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By J. H. Henderson, T. E. Morrisson

An irvestigation has been made of the production of oil through horizontal fractures of high capacity and large radius placed at the base of producing formations. The specific aitns of the study were to (I) determine by model studies the reservoir performance when gravity drainage is the only producing mechanism, and (2) develop a method of predicting such perfortnance from commonly measured reservoir proper-ties. Although the theoretical approach tailed to develop a rigorous analytic sorution to the transient problem, it (lid lead to a practical method of predicting performance. Predictions (Ire in good agreement with rates and recoveries observed in scaled-model experinzents. Capillary effects and the influence of relative permzenbil-ity are taken into account. The experimental program was mainly concerned with the influenre of fracture radius, fracture capacily and capillary hold-up on the total recovery and the rate of recovery. Much of the experimental work was done on a triangular model which represented one-eighth of a square well pattern, so constritcted that horizontal fractures of varying radii and flow capacity could be studied. An electrolytic model was used to relate the initial production rates to fracture radius, formation thickness and the drainage radius of the well pattern. The conclusions reached as a resrtlt of the work are as follows. I. The production of oil under gravity force alone into a well-propped horizontal fracture, whose radius is of the order of hundreds of feet, is a recovery method which combines high recoveries with very acceptable production rates. 2. The mechanism is effective in "dead oil" reservoirs as well as in reservoirs which possess the energy of solution gas. 3. A method of predicting performance has been developed which gives good agreement with experimental behavior in cases of practicnl interest. Even for very thick beds and large fracture radii, where actual conditions do not conform to the assumptions made, the method gives order of magnitude predictions which would not otherwise be possible. INTRODUCTION Gravity drainage of oil from a formation which has continuous ver- tical permeability over a reasonable depth interval is a surprisingly effective method of recovery. However, for a conventional well the production rates which result from gravity drainage are so low that the economics are seldom attractive. The same formation may produce rapidly and profitably by gravity alone through a high capacity, extensive (i.e., > 100-ft radius) horizontal fracture placed near the bottom of the pay section. Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the plan. Energy in the reservoir gas is not a necessary condition for this recovery process. With a sufficiently large fracture, attractive production rates will result from gravity flow alone, and the producing GOR need only be the solution GOR. It is, of course, necessary to keep the fluid level in

By Philip W. Simmons

THE Colorado Plateau uranium province is in a mining boom rivaling the most colorful days of the early West. The application of scientific skills and the use of modern and novel mechanical equipment, however, is unique. No metal has ever received such concentrated effort from geologists and mining engineers. Moreover, no other metal has had the variety of tools available for finding and mining ores. Radiation detection equipment, bull- dozers, truck-mounted wagon and core drills, jeeps, airplanes, helicopters, tractor loaders, self -propelled 3-wheeled dump cars, front-end loaders and fleets of modern trucks are some of the present-day tools of the uranium prospector and miner. Because uranium is so vital to our national defense, the Atomic Energy Commission has offered many incentives for its mining. Through a series of circulars, the AEC has established base price schedules and various incentive payments. The incentive payments for acceptable ores from domestic mines are: (1) a guaranteed base price of $3.50 per Ib for ores assaying 0.20 pct U3O8 and more; (2) premiums based on grades above 0.20 pct U3O8 as for example, ores assaying above 0.50 pct U3O8 receive $1.00 per lb premium; (3) a development allowance of 506 per Ib of U3O8 contained in ores assaying over 0.10 pct U3O8 (4) an ore haulage allowance of 64 a ton mile for a maximum of 100 miles; and (5) an initial production bonus which may amount to as much as $35,000 in addition to all other payments. The producers have been guaranteed this policy until Feb. 28, 1957. The other four will continue until April 1962.

Jan 4, 1954

By R. V. Wheeler, W. Francis

Of the methods that have been used for studying the chemical composition of coal, attack by reagents has not, in general, yielded much information. Most of the reagents used have been strong oxidants such as nitric acid or Schulze's solution. The use of a milder oxidizing agent, such as air at low temperatures, enables progressive changes in the character af the coal substance to be studied and thus helps toward an understanding of its constitution. British bituminous coals frequently have a banded structure. These bands (of four types) can be separated one from another and have been found to possess markedly different chemical characteristics, even when taken from contiguous portions of the same lump coal. It has been found convenient to give each of the ingredients of banded coal a distinctive name, more or less descriptive of its appearance, and the study of the chemistry of bituminous "coal" in England has resolved itself into a study of each ingredient separately. The coal chosen for this work was taken from the Top Hard seam at East Kirkby colliery, Nottinghamshire, a detailed chemical analysis of which has been recorded by Baranov and Francis.' The banded structure was well marked and the bands could readily be separated. The research was confined to the brilliant vitreous bands (vitrain), the dull hard bands (durain) and the "sooty partings" main); for previous work had shown that the fourth type, to which the name clarain has been given, is intermediate in character, chemically, between vitrain and durain. The method of experiment was, briefly, to draw a slow current of moist air through weighed samples (50 gm.) of the three ingredients, vitrain, durain, and fusain, in the form of powder (through a 60-mesh and on a 90-mesh sieve) contained in glass tubes which could be maintained at a constant temperature during prolonged periods. After passing through the coal, the air bubbled into a measured volume of

Jan 1, 1925

By I. N. Zavarine

The observations presented in this paper were recorded during a study of the spheroidizing process. Spheroidization of cementite in steel is either brought about to develop a set of desirable mechanical properties or is an incidental result of mechanical and heat-treating manipulations. Physical properties of steel are materially influenced by the state of the cementite. Conversion of cementite from the lamellar to the spheroidal state is usually accompanied by a decrease of hardness and of strength and by an increase in ductility. The spheroidized structure is usually considered as an ultimate step in the process of the softening of steel. The unorthodox hardening of a 3.5 per cent Ni steel (SAE No. 2330) after a heat-treatment that previously proved entirely suitable for a complete spheroidization of cementite in carbon steels led to the observations that constitute the subject of the present paper. Experimental Procedure The steels used for the experiments described were bought on the market. All were in the form of 3/4-in. round bars. Their chemical compositions are given in Table 1. The spheroidization of cementite in steels can be obtained in several ways. The method used in the present work is, perhaps, the least known. It consists of cyclic heating and cooling of steel, the temperature being

Jan 1, 1939

By I. N. Zavarine

The observations presented in this paper were recorded during a study of the spheroidizing process. Spheroidization of cementite in steel is either brought about to develop a set of desirable mechanical properties or is an incidental result of mechanical and heat-treating manipulations. Physical properties of steel are materially influenced by the state of the cementite. Conversion of cementite from the lamellar to the spheroidal state is usually accompanied by a decrease of hardness and of strength and by an increase in ductility. The spheroidized structure is usually considered as an ultimate step in the process of the softening of steel. The unorthodox hardening of a 3.5 per cent Ni steel (SAE No. 2330) after a heat-treatment that previously proved entirely suitable for a complete spheroidization of cementite in carbon steels led to the observations that constitute the subject of the present paper. Experimental Procedure The steels used for the experiments described were bought on the market. All were in the form of 3/4-in. round bars. Their chemical compositions are given in Table 1. The spheroidization of cementite in steels can be obtained in several ways. The method used in the present work is, perhaps, the least known. It consists of cyclic heating and cooling of steel, the temperature being

Jan 1, 1939

By H. F. Beeghly

UNTIL recently the only criteria by which steels were judged were their cost and their mechanical, chemical, and physical properties. The user was concerned with such properties as corrosion resistance, tensile strength, response to thermal treatment, hardness, ductility, and, to a growing extent in recent years, with behavior at high temperature. As plans were made to build power reactors, a new set of properties became important—the nuclear characteristics, which had to be considered by the designer and engineer in building his plant. The nuclear engineer developed methods for the rare and new metals and produced them in high purity, often at great expense. The pure metals then provided the raw materials for tailor-made alloys. For more common structural metals, such as steel, the nuclear industry depended on commercially available materials. Generally, the quantities required were small and specifications were rigid. It is not surprising, therefore, that difficulty was frequently encountered in procuring structural mate-

Jan 1, 1957

By Jack Washburn

The c axis indentations in zinc crystals were shown to undergo 100 pct strain recovery on heating. The mode of deformation and the details of the polygonization and collapse of indentations were found to be consistent with a number of predictions of dislocation theory. IT has been observed that indentations of the type made by Jillson in zinc crystals can, under certain conditions, be macle to shrink in size and even completely disappear on heating the crystal, Fig. 1. The details of the process are interesting in that they afford a simple experimental illustration of several predictions of dislocation theory. The indentations were made as shown in Fig. 2 by dropping a 0.2 g indenter with a hemispherical point on a cleavage face of a. zinc crystal. Such indentations can be made through relatively great thicknesses in the c-axis direction. The material close to the struck surface, where mechanical twinning and complex distortion occurred, was removed by cleavage. The remaining crystal, which was about 1 cm thick, contained a dent that was accurately round and almost the same size on both top and bottom surfaces. The indentation had the form of a flat cone of half angle approximately 89°, having a rounded apex and a rounded intersection with the unde-formed part of the crystal. The mode of deformation was primarily slip on the three equivalent systems in the basal plane. Six types of dislocation loop (plus and minus in each of the three directions) as shown in Fig. 3 are required by the geometry of the indentation. The maximum shear strain in the radial direction amounted to approximately 2.5 pct. Slip was distributed in the usual, microscopically nonuniform, manner among the possible parallel slip planes. When an indentation was made close to a (2110) surface, three separate sets of interpenetrating slip bands appeared as shown schematically in Fig. 3. A small biaxial tension strain in the plane of (0001) is also a geometrical necessity for the formation of an indentation. If the sides of the dent are tilted l° with respect to the undeformed surrounding crystal, and the surround-

Jan 1, 1957

By C. B. Post, D. G. Schoffstall

A determinatioil of the hydrogen content of molten steel by means of the Vacuum-extraction method, as reported here, consists in first casting a sample of the bath in a bomb, so that the gases evolved during solidification are trapped for analysis. A portion of the cast steel sample is then prepared and heated at a temperature of 600" to 800°C. under high vacuum, and the gaser given off during this vacuum extraction (which are shown to be hydrogen), are collected and measured. Analysis of the gases evolved on solidification and the gases in the solid sample enables an accurate determination of hydrogen in the molten steel. Fig. I shows the bomb and accessories that have been found suitable for trapping the gases evolved on solidification. The bomb is made of scamless steel pipe, approximately 7 in. long by 136 in. i.d., and welded at the bottom. An ordinary pipe cap has a vacuuni-type metal stopcock threaded and brazed in its upper end. This pipe cap fits onto the bomb by means of machined threads. A flange is brazed to the pipe at the point where the cap starts to tighten up, and a rubber gasket is placed between the flange and cap. Heavy vacuum grease is used between the flange and gasket and the gasket and cap. The weight of the complete bomb and it? interval volume is known before the sample is cast. In practice, a sample of about 400 grams of steel is poured into the bomb, the funnel quickly swung out of the way, the bomb cap spun down the threads and tightened against the gasket, and the bomb set in a pail of water to keep the gasket and vacuum grease cool. It is estimated that at least 80 per cent 01 the gases evolved from the liquid sample during solidification are trapped in the bomb."

Jan 1, 1945

By P. S. Roller

P. S. ROLLER,*College Park, Md.-The author introduces the idea of a grind limit, or lower size limit of the particles formed directly by grinding, and this is stipulated to be 0.70 micron. I wonder where all the particles come from that lie between the resolving power of the microscope and 0.7 micron, which are seen under a microscope in examining a sample of grind? There is also introduced the idea of excess fines; this is all right in itself but the author's quantitative definition seems to be virtually impossible to justify, and, moreover, is obscure. Just why E, the excess fines, should he defined as the distance between an F line and a y line is hard to follow, and just where the distance should be measured does not appear to be stated, as it should be since the F and y lines intersect and the distance between will depend upon where that distance is measured. The basis of the presentation is the relation of log weight against log size that was "discovered" by Schuhmann. While this relation is implied to fit, the only evidence that I can see is a slightly irregular line in Fig. x between 2 per cent and 18 per cent by weight and then a precipitous drop at 18 per cent away from any sort of straight line. Some of the conclusions are rather startling. It is stated that E, the excess fines, remains constant for all the comminution products of any particular material, except that it may decrease for some coarse crusher products. No reason is given for this assertion. One would, on the contrary, expect that excess fines, if such a concept is permissible, would generally vary with different conditions instead of being constant. Again, "as much net energy is required to reduce a ton of quartz to particles of the grind-limit diameter (namely, of course, 0.7 micron) by grinding as is required to melt the quartz." This would require many data to prove, but no proof is given; any consideration would reveal the impossibility of such a result. Still further, ore samples "ground to widely different sizes, and with different circulating loads and different size distributions or product, show the same production of new surface area per revolution of the mill, when this grind limit is used." This statement is confuted by ordinary experience, which teaches that grinding efficiency varies generally with the condition of material. For example, the cushioning effect of fines is widely accepted, while the inefficiency of a ball mill when the feed is too coarse is also well known. R. SCHUHMANN, JR.," Cambridge, Mass. Contrary to Mr. Bond's stand, there is a great deal of miscellaneous experimental evidence that comminution does not stop at around 0.7 micron, nor does it cease consuming energy at that point. Comminution is in fact recognized as an important method of producing colloids., Mechanical comminution methods were used by von Weimarn6 to produce colloidal dispersions of a variety of solids, including the minerals chalcocite, galena, hematite, stibnite. Utzino7 gives average particle sizes ranging from 0.02 to 0.09 micron for colloids produced by mechanical comminution of several crystalline solids. Andreasen and Berg' have ground

Jan 1, 1941

By J. B. Novak

The program describes preventive maintenance practices and controls applicable in situations where maintenance actions are triggered primarily by breakdown or part failure and specification and documentation of detailed maintenance practices are minimal or nonexistent. The presentation describes requirements of organization structure, program administration, implementation and operation, type of benefits expected, and actual benefits derived in selected areas. The principle objectives of the program are to provide quick, inexpensive, and effective controls over maintenance practices and requirements and to establish a nucleus of controls that subsequently can be expanded to cover all maintenance activities.

Jan 1, 1973

By O. B. Hopkins

As prefatory to the body of this paper, a few general statements will be made (1) in regard to the history and importance of the asbestos, (2) as to the principal sources of the raw material, and (3) as to the types and modes of the occurrence of asbestos.

Jan 1, 1915

By F. R. Hensel

The present study was made to determine the laws governing the formation of the primary? crystal structure during solidification. Most of the experiments were carried out on chill castings, but from the resiilts it will be possible to draw certain conclusions as far as sand castings are concerned. It is necessary to discuss first a number of theories, which are generally adopted for explaining the structure of an ingot. Usually, the structure of an ingot consists of the following three zones (Fig. 1): (1) a chill layer of small at-random oriented crystals; (2) a layer of columnar crystals; (3) a zone of equiaxed crystals. The tensile properties of the chill layer and the equiaxed range are usually much better than in the columnar range, particularly the planes that are formed by the columnar crystals growing from two sides at right angles have low tensile properties. This is one of the reasons why columnar crystals in ingot structures are undesirable.

Jan 1, 1937

By M. A. Orehoski, J. M. Hodge

It is now generally conceded that if a steel is to develop optimum physical properties in the conventionally quenched and tempered condition, the microstruc- ture after quenching should consist wholly of martensite; and that transformation of austenite to intermediate-temperature products during quenching will have a deleterious effect upon the physical properties, particularly the toughness, of the tempered material. This implies that, in order to obtain the optimum physical properties from a given steel, its "harden-ability " should be high enough to suppress all transformation except that to martensite under the heating and quenching conditions to which it will be subjected, and this premise is probably the most important reason for hardenability control. However, the criterion of hardenability that at present is most widely accepted and used is based on a microstructure of 50 per cent martensite. This criterion, which was suggested by Grossmann,' does have considerable justification. It may be readily measured by a fracture or etch test and, since it represents the point at which the hardness is changing most rapidly with variations in cooling rate, it may be determined empirically from a hardness-depth curve by determining the point of steepest slope (the inflection point). Furthermore, in plain carbon steels or in steels of low hardenability, the difference in hardenability expressed in

Jan 1, 1947

By J. M. Hodge, M. A. Orehoski

It is now generally conceded that if a steel is to develop optimum physical properties in the conventionally quenched and tempered condition, the microstruc- ture after quenching should consist wholly of martensite; and that transformation of austenite to intermediate-temperature products during quenching will have a deleterious effect upon the physical properties, particularly the toughness, of the tempered material. This implies that, in order to obtain the optimum physical properties from a given steel, its "harden-ability " should be high enough to suppress all transformation except that to martensite under the heating and quenching conditions to which it will be subjected, and this premise is probably the most important reason for hardenability control. However, the criterion of hardenability that at present is most widely accepted and used is based on a microstructure of 50 per cent martensite. This criterion, which was suggested by Grossmann,' does have considerable justification. It may be readily measured by a fracture or etch test and, since it represents the point at which the hardness is changing most rapidly with variations in cooling rate, it may be determined empirically from a hardness-depth curve by determining the point of steepest slope (the inflection point). Furthermore, in plain carbon steels or in steels of low hardenability, the difference in hardenability expressed in

Jan 1, 1947

By J. D. Livingston, J. J. Becker

A MAJOR difficulty in the experimental study of precipitation-hardening is the measurement of particle sizes too small to be easily resolved with the microscope. It has been shown recently, however, that magnetic measurements on copper-cobalt al- loys in the aged state can be used to determine the average volume, total volume, volume distribution, and shape of the ferromagnetic cobalt-rich particles, even though the particles are submicroscopic in size. r' These alloys also are known to exhibit considerable precipitation hardening. This paper reports some results on the dependence of the mechanical properties of such an alloy on the particle size, determined magnetically. It further illustrates the use of other magnetic measurements in interpreting structure changes occurring during deformation.

Jan 1, 1959

So commonplace that they are seldom noticed, mining-machine bits have a defi-nite and important bearing on the cost of coal production. At the average mine many thousands of bits are used during the year. The actual cost represented by the pur-chase of the bits used, as well as that of sharpening and handling them, represents a considerable sum of money. From the point of view of indirect costs they are im-portant, as the lack of good bits at a mining machine can seriously impair production. Good bits tend to ensure an adequate supply of coal.

Jan 1, 1940

By Clyde Wyman

THERE has always been a question as to the extent to which oxidizable alloys might he recovered from charged scrap in the, acid electric furnace. While qualitative information was not lacking, the quantities that might be recovered and the conditions best suited for such recovery were not clearly defined. The present investigation was carried out to determine the efficiency of alloy recovery from residuals contained in the bath, especially in regard to the recovery of vanadium. A series of 24 heats was produced at the Burnside Steel Foundry Co., including medium manganese-molybdenum-vanadium, manganese-chromium, and grade B steels, in which vanadium recoveries from the residual vanadium were investigated. Recoveries of other alloys were also studied from the accumulated data. These heats were produced in a 5-ton acid-lined electric furnace. The analysis of metal and slag samples and the micrographs were prepared by the Research Laboratories of the Vanadium Corporation of America. In addition to the vanadium contained in the scrap charge, ferrovanadium was added to the charge and to the molten bath to bring the residuals up to the desired level. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) in one series of heats was added to the bath after meltdown, for the same reason. In addition to the general furnace practice, the slags of these various heats were treated with coke breeze, Ferrocarbo-S (silicon carbide), and aluminum dross to determine the effects of different reducing agents upon the alloy recoveries and upon the final product.

Jan 1, 1947

By Blamey Stevens

In this paper, which is a logical extension of my paper, The Laws of Intrusion,1 the various pressures of emanation and their mechanical causes and effects on the large scale of nature are determined, and a classification of emanations is deduced therefrom. • The Subterranean. Sea. The subterranean sea is here defined as the intercommnnicating water contained in the trains of pores and fissures of the rocks down to great depths. Whether the actual amount of water constituting this subterranean sea be large or small, does not enter into the present argument, since the static pressure of this water at any particular depth is not a function of the quantity : it involves only the depth and the density of the water. Densities. The total pressure at depths down to 10 or 15 miles is made up of the rock-stresses investigated in my previous papers, and the pressure of the subterranean sea. The latter component must evidently be equal to the weight of a solid column of the overlying water of unit sectional area. As mater expands with heat, it should really be necessary to sum the density at every level. A knowledge of the densities of mater under a variety of conditions is therefore needed, but does not seem ever to have been ascertained for such combined pressures and temperatures as we have to consider. The specific gravity of water at 28' C. for various pressures up to 400 atmospheres, has been determined by Barus, 2 who

Jan 1, 1913

By H. J. French

AT THE request of a committee of the Engineering Division,1 National Research Council, a study of the properties of boiler plate at various temperatures up to about 900° F. (482° C.) has been instigated. The following is a report of preliminary tests made on two grades of ½ -in. plate and includes a description of the apparatus used in the determination of the proportional limit. Detailed reference to the many published investigations in connection with the properties of steel at various temperatures will be omitted from this report. Suffice to state that results obtained for variation in tensile strength elongation, and reduction in area with temperature are in substantial agreement with the effects now generally considered to be correct. Comparison of proportional limit values with results obtained by other investigators will be found in the conclusions.

Jan 2, 1920

By G. H. Clevenger

The reagents now used in flotation consist of various acids or salts, which may be either electrolytes or non-electrolytes, dissolved in water and some substance or combination of substances which function as collecting or frothing agents. At times the only dissolved salts present are those naturally occurring in the water used. The general effect of the electrolyte is to greatly sharpen the separation between the gangue and the concentrate. Examples of this are: The use of sulphuric acid with zinc ores; and of sodium carbonate or calcium oxide (lime) with silver-gold ores. Crude pyroligneous acid is also sometimes used when avail able. Various oxidizing agents, such as permanganates, bichromates, etc., are added in the selective flotation of lead-zinc ores. Many other reagents for performing certain specific functions, either real or imaginary, have been proposed, and a number of them have been tried upon a working scale. The wild orgy of experimentation which is now going on in flotation exceeds even that which followed the introduction of the Washoe process for the treatment of Comstock ores, when, among other things, sage-brush tea and tobacco juice were reagents added to the pans. Out of all this will, of course, eventually come a more or less standard practice for the treatment of each class of ore. Omitting a discussion of the functions of frothing and collecting agents, the reagents used in flotation for this purpose may be classified under five general heads: (1) Essential oils; (2) fixed or fatty oils; (3) alcohols and their combinations with organic acids; (4) coal tar and its refined products; (5) petroleum and its refined products. A flotative agent of some kind is required in flotation as now practiced. A single reagent, as, for example, certain of the essential oils, may perform the dual function of frothing and collecting agent, or a mixture of substances may be required. In this country, the essential oils used have been wood products, and have been almost exclusively confined to the steam-distilled pine oils. At the present time, the supply of these is limited, and the cost almost prohibitive, so that their use has been dispensed with as far as possible. The oils and tars resulting from the destructive distillation of

Jan 1, 1917