the hydraulic fracture initiation pressure. The calculation model for the in-situ stress of the bedding formation is improved according to the effective stress theory. An analytical model of the stresses around wellbore in shale gas reservoirs, in consideration of stratum dip direction, dip angle, and in-situ stress azimuth, has been built. Besides, this work established a calculation model for the stress around the perforation holes. In combination with the tensile failure criterion, a prediction model for the hydraulic fracture initiation pressure in the shale gas reservoirs is put forward. The error between the prediction result and the measured value for the shale gas reservoir in the southern Sichuan Province is only 3.5%. Specifically, effects of factors including elasticity modulus, Poisson's ratio, in-situ stress ratio, tensile strength, perforation angle (the angle between perforation direction and the maximum principal stress) of anisotropic formations on hydraulic fracture initiation pressure have been investigated. The perforation angle has the largest effect on the fracture initiation pressure, followed by the in-situ stress ratio, ratio of tensile strength to pore pressure, and the anisotropy ratio of elasticity moduli as the last. The effect of the anisotropy ratio of the Poisson's ratio on the fracture initiation pressure can be ignored. This study provides a reference for the hydraulic fracturing design in shale gas wells.

• Coupled systems mechanics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.147-168
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• 2019

This work aims to simulate three-dimensional heavy oil flow in a reservoir with heater-wells. Mass, momentum and energy balances, as well as correlations for rock and fluid properties, are used to obtain non-linear partial differential equations for the fluid pressure and temperature, and for the rock temperature. Heat transfer is simulated using a two-equation model that is more appropriate when fluid and rock have very different thermal properties, and we also perform comparisons between one- and two-equation models. The governing equations are discretized using the Finite Volume Method. For the numerical solution, we apply a linearization and an operator splitting. As a consequence, three algebraic subsystems of linearized equations are solved using the Conjugate Gradient Method. The results obtained show the suitability of the numerical method and the technical feasibility of heating the reservoir with static equipment.

• Journal of Drive and Control
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.32-37
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• 2021

The piston reservoir is mainly used in hydraulic blow-down system for aerospace engineering. The reservoir is heavy due to both hydraulic cylinder and piston in pressurization. The positive expulsion tank with rubber diaphragm has been mostly applied propellant and fuel tank at low pressure to satellites. To reduce weight, the reservoir that can be used at high pressure with rubber diaphragm was developed. In this research, the prediction of life-time for the rubber diaphragm was implemented through an accelerated life test, as a part of development of new reservoir. Also, the diaphragm was stored in an temperature chamber at the same condition as and operation with hydraulic oil. As a result, the life-time for a rubber diaphragm was successfully evaluated via Arrhenius law and Time-Temperature Superposition based on failure times over temperatures in the accelerated test.

• The Korean Journal of Petroleum Geology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.12-20
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• 2008

Oil sands in Canada are representative example of unconventional resources whose reserve estimates are as large as those in Saudi Arabia. Typical reservoir rocks of oil sands consist of channel-related deposits formed in a tide-dominated depositional setting. The tidal deposits are commonly characterized by spatially complicated and heterogeneous properties. Successful engineering methods to develop oil sands require in-depth understanding in the spatial distribution of reservoir properties. Geological model for oil sand reservoir characterization can be built on the basis of comparative studies of ancient and modem analogues. In particular, modern analogue studies become increasingly indispensable, since they provide better understanding in the reservoir-rock forming process and more importantly in the external mechanism responsible for the reservoir heterogeneity. Tide-dominated environment along the west coast of Korea is considered as one of the most excellent modem analogues of oil-sand forming depositional environment. Korean tidal environment provides insights on the origin of mud breccia, facies and stratigraphic architecture which are key issues to the characterization of oil sand reservoirs.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.19 no.8
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• pp.110-116
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• 2020

Aircraft hydraulic oil reservoirs made with aluminum 7075 have an anodized coating to enable airtightness and corrosion resistance. To maintain a stable oil pressure, the internal surface roughness of the reservoir should be less than approximately 0.2 ㎛. To this end, precision polishing must be performed. However, ensuring the processing quality is challenging, as most polishing operations are performed manually, owing to which, the inner surface roughness is not uniform, and the product quality is irregular. Therefore, we developed a special superfinishing machine to realize the efficient inner polishing of an aircraft hydraulic oil reservoir, by using an abrasive film to improve the process throughput and uniformity. In the experiment involving the superfinishing of an anodized aluminum 7075 cylinder specimen by using the proposed machine, a higher surface roughness than that achieved in the repetitive manual polishing process could be realized.