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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,297 records · Page 72
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2016

Using well casing as an electrical source to monitor hydraulic fracture fluid injection

The depth to surface resistivity (DSR) method transmits current from a source located in a cased or openhole well to a distant surface return electrode while electric field measurements are made at the surface over the target of interest. This paper presents both numerical modelling results and measured data from a hydraulic fracturing field test where conductive water was injected into a resistive shale reservoir during a hydraulic fracturing operation. Modelling experiments show that anomalies due to hydraulic fracturing are small but measureable with highly sensitive sensor technology. The field measurements confirm the model results,showing that measured differences in the surface fields due to hydraulic fracturing have been detected above the noise floor. Our results show that the DSR method is sensitive to the injection of frac fluids; they are detectable above the noise floor in a commercially active hydraulic fracturing operation, and therefore this method can be used for monitoring fracture fluid movement.

02 PETROLEUM↗
DOE OSTI2016

Electrophilic acid gas-reactive fluid, proppant, and process for enhanced fracturing and recovery of energy producing materials

An electrophilic acid gas-reactive fracturing and recovery fluid, proppant, and process are detailed. The fluid expands in volume to provide rapid and controlled increases in pressure that enhances fracturing in subterranean bedrock for recovery of energy-producing materials. Proppants stabilize openings in fractures and fissures following fracturing.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2017

Gas powered fluid gun with recoil mitigation

A gas powered fluid gun for propelling a stream or slug of a fluid at high velocity toward a target. Recoil mitigation is provided by a cavitating venturi that reduces or eliminates the associated recoil forces, with minimal or no backwash. By launching a quantity of water in the opposite direction, net momentum forces are reduced or eliminated.

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEF↗
DOE OSTI2017

Diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO2 concentration and H2O concentration in a fluid stream

A diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO.sub.2 concentration and H.sub.2O concentration in a fluid stream is described. The system may include one or more probes that sample the fluid stream spatially, temporally and over ranges of pressure and temperature. Laser light sources are directed down pitch optical cables, through a lens and to a mirror, where the light sources are reflected back, through the lens to catch optical cables. The light travels through the catch optical cables to detectors, which provide electrical signals to a processer. The processer utilizes the signals to calculate CO.sub.2 concentration based on the temperatures derived from H.sub.2O vapor concentration. A probe for sampling CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2O vapor concentrations is also disclosed. Various mechanical features interact together to ensure the pitch and catch optical cables are properly aligned with the lens during assembly and use.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2017

Fluid delivery manifolds and microfluidic systems

Embodiments of fluid distribution manifolds, cartridges, and microfluidic systems are described herein. Fluid distribution manifolds may include an insert member and a manifold base and may define a substantially closed channel within the manifold when the insert member is press-fit into the base. Cartridges described herein may allow for simultaneous electrical and fluidic interconnection with an electrical multiplex board and may be held in place using magnetic attraction.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Optimizing for Large Planar Fractures in Multistage Horizontal Wells in Enhanced Geothermal Systems Using a Coupled Fluid and Geomechanics Simulator

Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) could potentially use technological advancements in coupled implementation of horizontal drilling and multistage hydraulic fracturing techniques in tight oil and shale gas reservoirs along with improvements in reservoir simulation techniques to design and create EGS reservoirs. In this study, a commercial hydraulic fracture simulation package, Mangrove by Schlumberger, was used in an EGS model with largely distributed pre-existing natural fractures to model fracture propagation during the creation of a complex fracture network. The main goal of this study is to investigate optimum treatment parameters in creating multiple large, planar fractures to hydraulically connect a horizontal injection well and a horizontal production well that are 10,000 ft. deep and spaced 500 ft. apart from each other. A matrix of simulations for this study was carried out to determine the influence of reservoir and treatment parameters on preventing (or aiding) the creation of large planar fractures. The reservoir parameters investigated during the matrix simulations include the in-situ stress state and properties of the natural fracture set such as the primary and secondary fracture orientation, average fracture length, and average fracture spacing. The treatment parameters investigated during the simulations were fluid viscosity, proppant concentration, pump rate, and pump volume. A final simulation with optimized design parameters was performed. The optimized design simulation indicated that high fluid viscosity, high proppant concentration, large pump volume and pump rate tend to minimize the complexity of the created fracture network. Additionally, a reservoir with 'friendly' formation characteristics such as large stress anisotropy, natural fractures set parallel to the maximum horizontal principal stress (SHmax), and large natural fracture spacing also promote the creation of large planar fractures while minimizing fracture complexity.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Evaluating a vessel for suitability for containing fluid

A method for evaluating a vessel for suitability to contain a fluid includes providing a vessel and forming a polished surface portion of the vessel by removing oxidation and/or contaminants from a portion of the vessel. The method further includes applying a focused laser to the polished surface portion to form plasma on the polished surface portion, and determining whether the vessel is suitable for containing a fluid based on silicon content of the polished surface portion. The silicon content is estimated based on light emitted from the plasma.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2017

Manipulation of fluids in three-dimensional porous photonic structures with patterned surface properties

A three-dimensional porous photonic structure, whose internal pore surfaces can be provided with desired surface properties in a spatially selective manner with arbitrary patterns, and methods for making the same are described. When exposed to a fluid (e.g., via immersion or wicking), the fluid can selectively penetrate the regions of the structure with compatible surface properties. Broad applications, for example in security, encryption and document authentication, as well as in areas such as simple microfluidics and diagnostics, are anticipated.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

Diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO.sub.2 concentration and H.sub.2O concentration in a fluid stream

A diagnostic system for measuring temperature, pressure, CO.sub.2 concentration and H.sub.2O concentration in a fluid stream is described. The system may include one or more probes that sample the fluid stream spatially, temporally and over ranges of pressure and temperature. Laser light sources are directed down pitch optical cables, through a lens and to a mirror, where the light sources are reflected back, through the lens to catch optical cables. The light travels through the catch optical cables to detectors, which provide electrical signals to a processer. The processer utilizes the signals to calculate CO.sub.2 concentration based on the temperatures derived from H.sub.2O vapor concentration. A probe for sampling CO.sub.2 and H.sub.2O vapor concentrations is also disclosed. Various mechanical features interact together to ensure the pitch and catch optical cables are properly aligned with the lens during assembly and use.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2018

Electrophilic acid gas-reactive fluid, proppant, and process for enhanced fracturing and recovery of energy producing materials

An electrophilic acid gas-reactive fracturing fluid, proppant, and process are detailed. The fluid expands in volume to provide rapid and controlled increases in pressure that enhances fracturing in subterranean bedrock for recovery of energy-producing materials. The proppant stabilizes fracture openings in the bedrock to enhance recovery of energy-producing materials.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

An Embedded 3D Fracture Modeling Approach for Simulating Fracture-Dominated Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer in Geothermal Reservoirs

An efficient modeling approach is described for incorporating arbitrary 3D, discrete fractures, such as hydraulic fractures or faults, into modeling fracture-dominated fluid flow and heat transfer in fractured geothermal reservoirs. This technique allows 3D discrete fractures to be discretized independently from surrounding rock volume and inserted explicitly into a primary fracture/matrix grid, generated without including 3D discrete fractures in prior. An effective computational algorithm is developed to discretize these 3D discrete fractures and construct local connections between 3D fractures and fracture/matrix grid blocks of representing the surrounding rock volume. The constructed gridding information on 3D fractures is then added to the primary grid. This embedded fracture modeling approach can be directly implemented into a developed geothermal reservoir simulator via the integral finite difference (IFD) method or with TOUGH2 technology This embedded fracture modeling approach is very promising and computationally efficient to handle realistic 3D discrete fractures with complicated geometries, connections, and spatial distributions. Compared with other fracture modeling approaches, it avoids cumbersome 3D unstructured, local refining procedures, and increases computational efficiency by simplifying Jacobian matrix size and sparsity, while keeps sufficient accuracy. Several numeral simulations are present to demonstrate the utility and robustness of the proposed technique. Our numerical experiments show that this approach captures all the key patterns about fluid flow and heat transfer dominated by fractures in these cases. Thus, this approach is readily available to simulation of fractured geothermal reservoirs with both artificial and natural fractures.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Kinetic fluid moments closure for a magnetized plasma with collisions

A novel method aimed at a kinetic moments closure for a magnetized plasma with collisions is proposed. The velocity distribution function for each species is expanded in 8 Gaussian Radial Basis Functions (GRBFs) which are essentially shifted Maxwellians at eight representative 3D-velocity points of drift. The vector of 8 fluid moments (for particle density, 3 particle fluxes, total energy density, and 3 energy fluxes) has an 8x8 analytic linear matrix relation to the vector of 8 GRBF density weighs in 3D-real space. The 8 fluid moments with sources for each species are advanced in time while the 8 GRBF weighs are determined from the 8x8 inverse matrix. The two closure moments (for the stress tensor and the energy weighted stress tensor) are linearly determined from the GRBF weighs. Most importantly the velocity moments of the nonlinear Coulomb Fokker-Planck collision operator [Rosenbluth et al, Phys. Rev 107, 1957] are evaluated from the GRBF weights. Generalization from 8 to 12, 16, 20 .., in an energy weighted moment hierarchy is straightforward. The electric field follows from a generalized vorticity (quasi-neutral charge conservation) equation. A strong drift ordering approximation can be applied to eliminate any spuriously unstable high frequency cyclotron motions. A novel weak drift ordering two-time step scheme avoids the vorticity equation by following ion cyclotron motion in time to get the electric field with ion gyroaveraging. Inclusion of low-beta magnetic perturbations is straightforward.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

A note on the hard-sphere fluid dynamic universality class

In a recent letter Ramirez-Gonzalez et al. propose the existence of a dynamic universality class associated with generic soft-sphere systems whose static and dynamic properties can be mapped onto those of the hard-sphere fluid using a state and interaction dependent effective hard-sphere diameter, and thus are functions of a single variable, namely the effective packing fraction. The concept is useful for understanding the dynamics of systems from atomic fluids to colloidal suspensions. It is worth noting however that these ideas have a fairly long history, that there may be better criteria than the one adopted by the authors for establishing a connection between the system of interest and the dynamically equivalent hard-sphere one, and that there are also some known limitations.

Bastea, Sorin↗
DOE OSTI2013

Fluid-flow control in energy storage and recovery systems

In various embodiments, compressed-gas energy storage and recovery systems feature one or more valves, which may be disposed within end caps of cylinder assemblies in which gas is expanded and/or compressed, for admitting fluid to and/or exhausting fluid from the cylinder assembly.

Bollinger, Benjamin R.↗
DOE OSTI2019

A New Fast Fluid Dynamics Model for Data-Center Floor Plenums

A raised-floor plenum is often used to distribute cooling airflow in data centers. Traditional Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can accurately model airflow distribution in plenums, but it is expensive (computationally and financially) and is, therefore, often not accessible to the data center designer or operator. This paper presents an alternative CFD methodology based on Fast Fluid Dynamics (FFD), which is faster, more parallelizable, and simpler to program. The improvement in computational speed afforded by FFD is particularly important for multiple-iteration optimization, transient simulations, or applications for which near-real-time performance is required. Here, the potential speed improvements of FFD have been widely documented; however, it has been generally accepted that this benefit is accompanied by a modest loss of accuracy relative to traditional CFD. We show here that this is not necessarily true. Plenum airflow predictions by our FFD implementation, which utilizes a first-order upwind rather than Semi-Lagrangian advection scheme of previous research, are extremely close to those predicted by traditional CFD - provided the same turbulence model and computational grid are used consistently.

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATI↗
DOE OSTI2019

Active magnetic regenerative liquefier using process gas pre-cooling from bypass flow of heat transfer fluid

A process for liquefying a process gas that includes: introducing a heat transfer fluid into an active magnetic regenerative refrigerator apparatus that includes a low magnetic or demagnetized field section; continuously diverting a bypass portion of the heat transfer fluid from a cold side of the low magnetic or demagnetized field section into a bypass flow heat exchanger at a first cold inlet temperature; and continuously introducing the process gas into the bypass flow heat exchanger at a first hot inlet temperature and discharging the process gas or liquid from the bypass flow heat exchanger at a first cold exit temperature; wherein the temperature difference between bypass heat transfer first cold inlet temperature and the process gas first cold exit temperature is 1 to 5 K.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Development of Two-Phase Dense Fluid Expander for Advanced Cryogenic Air Separation and Low-Grade Heat Recovery

Cryogenic air separation represents the state-of-the-art technology to produce oxygen to feed coal gasification units. Given the maturity of this technology, it is difficult to identify opportunities to improve process efficiency and reduce the cost of the oxygen produced. However, Air Products conducted research and a feasibility investigation into the use of a two-phase (liquid-vapor) dense fluid expander (DFE) to improve the overall efficiency of cryogenic air separation. Demonstration of this novel concept was intended to allow two important process improvements: 1) elimination of the need for the DFE discharge to be single phase 2) expansion of the operating region of expanders in ASU service. Expanding the scope of turboexpander application beyond current application limits and traditional device designs would allow an increase in power recovery, and application of refrigeration and power recovery at new locations in process cycles would also enable the implementation of new process concepts. These new process concepts include power recovery from compression waste heat and refrigeration extraction and power recovery by replacing let-down valves with two-phase DFEs. Considering the maturity of cryogenic air separation, these new process options could represent a step change in power reduction and provide significant savings in operating costs. These new concepts would be particularly well-suited to large-scale oxygen production by cryogenic air separation and would enhance the economics of producing oxygen for use in coal gasification processes. Rotoflow, an Air Products business unit, manufactures dense fluid expanders in Pennsylvania for sites around the world. This project was executed in two phases, which are illustrated in Figure 1 below. Phase 1 consisted of a feasibility investigation of multiple applications of two-phase DFEs. In Phase 2, devices were identified, designed, fabricated and tested to explore the feasibility of commercial applications of DFEs operating in two-phase service. Engineering and testing were performed by personnel in Air Products’ Rotoflow business unit, with coordination with other Air Products business units.

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT↗
DOE OSTI2020

Fluid delivery manifolds and microfluidic systems

Embodiments of fluid distribution manifolds, cartridges, and microfluidic systems are described herein. Fluid distribution manifolds may include an insert member and a manifold base and may define a substantially closed channel within the manifold when the insert member is press-fit into the base. Cartridges described herein may allow for simultaneous electrical and fluidic interconnection with an electrical multiplex board and may be held in place using magnetic attraction.

42 ENGINEERING↗