Analysis of combined HERA data in the impact-parameter dependent saturation model
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Rezaeian, Amir H.↗
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Pore saturation model for capillary imbibition and drainage pressures
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Laurinat, James E. (ORCID:0000000267047909)↗
On the propagation of a disturbance in a smoothly varying heterogeneous porous medium saturated with three fluid phases
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
Uncertainty quantification of CO₂ saturation estimated from electrical resistance tomography data at the Cranfield site
A parametric bootstrap approach is presented for uncertainty quantification (UQ) of CO₂ saturation derived from electrical resistance tomography (ERT) data collected at the Cranfield, Mississippi (USA) carbon sequestration site. There are many sources of uncertainty in ERT-derived CO₂ saturation, but we focus on how the ERT observation errors propagate to the estimated CO₂ saturation in a nonlinear inversion process. Our UQ approach consists of three steps. We first estimated the observational errors from a large number of reciprocal ERT measurements. The second step was to invert the pre-injection baseline data and the resulting resistivity tomograph was used as the prior information for nonlinear inversion of time-lapse data. We assigned a 3% random noise to the baseline model. Finally, we used a parametric bootstrap method to obtain bootstrap CO₂ saturation samples by deterministically solving a nonlinear inverse problem many times with resampled data and resampled baseline models. Then the mean and standard deviation of CO₂ saturation were calculated from the bootstrap samples. We found that the maximum standard deviation of CO₂ saturation was around 6% with a corresponding maximum saturation of 30% for a data set collected 100 days after injection began. There was no apparent spatial correlation between the mean and standard deviation of CO₂ saturation but the standard deviation values increased with time as the saturation increased. The uncertainty in CO₂ saturation also depends on the ERT reciprocal error threshold used to identify and remove noisy data and inversion constraints such as temporal roughness. Five hundred realizations requiring 3.5 h on a single 12-core node were needed for the nonlinear Monte Carlo inversion to arrive at stationary variances while the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) stochastic inverse approach may expend days for a global search. This indicates that UQ of 2D or 3D ERT inverse problems can be performed on a laptop or desktop PC.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Pyroclast cooling and saturation in water
In the submarine setting pyroclast cooling and saturation, by controlling the buoyancy of individual clasts and surrounding fluid, exert fundamental controls on the dispersal and fate of volcanic material. Here, we use laboratory experiments to understand and quantify how hot and air-filled pyroclasts cool and saturate in liquid water. By measuring internal temperature and clast submerged weight in over thirty experiments, we find that pumice cools and saturates in two stages. We observe that the first stage is marked by much higher rates of cooling and saturation than the second stage and that the transition between stages is sharp. We propose conceptual and quantitative models for each stage of pyroclast cooling and saturation. Specifically we argue that the first stage is defined by the presence of internal steam. That is, hot pyroclasts ingest liquid water and generate steam. Once a clast's internal pore space is filled with steam, heat loss to the surroundings causes condensation of internal vapor and clast saturation. Stage 1 ends when all internal steam has condensed. We test this idea with a Stefan Model with advection and conclude that heat loss, rather than permeability, controls the saturation of pyroclasts above the boiling temperature. We find that permeability matters for air-filled clasts with initial temperatures below the boiling point. Stage 2 begins after all internal vapor has condensed and we propose that stage 2 cooling and saturation are controlled by heat conduction and thermal contraction of trapped gas, respectively. From our understanding of the processes that govern the stage 1 to 2 transition, we derive an empirical average pyroclast cooling rate of q = 7.5 ± 0.5 W cm -2 . Finally, we develop quantitative models for cooling-controlled porous clast saturation and for buoyant clast rise to the ocean surface. We find that meter size clasts stay buoyant for more than 10 min - long enough to reach the surface from a depth of 1000 m. Lastly, the models developed here test our understanding of clast-scale processes and demonstrate that - in hot and porous clasts - the details of internal texture do not matter because clast saturation, and thus buoyancy and fate in the water column, are governed by heat transfer.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Impact of gravity on hydrate saturation in gas‐rich environments
Abstract We extend a one‐dimensional analytical solution by including buoyancy‐driven flow to explore the impact of gravity on hydrate formation from gas injection into brine‐saturated sediments within the hydrate stability zone. This solution includes the fully coupled gas and liquid phase flow and the associated advective transport in a homogeneous system. We obtain the saturations assuming Darcy flow under combined pressure and gravity gradients; capillary forces are neglected. At a high gas supply rate, the overpressure gradient (gradient of water pressure deviation from the hydrostatic pressure) dominates the gas flow, and the hydrate saturation is independent of the flow rate and flow direction. At a low gas supply rate, the buoyancy (the drive for gas flow induced by the density difference between gas and liquid) dominates the gas flow, and the hydrate saturation depends on the flow rate and flow direction. Hydrate saturation is highest for upward flow, and lowest for downward flow. Hydrate saturation decreases with flow rate for upward flow, and increases with flow rate for downward flow. In all cases, hydrate saturation is constant behind the hydrate solidification front. Gas saturation is homogeneous and close to the residual value for upward flow at a low rate; gas flows at the rate it is supplied. Gas saturation is much greater than the residual value, and decreases from the gas inlet to the hydrate solidification front for downward flow at a very low rate. The effect of gravity is usually negligible in laboratory experiments, yet is significant in natural hydrate systems.
You, Kehua↗
Hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope dynamics of hyper-saline and salt-saturated aqueous solutions
An attractive tracer of water-surface interactions in humidity exposure experiments are the stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in water vapor, though the conventional method of using salt saturated aqueous solutions to control humidity is likely to exert strong effects on the H and O stable isotope composition of the vapor. The magnitude of these effects are virtually unknown for hyper-saline solutions near salt saturation and beyond. Here we explore the hydrogen and oxygen stable isotope effects of salt-water mixtures from dilute to the salt saturation point and beyond for BaCl 2 , CaCl 2 , KCl, K 2 SO 4 , MgCl 2 , NaBr, NaCl, and NaI salts, of which the O isotope results on BaCl 2 , K 2 SO 4 , and NaBr are the first to be reported, and the first for H with BaCl2. We find that vapor humidity levels, and hydrogen and oxygen isotope effects in the vapor generated from dilute solutions to salt-saturated mixtures increase in magnitude by predictable linear trends. In the case of hydrogen isotope salt effects, the cation identity matters, as the effect becomes stronger with decreasing size and increasing charge (increasing ionic potential) in the sequence of: K < Na < Ba < Ca < Mg. For oxygen, the cation effect becomes stronger with increasing ionic potential, in the order of Na < Ba < K < Ca < Mg (irrespective of sign). Hydrogen and oxygen isotope effects in vapor from salt concentrations greater than the salt saturation point do not behave as systematically, with some of the salts displaying no increase in isotope effects beyond saturation, while others show an increase in isotope effects beyond salt saturation, especially in the case of hydrogen. We make specific recommendations on the salts that exert hydrogen and oxygen isotope effects with the least magnitude and most predictability for humidity levels from 26% to 92%. The use of salt solutions to create vapor at less than 100% and with specific δ 2 H and δ 18 O values that differ from that defined by the global meteoric water relationship also seems possible. Hyper-saline surface waters can exist at and above saturation, and thus these isotope effects may be present in them, as well as in minerals that form from these waters.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
A Broadband Laboratory Study of the Seismic Properties of Cracked and Fluid-Saturated Synthetic Glass Media
In this paper, for better understanding of frequency dependence (dispersion) of seismic wave velocities caused by stress-induced fluid flow, broadband laboratory measurements were performed on a suite of synthetic glass media containing both equant pores and thermal cracks. Complementary forced oscillation, resonant bar, and ultrasonic techniques provided access to millihertz-hertz frequencies, ~1 kHz frequency, and ~1 MHz frequency, respectively. The wave speeds or effective elastic moduli and associated dissipation were measured on samples under dry, argon- or nitrogen-saturated, and water-saturated conditions in sequence. The elastic moduli, in situ permeability, and crack porosity inferred from in situ X-ray computed tomography all attest to strong pressure-induced crack closure for differential (confining-minus-pore) pressures <30 MPa, consistent with zero-pressure crack aspect ratios <4 × 10 -4 . The low permeabilities of these materials allow access to undrained conditions, even at subhertz frequencies. The ultrasonically measured elastic moduli reveal consistently higher shear and bulk moduli upon fluid saturation—diagnostic of the saturated-isolated regime. For a glass rod specimen, containing cracks but no pores, saturated-isolated conditions apparently persist to subhertz frequencies—requiring in situ aspect ratios (minimum/maximum dimension) <10 -5 . In marked contrast, the shear modulus measured at subhertz frequencies on a cracked glass bead specimen of 5% porosity, is insensitive to fluid saturation, consistent with the Biot-Gassmann model for the saturated-isobaric regime. Finally, the measured dispersion of the shear modulus approaches 10% over the millihertz-megahertz frequency range for the cracked and fluid-saturated media—implying that laboratory ultrasonic data should be used with care in the interpretation of field data.
58 GEOSCIENCES↗
Predicting Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity over Time for Degrading Saltstone Vault Concrete - 20376
At the Savannah River Site (SRS), low-level liquid tank waste is mixed with cementitious materials to produce a solid, monolithic waste form referred to as saltstone. The liquid saltstone mixture is pumped into massive concrete structures referred to as saltstone disposal units (SDUs) for curing and long-term storage. SDUs are vaults made of high performance concrete forming a barrier between saltstone and the surrounding environment. Predicting the long-term performance of SDU vault concrete, as well as the saltstone material itself, is critical to understanding the potential releases of radionuclides to the surrounding environment as described in the Saltstone Disposal Facility (SDF) performance assessment (PA). The hydraulic conductivity profile for SDU vault concrete was conservatively assumed to degrade linearly from the initial saturated hydraulic conductivity of the intact concrete over a long period of time. The initial hydraulic properties of saturated SDU vault concrete have been measured, and the final hydraulic properties of degraded vault concrete are assumed to be the same as the porous backfill material that will surround the vault after closure. The assumed final condition of the vault concrete is also conservative in that it provides a greater estimate of water penetration through the vault than would generally be expected. Therefore, insights that provide more realistic but conservative estimates as to how degradation processes may change the hydraulic properties of the SDU vault concrete, the time dependent relationship of the vault concrete hydraulic properties to degradation (and thus time), and the final hydraulic properties of the vault concrete provides useful additions to the SDF PA. This paper focuses on the assumption that the saltstone vault concrete saturated hydraulic conductivity would decrease linearly as a function of degradation time; this assumption resulted from a worst-case, weighted (by relative layer thickness), arithmetic average of intact and backfill material hydraulic conductivities representing flow parallel to a layered system. This research indicates that the effective saturated hydraulic conductivity of the degraded SDU vault concrete should be based on the relative thickness-weighted geometric mean of the intact and degraded layers hydraulic conductivities. This alternative, which is supported extensively in the relevant literature and evaluated in this paper, leads to a more realistic and defensible estimate of the effective saturated hydraulic conductivity in degraded vault concrete while remaining conservative. The impact of using the more realistic estimate of the effective saturated hydraulic conductivity for the degraded concrete decreases the effective saturated hydraulic conductivity by up to several orders of magnitude for early times (i.e., when the SDU vault concrete is assumed degraded via sulfate attack and carbonation). This revised estimate of the effective saturated hydraulic conductivity has been implemented in the recently revised SDF PA. (authors)
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Inorganic semiconductor quantum dots as a saturated excitation (SAX) probe for subdiffraction imaging
The photoluminescence (PL) saturation of CdSe/ZnS core/shell inorganic semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) and its utility as a probe for saturated excitation (SAX) microscopy are reported. Under saturating excitation power densities, the PL signal was demodulated and recorded at harmonics of the fundamental frequency. For commercially available Qdot® 655 ITK™ QDs, the power density required to achieve saturation was dependent upon the local environment of the QDs. For QDs deposited and dried on a glass substrate, the excitation power density required for PL saturation was less than 1 kW/cm 2 . Compared to this, saturation of PL for QDs dispersed in water required an excitation power density greater than 200 kW/cm 2 . This observation is manifested as a limitation in the imaging of hydrated samples, as demonstrated for HeLa cells labelled with biotinylated-phalloidin followed by labelling with streptavidin-coated QDs. Finally as saturation affects the obtained spatial resolution in several imaging formats, including confocal imaging, the provided data will aid in obtaining the optimal spatial resolution when using QD probes to image biological samples.
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Low-Power Absorption Saturation in Semiconductor Metasurfaces
Saturable optical elements lie at the cornerstone of many modern optical systems. Regularly patterned quasi-planar nanostructures—metasurfaces—are known to facilitate nonlinear optical processes. Such subwavelength semiconductor nanostructures can potentially serve as saturable components. In this work, we report on the intensity-dependent reflectance of femtosecond laser pulses from semiconductor metasurfaces with Mie-type modes, caused by the absorption saturation. Moreover, arrays of GaAs nanocylinders with magnetic dipole resonances in the spectral vicinity of the GaAs bandgap demonstrate a reduced saturation intensity and increased self-modulation efficiency, an order of magnitude higher than bulk GaAs or unstructured GaAs films. By contrast, the reflection modulation is shown to be negligible in the CW regime for the same average intensities, indicating that the process is not the result of temperature effects. Our work provides a novel idea for low-power saturable elements based on nonthermal nature of saturation. We conclude by devising a high-quality metasurface that can be used, in theory, to further reduce the saturation fluence below 50 nJ/cm 2 .
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
Theoretical Analysis of the EPR Spectrum Saturation Effect with Account for Spectral Diffusion in a System with a Gaussian Distribution of Spin Resonance Frequencies
We have analyzed the effect of saturation of the EPR spectrum for the model situation when a set of resonance frequencies of spin packets is described by a Gaussian distribution and spectral diffusion, which is a random process without correlation, exists. We have obtained the form of the spectrum for arbitrary values of magnetic–resonant parameters: relaxation times for the longitudinal and transverse components of the magnetization vector of the system, the spectral diffusion rate, the dispersion of the Gaussian distribution of resonance frequency, and the magnetic induction of the microwave field. We have derived an analytic expression for the saturation curve of the EPR spectrum. Detailed analysis of the dependence of the spectrum saturation curve on the spin system parameters is performed for the optimal case when the microwave field frequency coincides with the average frequency of the Gaussian distribution for resonance frequencies. The value of the microwave field induction at which the peak of the saturation curve is attained has been determined for arbitrary values of the paramagnetic relaxation time, spectral diffusion rate, and dispersion of the Gaussian spin frequency distribution. We have formulated the algorithm for determining the spin–lattice relaxation time using the experimentally determined microwave field induction for which the saturation curve passes through the peak. It should be noted that numerical calculations have been performed for parameters typical of EPR spectroscopy. The general analytic expression derived for the shape of the spectrum in the saturation conditions and qualitative conclusions concerning the effect of spectral diffusion on the saturation of stationary spectra obtained in this study can also be used in other fields of spectroscopy.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Mapping Firn Saturation over Greenland using NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive Satellite
Mapping the spatial extent of recently identified englacial hydrological features (i.e., ice slabs and perennial firn aquifers) formed by meters-thick water-saturated firn layers over the percolation facies of the Greenland Ice Sheet using L-band microwave radiometry has recently been demonstrated. However, these initial maps are binary, and do not provide a parameter to estimate the spatial variability in the thickness and volumetric fraction of meltwater stored within the firn pore space. Here, we exploit enhanced-resolution vertical-polarization L-band brightness temperature (T^(B)_(V)) imagery (2015–2019) generated using observations collected over Greenland by NASA’s Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite and a simple two-layer L-band brightness temperature model. We map water-saturated firn layers via a “firn saturation” parameter, and interpret our results together with ice slab and perennial firn aquifer spatial extents, estimates of snow accumulation simulated via the Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMOp2.3), and airborne radar surveys collected via NASA’s Operation IceBridge (OIB) campaigns. We find that variable firn saturation parameter values are mapped in lower snow accumulation ice slab areas in western, northern, and northeastern Greenland, where firn is colder and water-saturated firn layers seasonally refreeze as solid-ice. Higher firn saturation parameter values are mapped in higher snow accumulation perennial firn aquifer areas in southeastern, southern, and northwestern Greenland, where firn is near the melting point, and meters-thick water-saturated firn layers exist. Our results have implications for identifying expansive englacial reservoirs that store significant volumes of meltwater in locations that are vulnerable to meltwater-induced hydrofracturing and accelerated outlet glacier flow year-round.
Greenland ice sheet↗
Coupled complex Ginzburg–Landau systems with saturable nonlinearity and asymmetric cross-phase modulation
We formulate and study dynamics from a complex Ginzburg–Landau system with saturable nonlinearity, including asymmetric cross-phase modulation (XPM) parameters. Such equations can model phenomena described by complex Ginzburg–Landau systems under the added assumption of saturable media. When the saturation parameter is set to zero, we recover a general complex cubic Ginzburg–Landau system with XPM. We first derive conditions for the existence of bounded dynamics, approximating the absorbing set for solutions. We use this to then determine conditions for amplitude death of a single wavefunction. We also construct exact plane wave solutions, and determine conditions for their modulational instability. In a degenerate limit where dispersion and nonlinearity balance, we reduce our system to a saturable nonlinear Schrödinger system with XPM parameters, and we demonstrate the existence and behavior of spatially heterogeneous stationary solutions in this limit. Using numerical simulations we verify the aforementioned analytical results, while also demonstrating other interesting emergent features of the dynamics, such as spatiotemporal chaos in the presence of modulational instability. In other regimes, coherent patterns including uniform states or banded structures arise, corresponding to certain stable stationary states. For sufficiently large yet equal XPM parameters, we observe a segregation of wavefunctions into different regions of the spatial domain, while when XPM parameters are large and take different values, one wavefunction may decay to zero in finite time over the spatial domain (in agreement with the amplitude death predicted analytically). We also find a collection of transient features, including transient defects and what appear to be rogue waves, while in two spatial dimensions we observe highly localized pattern formation. While saturation will often regularize the dynamics, such transient dynamics can still be observed – and in some cases even prolonged – as the saturability of the media is increased, as the saturation may act to slow the timescale.
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
Relationship between Anisotropy in Soil Hydraulic Conductivity and Saturation
Anisotropy in unsaturated hydraulic conductivity is saturation-dependent. Accurate characterization of soil anisotropy is very important in simulating flow and contaminant (e.g., radioactive nuclides in Hanford) transport. A recently developed tensorial connectivity-tortuosity (TCT) concept describes the hydraulic conductivity tensor of the unsaturated anisotropic soils as the product of a scalar variable, the symmetric connectivity tortuosity tensor, and the hydraulic conductivity tensor at saturation. In this study, the TCT model is used to quantify soil anisotropy in unsaturated hydraulic conductivity. The TCT model can describe different types of soil anisotropy; e.g., the anisotropy coefficient, C, can be monotonically increase or decrease with saturation and can vary from greater than unity to less than unity and vice versa. Soil anisotropy is independent of soil water retention properties and can be characterized by the ratio of the saturated hydraulic conductivities and the difference of the tortuosity-connectivity coefficients in two directions. ln(C) is linearly proportional to ln(Se) with Se being the effective saturation. The log-linear relationship between C and Se allows the saturation-dependent anisotropy to be determined using linear regression with the measurements of the directional hydraulic conductivities at a minimum of two water content levels, of which one may be at full saturation. The model was tested using measurements of directional hydraulic conductivities.
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE W↗
Design, Test and Demonstration of Saturable Reactor High-Temperature Superconductor Fault Current Limiters
Zenergy Power has successfully designed, built, tested, and installed in the US electrical grid a saturable reactor Fault Current Limiter. Beginning in 2007, first as SC Power Systems and from 2008 as Zenergy Power, Inc., ZP used DOE matching grant and ARRA funds to help refine the design of the saturated reactor fault current limiter. ZP ultimately perfected the design of the saturated reactor FCL to the point that ZP could reliably design a suitable FCL for most utility applications. Beginning with a very basic FCL design using 1G HTS for a coil housed in a LN2 cryostat for the DC bias magnet, the technology progressed to a commercial system that was offered for sale internationally. Substantial progress was made in two areas. First, the cryogenics cooling system progressed from a sub-cooled liquid nitrogen container housing the HTS coils to cryostats utilizing dry conduction cooling and reaching temperatures down to less than 20 degrees K. Large, round cryostats with warm bore diameters of 1.7 meters enabled the design of large tanks to hold the AC components. Second, the design of the AC part of the FCL was refined from a six legged spider design to a more compact and lighter design with better fault current limiting capability. Further refinement of the flux path and core shape led to an efficient saturated reactor design requiring less Ampere-turns to saturate the core. In conclusion, the development of the saturable reactor FCL led to a more efficient design not requiring HTS magnets and their associated peripheral equipment, which yielded a more economical product in line with the electric utility industry expectations. The original goal for the DOE funding of the ZP project Design, Test and Demonstration of Saturable Reactor High-Temperature Superconductor Fault Current Limiters was to stimulate the HTS wire industry with, first 1G, then 2G, HTS wire applications. Over the approximately 5 years of ZP's product development program, the amount of HTS wire employed per FCL and its cost as a percentage of the total FCL product content had not dropped substantially from an unsustainable level of more than 50% of the total cost of the FCL, nor had the availability increased (today the availability of 2G wire for commercial applications outside of specific partnerships with the leading 2G wire manufacturers is extremely limited). ZP had projected a very significant commercial potential for FCLs with higher performance and lower costs compared to the initial models built with 1G wire, which would come about from the widespread availability of low-cost, high-performance 2G HTS wire. The potential for 2G wires at greatly reduced performance-based prices compared to 1G HTS conductor held out the potential for the commercial production of FCLs at price and performance levels attractive to the utility industry. However, the price of HTS wire did not drop as expected and today the available quantities of 2G wire are limited, and the price is higher than the currently available supplies of 1G wire. The commercial option for ZP to provide a reliable and reasonably priced FCL to the utility industry is to employ conventional resistive conductor DC electromagnets to bias the FCL. Since the premise of the original funding was to stimulate the HTS wire industry and ZP concluded that copper-based magnets were more economical for the foreseeable future, DOE and ZP decided to mutually terminate the project.
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
Joint inversion of electromagnetic measurements for the determination of water saturation profiles in concrete structures
Highlights: • DC-electrical and dielectric data are combined to estimate concrete saturation degree. • A joint inversion approach of the electromagnetic measurements is proposed. • The sensitivity of the measurements to the saturation model parameters is analysed. • The new joint approach was developed and is applied to synthetic and real data. • The benefits of the joint approach over the inversion of one data type are highlighted. Water saturation profiles in concrete are essential to assess its durability and can be determined using non-destructive techniques, especially the electric and the capacitive methods. In this paper, we propose a new inversion scheme where both resistivity and permittivity measurements are inverted jointly to retrieve the saturation profile. The finite element method is used to model the measurements in 3D, the concrete having a saturation profile with depth, represented by a continuous model taking the form of a Weibull curve with four parameters. A non-linear least-squares optimization based on the Levenberg-Marquardt scheme is developed for the inversion of measurements. Results show that information gathered from both measurements enriches the reconstructed profile, leading to a more reliable estimation of saturation profiles. We believe that the joint inversion method herein developed could lead to the study of more complex phenomena, such as the coupled water-chloride ingress.
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗