This report documents the development of the Blue Canyon Dome (BCD) testbed, including test site selection, development, instrumentation, and logistical considerations. The BCD testbed was designed for small-scale explosive tests (~5 kg TNT equivalence maximum) for the purpose of comparing diagnostic signals from different types of explosives, the assumption being that different chemical explosives would generate different signatures on geophysical and other monitoring tools. The BCD testbed is located at the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center near Socorro, New Mexico. Instrumentation includes an electrical resistivity tomography array, geophones, distributed acoustic sensing, gas samplers, distributed temperature sensing, pressure transducers, and high-speed cameras. This SAND report is a reference for BCD testbed development that can be cited in future publications.
Wellbore integrity is a significant problem in the U.S. and worldwide, which has serious adverse environmental and energy security consequences. Wells are constructed with a cement barrier designed to last about 50 years. Indirect measurements and models are commonly used to identify wellbore damage and leakage, often producing subjective and even erroneous results. The research presented herein focuses on new technologies to improve monitoring and detection of wellbore failures (leaks) by developing a multi-step machine learning approach to localize two types of thermal defects within a wellbore model, a prototype mechatronic system for automatically drilling small diameter holes of arbitrary depth to monitor the integrity of oil and gas wells in situ, and benchtop testing and analyses to support the development of an autonomous real-time diagnostic tool to enable sensor emplacement for monitoring wellbore integrity. Each technology was supported by experimental results. This research has provided tools to aid in the detection of wellbore leaks and significantly enhanced our understanding of the interaction between small-hole drilling and wellbore materials.
Fu, Pengcheng; Schoenball, Martin; Ajo-Franklin, Jonathan B.; Chai, Chengping; Maceira, Monica; Morris, Joseph P.; Wu, Hui; Knox, Hunter; Schwering, Paul C.; White, Mark D.; Burghardt, Jeffrey A.; Strickland, Christopher E.; Johnson, Timothy C.; Vermeul, Vince R.; Sprinkle, Parker; Roberts, Benjamin; Ulrich, Craig; Guglielmi, Yves; Cook, Paul J.; Dobson, Patrick F.; Wood, Todd; Frash, Luke P.; Ingraham, Mathew D.; Pope, Joseph S.; Smith, Megan M.; Neupane, Ghanashyam; Doe, Thomas W.; Roggenthen, William M.; Horne, Roland; Singh, Ankush; Zoback, Mark D.; Wang, Herb; Condon, Kate; Ghassemi, Ahmad; Chen, Hao; Mcclure, Mark W.; Vandine, George; Blankenship, Douglas A.; Kneafsey, Timothy J.
The final version of the above article was posted prematurely on 16 July 2021, owing to a technical error. The final, corrected version of record will be made fully available at a later date.