Search Documents

By Northcutt Ely

This volume summarizes mining and petroleum legislation in 30 jurisdictions of the Western Hemisphere. Within these jurisdictions, primary attention is given to requirements that must be met in each country for acquisition of rights to permit development of mineral resources. Coverage includes: First, identification of the controlling laws or statutes governing minerals acquisition and reference to the administrative authority; second, analysis of the laws governing mines and quarries and their products; and third, analysis of laws applicable to natural gas, petroleum, and related materials. Where pertinent, sections dealing with historical background or administration have been added. In countries where minerals are subject to control of States or Provinces, those areas are considered separately from the central government.

Jan 1, 1970

The purpose of this study was to examine the problems of underground coal mining in the United States, and to develop recommendations for an integrated Research and Development Program aimed at resolving these problems. Specific objectives of the study were as follows: ? To identify the existing inadequacies that have adverse effect on Health, Safety, External Environment, and Productivity. ? To identify opportunities for technological advance s to correct these inadequacies. ? To develop an integrated Research and Development Program designed to accomplish the advances identified. Many of the recommended tasks are dearly long range; this is especially true of those for study of future mining systems. However, funding recommendations in this Report are presented for a 5 -year period, since the developments accomplished during this period will undoubtedly be a factor in the formulation of the follow on tasks. Where applicable, the recommended Research and :Development could include development and test of pilot model equipment.

Jan 1, 1970

By Sidney Katell

This report, covering the period January 1969 through December 1969, is a continuation of a series that began with the publication of Information Circular 7516 in October 1949. It is the 11th in a series of reports prepared in cooperation with the American Association of Cost Engineers. The abstracted articles are concerned with all phases of cost engineering in the field of chemical and petroleum plants and related subjects. They are from the following sources: 1. American Association of Cost. Engineers Bulletin. 2. Bureau of Mines Information Circulars. 3. Bureau of Mines Reports of Investigations. 4. Chemical Engineering. 5. Chemical Engineering Progress. 6. Chemical Week. 7. Coal Age. 8. Coal Mining and Processing.

Jan 1, 1970

By Donald L. Siebert

This profile study of the commercial secondary aluminum industry examines not only the elements that form the industry but also the technological contributions of each toward industrial growth. Concise descriptions of processing methods trace aluminum scrap from generating sources to marketable industrial and consumer goods. Economic and marketing appraisals are used to illustrate the impact that recent technology has had upon the secondary aluminum industry. Price, supply, demand, competition, and substitutes are selected as components of an economic model of the secondary industry and are used to illustrate the aggregate effects of technological changes. The final section is a conceptual look at the future in which sensitive economic indicators (such as die casting in the automotive and appliance industries) are examined as well as the problems of conserving mineral resources by retrieving secondary aluminum from solid waste.

Jan 1, 1970

More than 400 academic, government, and industry representatives attended the second symposium on ash utilization and technology held in Pittsburgh, Pa., March 10-11, 1970. Sponsored by the National Coal Association, Edison electric Institute, American Public Power Association, National Ash Association, and the Bureau of Mines, the symposium featured 23 formal presentations by leading experts from Europe and the United States on all major phases of ash production, utilization, and research. Abstracts of all the papers are grouped right after this introduction, and the full symposium proceedings follow. Biographical sketches of the representatives are given in an appendix. Sponsoring organizations and their chief representatives were the National Coal Association, James R. Garvey, Bituminous Coal Research, Inc.; Edison Electric Institute, C. E. Brackett, Southern Electric Generating Co.; American Public Power Association, Howard J. Stemm, Columbus (Ohio) Electricity Division; National Ash Association, Inc., John A. Tillinghast, American Electric Power Service Corp.; and the United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, William L. Crentz.

Jan 1, 1970

By Thomas E. Howard

Man has been engaged in the construction of tunnels in. rock for several thousand years. During that time, methods of tunneling have changed drastically. Hordes of men chipping away at the tunnel face have been replaced by mechanical drills and explosives and by tunnel boring machines. Spoil is no longer carried on the backs of humans, but is now removed by trains, trucks or conveyor systems. These and other changes have had the effect of greatly increasing the rate of tunneling, while at the same time, greatly decreasing the potential dangers to workmen. Although the techniques, equipment and material used for tunneling are being continually improved, rock tunneling is still a slow and expensive process. Significant improvements and innovations are needed to reduce the cost and time required for tunneling if we are to fully utilize the subsurface to aid in the solution of urban problems and in the conservation of resources. This report is intended to facilitate the orderly development of tunneling technology by focusing attention on the inadequacies of rock tunneling and the improvements that are needed. The data presented were derived from the results of a comprehensive questionnaire that was completed during the summer of 1969 by more than 600 individuals and organizations in 17 countries. Table 1 lists the countries and the number of replies from each. Appendix A contains a summary profile of the national responses, while the text presents the results and a brief analysis of the conclusions that might be derived from the data in the questionnaire. The data shown in Appendix A represent the consensus opinion of each of the 17 nations without regard to the number of individual replies or the amount of tunneling activity that is represented. The national consensus was determined for each country by a plurality of the individual responses, in some cases modified by the opinion of the rapporteur. Tire above procedures can lead to situations which are misleading. For example, experience and activity arc a rational basis for analysis; but, if national replies are weighted on this basis (i.e., number of responses), informed and valuable opinion of less active countries would probably be overwhelmed and lost. In analysing the data on the basis of national responses without weighting, it becomes apparent that many of the same problems exist under a given set of conditions regardless of the number of tunnels that have been driven.

Jan 1, 1970

By H. F. Feldmann

This work was done to provide thermodynamic, electrical, physical, and compositional data on the seeded combustion plasmas of seven coals for the design of MHD generators. The systems were assumed to be at equilibrium, and the design data were generated by solving for the composition of both gas and liquid phases with a digital computer. The coals reported in this study include a western subbituminous, a Pennsylvania anthracite, and five representative bituminous coals. The data include dewpoint temperatures of both slag and seed. A Mollier diagram for each coal is given to allow graphical generator calculations.

Jan 1, 1970

By P. J. G. du Toi

Anaconda's experience with percussion longhole drilling in Butte, Montana, has consisted of six phases: 1. Drilling horizontal blast holes in stopes with push feeds. 2. Ring and parallel blast hole drilling in longhole stopes with bar mounted as well as skid jumbo mounted longhole drifters. 3. Ring and parallel drilling in raise climber shrinkage stoping using special raise climber drilling decks designed and built in Butte, Montana. 4. Parallel longhole drilling in horizontal cut and fill stopes with monorail jumbo. 5. Drilling water drain holes between mine levels. 6. Drilling leach holes through caved zones into old stope workings for leaching purposes. 7. Sample hole drilling.

Jan 1, 1970

By H. E. Exner

This article is a critical review of the influence of surface preparation on crack formation at Vickers indentations in the test used by Palmqvist3-7 to evaluate the toughness of cemented carbides. Experimental results are presented which clearly show that grinding introduces compressive surface stresses into the cobalt phase and thus reduces the crack length. The deformed surface layer is removed by polishing and a stress pattern is approached corresponding to that in the bulk material. Cracks of maximum length are characteristic of this stress state. Deformation stresses can be removed by annealing above 800°C. On the basis of these results , sample preparation for the crack length test can be simplified, the accuracy of measurement is improved, and a simple and significani parameter is found to describe crack resistance of cemented carbides. FOLLOWING suggestions by Ammann and Hinniiber,1'2 Palmqvist3-7 developed a method for testing the toughness of cemented carbides using as a measure the sum of crack lengths at the four corners of a Vickers hardness indentation. This method has several advantages over the bend test commonly used in carbide technology: a) specially formed samples are unnecessary; b) sufficient information can be obtained from one sample; c) the scatter is relatively small; d) the range of actual values for commercial cutting alloys is wide. Thus, this test is both cheaper and more precise than the bend test. Nevertheless, Palmqvist's method is not widely used, mainly for two reasons: a) The relationship between crack length and the technological properties of the material (wear and shock resistance) is not clear. b) The crack length is strongly dependent on surface treatment. It is necessary, therefore, that surface preparation be very precise and reproducible, conditions usually hard to obtain. While any other simple mechanical test has this first drawback, the second became crucial in the application of the crack length method as a practical test. The reasons that this drawback could not be eliminated are, in our opinion, misleading and inconsistent interpretations of the influence of surface preparation on the crack length given in literature. In the following, after a short review of previous experimental results the interpretations given by different authors,4?'-11 cf. Table I, are discussed critically and a consistent explanation is presented on the basis of which improvements of the method of crack length testing are proposed. 1) PREVIOUS EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS In his first attempt to use the cracks at Vickers impressions as a quantitative measure of the toughness of cemented carbides, palmqvist3 calculated the work necessary to initiate cracks by the formula: Sk =k.Pk. [I] where k = numerical constant = 6.49, Sk = critical work to initiate cracks (gf cm), Pk = critical load (load necessary to initiate cracks) HV = Vickers hardness (kp per sq mm). The difficulties involved in experimental determination of the critical load were overcome by the observation that a linear relation holds between the applied load and the sum of the crack lengths at the four corners of the indentation. This linear function, given by Eq. [2] below, was confirmed by Dawihl and Alt-meyer9and by our experiments, see Fig. 1: I = a1.P +a2 [2] where 1 = sum of the crack lengths at a Vickers indentation, P = applied load, al, a2 = parameters dependent on the toughness of the alloy and the surface preparation. The critical load, Pk, is now given by a2, which can be obtained by extrapolating the load vs crack length line to zero crack length, see Fig. 1. This simple relationship, Eq. [2], led Palmqvist1,7 to a parameter which was more reproducible and easier to obtain experimentally than the critical work: the work, S300, put into the sample to produce an average crack length of 300 µm per indentation. This parameter is calculated using the formula: where the load, P3oo, giving a crack length of 300 µm, can be taken from the load-crack length plot, Fig. 1,

Jan 1, 1970

By Neville J. Price

In order that the reader may not be misled, I feel it necessary to comment upon the title of this paper. "Laws of Rock Behavior," one may take as being part of the all-embracing "Law of Nature" and this, according to the Oxford Dictionary, relates to the principles of conduct recognized as being pleasing to God. I feel it would be presumptuous to erect a code of rock behavior on this basis, so turn to a secondary definition, namely that a "Law" is that which is intrinsically reasonable. It is extremely unlikely that any group of geologists, or workers in rock mechanics would be in complete agreement about what could be taken to be "intrinsically reasonable." Therefore, this paper does not present any deified utterances, but rather deals with a few aspects of rock behavior which I consider to be intrinsically reasonable and with which I hope the reader will concur. The mode of behavior of rocks in the Earth's crust covers the range from wholly brittle to completely ductile ; with a deformation time scale which may be measured in milliseconds, for some events such as meteoritic impact, or in millions of years for the tectonic deformation involved in mountain building. A complete survey is, of course, outside the scope of an introductory paper, so I must be both brief and selective in my treatment. Any attempt to establish the mode of rock behavior in the Earth's crust should take into account data and relationships established in laboratory experiments and correlate these with field evidence. Consequently, the first section of this paper presents a brief discussion of the experimental aspects of rock mechanics which are pertinent to the subsequent discussion.

Jan 1, 1970

By C. T. Wallace

Evans Industries, Inc., a management coal consultant and company was assigned to evaluate National Steel Company's coal properties in Knott and Floyd Counties, Kentucky. The results of evaluation showed large reserves of good quality, high volatile metallurgical coal contained in the Elkhorn coal beds and resulted in the formation of Beaver Creek Consolidated Coal Company. Based on results of the exploration and feasibility work, the decision was to install a coal nine, preparation plant and related facilities having a production capacity of one' and three quarter million tons per year with Evans Industries acting as Beaver Creek's management company. The recoverable tonnage assigned to the Stinson Mine is approximately forty-five million tons. This paper discusses the general arrangement of storage, conveying, loading, refuse disposal facilities and the flow sheet of the preparation plant developed by engineers of Heyl & Patterson, Inc., and Evans Industries, Inc., with emphasis on practical flexibility, sulfur reduction in all circuits, and high product yield with the minimum amount of selective mining, Three and one-half miles of railroad have been built by the Chesepeake & Ohio Railroad to service this mine.

Jan 1, 1970

By Richard J. Robbins

Mechanical moles have developed through a tedious process of evolution. At times it has seemed that tunnel borers have been subject to the same Darwinian rules of evolution as their zoological namesakes who, despite their efficiency, are highly specialized and still restricted to soft soil conditions near the surface of the ground. HISTORICAL HIGHLIGHTS The Robbins Co. began its work in this field in 1947 with the development of a twin-bore continuous coal miner. Although these machines were used primarily in coal, two of the early prototypes were used to bore tunnels through shale. Disk cutters were first used on these machines and showed promising results as core breakers between drag-bit kerfs. In 1953, James S. Robbins and Assocs. undertook the development of a 25-ft 9-in.-diam circular tunnel borer for Mittry Construction Co. to be used at Oahe Dam in South Dakota (Fig. 1). This is believed to be the first rock tunnel-boring machine built since the end of the 19th century when short sections of the Channel tunnel were successfully bored in chalk from both the English and French shores. Another Oahe Dam machine was built in 1955, and then a series of three small-diameter machines for the company's first real experience with medium-hard and hard rock (Fig. 2) None of these three could be considered a success, although they laid the groundwork for the success that followed. Interbedded shale and limestone in Pittsburgh and hard limestone in Chicago quickly pointed up the weaknesses in these machines which were used by Perini, Dravo, and Healey. Among the problems were the high breakage rate of tungsten-carbide drag bits, too much flexibility in the drive shafts, failure of high-pressure hydraulic systems, chain-conveyor failure, and general lack of rigidity and strength. In 1956 another attempt at medium-hard and hard rock-boring proved this time to be a success and a significant turning point in the development

Jan 1, 1970

By Philip C. Tully

This bibliography contains 3,062 different citations to technical and scientific literature about helium and alpha-particles abstracted by 13 abstract service publications during 1963. Multiple subject classification has increased the total number of entries to almost 5,000. Helium citations are listed by 23 major classifications. The number of subclassifications has been greatly increased to minimize the time required for literature search. The use of automatic data processing has been extended in compiling the bibliography.

Jan 1, 1970

By Warren E. Morrison

The first major evaluation of the nation's raw materials prospects after World War II was completed by the President's Materials Policy Commission (Paley Commission) in 1952 and submitted to the President in June of that year, as a five-volume study entitled Resources for Freedom. The bulk of the report was devoted to an analysis of the past, present, and probable future of the Nation's mineral supply industries. The Commission's evaluation of the future situation regarding minerals was derived from its forecasts of the probable domestic demand for the major minerals in the 1970's. This demand analysis was made in the context of probable worldwide demand. Several crucial assumptions were made by the Commission's fore-casters. It was assumed in 1950 that the next 20 to 30 years would see no major wars and be a period of sustained economic growth. Another assumption was that the anticipated demand for raw materials must be supplied at essentially no increase in real cost in order to avoid crucial supply problems. The Commission's forecasts were derived within the context of the country's expected future rate of economic activity. The gross national product (GNP) growth to 1975 was derived from projections of the number of people in the labor force, hours of work, and an index of probable production measured per unit of labor input. It was believed labor hours would decrease and labor productivity would increase. The result was a forecast GNP growth rate of 3 percent.

Jan 1, 1970

By Philip C. Tully

[This bibliography contains 3,655 different citations to technical and scienfic literature on helium and alpha-particles, abstracted by 13 abstract service iblicatlons during 1964. Multiple subject classification increases the total number of entries to more than 5,800. Helium citations are listed by 22 major assifications, alpha-particles by 12]

Jan 1, 1970

By J. C. Martin

A theoretical analysis of steam stimulation is presented for single sands. The analysis includes the effect of steam production and most of the effects of heat conduction. The results show the effects of a number of important variables on the performance of an idealized well under steam stimulation. Calculated responses are presented which indicate the effects of steam production, amount of steam injected, water production, formation thickness and formation damage. Results indicate that steam production can cause large reductions in the heat contained in the formation. This effect can be eliminated by drawdown control. Water production reduces the amount of oil produced during stimulation. The optimum amount of steam to inject depends on economic factors as well as the well response. In many cases, the increased temperature resulting from stimulation reduces oil viscosity near the well sufficiently to overcome the effects of formation damage even if the damage is not removed during steam injection. Calculated responses for thin sands are more favorable than anticipated. INTRODUCTION Little has been published on the theory of steam stimulation'-' despite the interest it has created and the wide variation in well responses. The results of the present analysis provide an insight into steam stimulation, and the methods employed provide a foundation for future work. Analyses presented in Refs. 1 and 2 are very limited and apply to gravity drainage conditions. Ref. 3 contains an analysis similar to the one presented here. The idealized models used and the assumptions made in Ref. 3 are different from those used in this paper. The analysis assumes that after steam injection has heated a small portion of the volume within the radius of drainage of a single uniform sand, a shut-in soaking period is allowed before returning the well to production. The effects of gravity, capillarity, transient pressure and water-sensitive sands are neglected. The injection and soaking times are assumed short compared to the stimulated production time. The initial temperature is assumed uniform; thus, the results apply primarily to first-cycle stimulation. The effects of gas production other than steam are neglected, and the water-oil ratio during production is assumed constant. Steam stimulation involves the simultaneous variation of the temperature, pressure and saturations. General mathematical equations for these variations are complicated and can be very difficult to solve. Simplified equations based on idealized models are used to reduce the mathematics sufficiently to allow approximate solutions to be obtained. DISCUSSION INJECTION An idealized model for which heat conduction is neglected is used to represent the behavior of a well during steam injection. The mathematics for this model is presented in Appendix A which also contains an approximate solution for the behavior of the no-conduction model. SOAKING During soaking, the well is shut in. Only the temperature, pressure and saturation distributions at the end of soaking are needed in the analysis. During soaking the heat is considered to be conducted in a uniform medium from an initially uniformly-heated circular cylinder confined to the producing interval. At the end of soaking the saturations and pressures are assumed to correspond to the cold zone. Analysis of the heat flow during soaking is included in the next section. The radius of the heated cylinder is calculated from the following heat balance (for constant quality steam injection). At the end of the soaking period it is assumed that little or no free gas is present near the well, and that the soaking period has been sufficiently long that the steam zone has had time to expand and the steam has condensed. The condition where there is no soaking is considered in the next section. PRODUCTION In this section, an approximate method is presented for solving the equations of heat and fluid flow associated with the production of oil and water during steam stimulation. Where initial pressure drawdowns are sufficient to cause steam to flow into the wellbore, steam production is assumed to occur within a short initial adjustment period (Appendix B). The production practices followed soon after the well is returned to production can have a large influence on the amount of oil produced during the stimulation cycle. Under most conditions, there is a period of time in which some or all of the water in the heated zone is converted into steam and produced. This flashing of hot water is caused by the pressure in the heated zone dropping below

By P. F. Gnirk, J. B. Cheatham

An experimental investigation has been made to study the effects of tooth angle and confining pressure on the force required for indentation of dry rock samples under confining pressure. In these experiments static single-tooth indentations were made on two standstones, a limestone, a schist and a slate under confining pressures of 5,000 to 15,000 psi. Sharp wedge-shaped teeth with included angles ranging from 30°to 105°were used. In all cases the force-displarenzent curves are approxinlately linear for rocks tested under confining pressure, as contrmted with the discontinuous curves obtained for silnilar rocks at atmospheric conditions. Photonzicrographs of thin sections through the craters indicate very little evidence of chip formation during indentation. In general the experimental data lie between calculated values for perfectly rough and perfectly smooth tooth-rock interfaces. INTRODUCTION The variables associated with ctrilling at depth are numerous and, in many instances, are not easity isolated and controlled. Also, many of these variables are interdependent; however, if the variables which are sufficiently independent of each other are held constant and are appropriately introduced, the dependent variables can be more easily studied and evaluated. It is the purpose of the present investigation to study experimentally the simplest case of bit tooth-rock interaction. In essence, the experiments have involved the static loading of sharp wedge-shaped tools on the surfaces of effectively semi-infinite dry rock samples subjected to confining pressures. During this investigation the following quantities have been maintained constant: 1. Pore pressure: atmospheric (i.e., the rock is dry). 2. permeability: although the rocks may be permeable, they are "jacketed" in such a manner that the fluid is not permitted to flow through them. 3. Temperature: 75F. 4. Rate of loading: essentially static (approximately 0.002 in./second). 5. Bit tooth: a sharp wedge-shaped tooth loaded normal to the rock surface. 6. Rock surface: smooth and flat. 7. Drilling fluid: hydraulic oil. In addition to the above conditions, the rock surface was free of a layer of cuttings. There was no indexing to previously indented surfaces, and the influence of corners of the borehole was neglected because the rock samples were effectively semi-infinite. The following quantities have been varied, and the resulting effects have been studied: 1. Rock a) Type (e.g., limestone, sandstone, etc.). b) Mechanical properties ) Necessarily dependent c) Porosity on type of rock. 2. Bit tooth (included angle of wedge-shaped tooth). 3. Depth of penetration. 4. cobfining pressure. On the basis of laboratory experiments which have shown that many rocks exhibit ductile behavior at confining pressures corresponding to depths usually reached during drilling,'.' a theory has previously been advanced which predicts the force required for penetration by a single sharp wedge tooth into a ductile* material.' The material is assumed to be isotropic, homogeneous and rigidly plastic (no elastic deformation) and to obey the Coubomb yield criterion (Figs. 1 and 2). Equations governing the force required for penelration are given for two extreme cases:** 1. A smooth, perfectly lubricated tooth-rock interface (fridionless boundary), in which the solution gives a minimum value for the penetrating force: in which F = force of the tooth, b = length of tooth edge,

By Xinquan Zhou, Rudolf E. Greuer

MFIRE, written in Fortran 77, is a computer program for ventilation state simulation in the steady state or transient state condition. It can be applied for the calculation of normal ventilation system planning or the analysis of the dynamic state variation in a ventilation system under thermal or mechanical disturbance. The state simulator MFIRE is a useful tool for mine fire fighting. In the case of a mine fire, mine ventilation engineers want to get some help to obtain more information, such as what is happening in the underground mine and how to control the mine fire, for correct decision making. By use of program MF'IRE, forecasts can be made on the variation of airflow, temperature, and contaminant distribution in a ventilation system during a mine fire. The paths which the contaminant takes at each time interval can be traced. The program MFIRE can be of assistance in the preplanning of escape routes. It can also be helpful during a mine fire emergency and mine recovery operation. Besides of offering the information of state simulation during a mine fire, MFIRE can be applied for state control by pretesting the suitability of the selected state control measures. It is to simulate the effects of the state control measures on the airflow distribution of a dynamic ventilation system. The testing result can be used for fire fighting in a similar real case of a mine fire. By employing empirical methods or a qualitative analysis like Budryk approach, ventilation engineers can choose different combinations of locations and sizes of control devices as samples of state control for an underground mine fire. Program MFIRE can simulate the different combination samples, that consist of a certain mine fue, the corresponding different control measures, and obtain the control effects. After the different control results are compared, the state control measure, which creates the best effect among the different state control measures, will be chosen for that fire case. When a mine fire, which is similar to one of the pretested cases, breaks out, the corresponding choice of the state control measure is applied to the ventilation system. It means that the simulator MFIRE has the function of indirect state control [10]. To achieve the above two functions, state simulation and state control, the mine ventilation system condition, sometimes, should be changed in a wide range to meet the requirement of the fire fighting. These wide system condition changes, such as adding operating fans, stopping or reversing fans, changing fan characteristics, adding regulators and making airflow shortcuts are represented in the time table of the input data set When the data files are changed in a wide range, however, an iteration divergence and some other computing errors in the distribution of airflow, temperature, and contaminant may occur. More serious logical programming and flexible selection on the algorithms are wanted to meet the request of the different data sets, to achieve correct state distribution simulation and improve the iteration convergence. To enhance the reliability and common suitability of program MFIRE, it is necessary to make investigation, analysis, and modification for the formal versions of MFIRE. The version 1.29, permitting dry .calculation, and versions 2.01/v2.0, permitting dry and humidity calculation, are widely applied

By V. Carlson, J. A. Rowe, E. O. Bennett

This report concerns the microbial flora found throughout the surface facilities of six water-injection systems in Texas and Oklahoma. Each system is described in detail and water quality data are presented when available. Pseudomonads and sulfate-reducers (Desulfovibrio) were the predominate organisms found in the systems. The genera Sphaerotilus, Bacillus, Achromobacter, Minococcus, Clostridium, Flavobacteriurn, and Sarcina were also isolated in significant numbers. Molds, iron bacteria, sulfur bacteria and soil bacteria were found less frequently in the systems. It is concluded that a complex microbiological flora exists in oilfield water-injection systems. A tendency for waters to deteriorate in passage through solid bed filters is also noted. INTRODUCTION The injection of water into a subsurface formation is often accompanied by numerous problems, the origin and nature of which are only partially understood. During the past few years, investigators have indicated that bacteria are involved in some of these problems even though very little specific information is available concerning this matter. It is surprising that investigators working on microbiological problems in water injection have never made a complete study of the flora of these systems. The logical course to pursue is that of identifying the microbial flora and then examining each organism individually and in combination with others to determine if they produce a particular problem. The objective of the present investigation is to identify the microbial flora in water-injection systems. In addition. the quality of the water in most of the systems was determined and some observations made on the extent to which passage through surface-handling facilities affects water quality. The information derived from this study can serve as a foundation for additional basic investigations. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE The microbial flora of six water-injection systems were studied at 50 sampling points. These systems are experiencing problems which may be attributable to micro-organisms, and two were being treated with antimicrobial agents at the time of this study. The samples were obtained by inoculating 1.0 ml of the water onto the different media at the sampling point. The media used for primary isolation included nutrient agar, Strokes agar, M-10-E medium and semi-solid thioglycollate medium. The cultures were returned to the laboratory, incubated at 30°C until growth occured; then, pure cultures were obtained from individual colonies. The pure cultures were identified according to standardbacteriologica1 procedures. Those organisms not fitting identification criteria exactly, even though exhibiting close similarities to known species, are listed as unidentified organisms. Membrane filters were used to make water-quality tests at intervals before and after collection of the microbiological samples. The filter discs were 47 mm in diameter with a 0.45-micron particle-size retention, and the tests were done under closed conditions at 20) psi. Membrane flow rates are plotted as increasing filtrate volumes, and the total solids contents arcs given when available. An effort was made to sample at each place in a system where a change in environment occurred. In this manner, the effect of passage through filters, tanks, hay sections, etc., on the microbial flora and water quality could be observed. RESULTS SYSTEM A This waterflood system (Fig. 1) is about four years old and daily pumps approx&ately 110,000 bbl of oil-free sour water from a 3,700-ft deep reef. The

By P. B. Baxendell, R. Thomas

Work on the calculation of vertical two-phase flow gradients by Cia. Shell de Venezuela has been based mainly on the "energy-loss" method proposed by Poett-mann and Carpenter in 1952. The "energy-loss-factor" correlation proposed by Poettmann and Carpenter was based on relatively low-rate flow data. This correlation proved inapplicable to high-rate flow conditions. In an attempt to establish a satisfactory correlation for high rates, a series of experiments was carried out at rates up to 5,000 BID in Cia. Shell de Venezuela's La Paz field in Venezuela, using tubing strings fitted with electronic surface-recording pressure elements. As a result of these experiments a correlation between energy-loss factor and mass flow rate was established which is believed to be applicable to a wide range of conduit sizes and crude types at high flow rates (e.g., above 900 BID for 27/8-in. OD tubing). It is anticipated that the resulting gradient calculations will have an accuracy of the order of % 5 per cent. At lower flow rates the energy-loss factor cannot be considered as constant for any mass rate of flow, but varies with the free gas in place and the mixture velocity. No satisfactory correlating parameter was obtained. As a practical compromise for low flow rates, a modification of the curve proposed by Poettmann and Carpenter was used. In practice this was found to give gradient accuracies of approxirnately ± 10 per cent clown to flow rates as low as 300 B/D in 27/8-in. tubing. INTRODUCTION Production operations in Cia. Shell de Venezuela's light- and medium-crude fields are principally concerned with high-rate flowing or gas-lift wells. Under these conditions the analysis of well performance, the selection of production strings and the design of gas-lift installations are vitally dependent on an accurate knowledge of the pressure gradients involved in vertical two-phase flow. Initially, attempts were made to establish the gradients empirically as done by Gilbert,' but the results were not reliable due to scarcity of data over a full range of rates and gas-oil ratios. Several methods of calculation based on energy-balance considerations were attempted, but the computations were cumbersome and the results cliscouraging. In 1952 a paper was published by Poettmann and Carpenter' which proposed a new approach. Their method was also based on an energy-balance equation. but it was original in that no attempt was made to evaluate the various components making up the total energy losses. Instead, they proposed a form of analysis which assumed that all the significant energy losses for mutiphase flow could be correlated in a form similar to that of the Fanning equation for frictional 1osses in single-phase flow. They then derived an empirical relationship linking measurable field data with a factor which, when applied to the standard form of the Fanning equation, would enable the energy losses to be determined. The basic method was applied in Venezuela to the problem of annular flow gradients in the La Paz and Mara fields" This involved establishing a new energy-loss-factor correlation to cover high flow rates and, also, some adaptation of the method to permit mechanized calculation using punch-card machines. The final result was 1 set of gradient curves for La Paz and Mara conditions which proved to be surprisingly accurate. With the encouraging results of the annular flow calculations, several attempts were made to obtain a corresponding set of curves for tubing flow. Here, unfortunately, little progress could be made. The original correlation of Poettmann and Carpenter was based on rather 1imited data derived from low-rate observations in 23/8- and 27/8-in. OD tubing. It did not cover the higher range of production rates, and extrapolation proved unsuccessful. A new correlation covering high flow rates was required, but this proved to be extremely difficult to establish since tubing flow pressure measurements at high rates did not exist—due to the difficulty of running pressure bombs against high-velocity flow. The necessity for reliable tubing flow data increased with the development of the new concessions in Lake Maracaibo, where high-rate tubing flow from depths of 10,500 ft became routine. Thus. it was decided to set up a full-scale test to establish a reliable energy-loss factor for tubing flow conditions. A La. Paz field light-oil producer with a potential of approximately 12,000 B/D on annular flow was chosen. To obtain full pressure gradients, a special tubing string was installed which was equipped with electronic surface-recording pressure measuring devices,