Search Documents

By Peter J. Conroy, Lewis V. Wade

Old Ben Coal Co. successfully completed the fit longwall panel in Illinois. The panel was mined wing shield supports and was part of a cooperative agreement with the US Bureau of Mines. This paper describes the rock mechanics studies which were performed to monitor: the performance of the supports, the stress changes in the coal and floor, convergence in entries, and caving mechanism of the roof. From this study, maximum support loads were obtained as well as the stress distribution in the panel, floor and adjacent pillars.

Jan 1, 1981

By Fred C. Bond, Jen-Tung Wang

Comminution energy is principally energy of deformation before break-age, which appears as heat. An empirical equation is presented which covers the entire comminution range. The new strain-energy theory considers comminution from the known principles of mechanics and the reduction ratio. Energy requirements according to the different theories are compared.

Jan 8, 1950

By D. Brion, J. J. Prédali, J. Hayer

The need to grind volcanic-sedimentary ores very finely (d80 < 20 µm) so as to liberate Pb, Zn, and Cu sulfides from their pyritic gangue causes difficulties in selective flotation. The pyrite, which accounts for 70-80% of the mineral content, is insufficiently depressed by the usual pH and NaCN techniques. To determine better depressing methods, the surface evolution of pyrite during flotation was followed by ESCA spectroscopy to compare the stability range in the Eh-pH diagram. Surface iron hydroxide was formed, which is the main pyrite-depressing factor. NaCN appears to play a more restrictive part, since no ferricyanides were detected, except for very small amounts at pH 7.

Jan 1, 1980

This symposium is based on material presented at the AIME Annual Meeting in New York, February 1958. Co-Chairmen of the panel discussion were Truman H. Kuhn, Colorado School of Mines, and J. E. Monroe, Freeport Sulphur Co. Panel members are listed above. In opening the meeting Chairman Monroe pointed out that both industry and education have their special problems and that the purpose of this and similar discussion groups is to bring together members from both industry and education in order to help solve their problems.

Jan 6, 1958

By L. J. Erck, T. E. Ban

A discussion of laboratory procedures used to determine pellet quality and to simulate handling and firing conditions. Strength- temperature relationships in pelletizing; effect of chemical additives on agglomeration; and crushing, abrasion, and impact resistance of the pelletized products are discussed with respect to five different iron ore concentrates.

Jan 8, 1953

By H. Maleki

Gob pressure measurements were made in a Western U. S. coal mine as part of a long-term program to evaluate cave progress and to determine the influence of geological discontinuities on caving conditions, load transfer, and resulting instabilities. Gloetzl cells were selected for the measurements due to their simple, robust construction and a history of being able to monitor pressures in a broken medium. A methodology was developed for the successful installation and protection of the cells and hydraulic lines in the gob as the face retreated. The measurements indicated a cave progress controlled by the frequency of major faults. The pressure-mining progress profile was compared to those observed in other parts of the world. It was concluded that the significant differences in profiles was caused by the thick-bedded strata, the existence of high lateral stresses, and the spacing between faults. Recommendations are given for future applications of Gloetzl cells for gob pressure measurements.

Jan 1, 1984

By Thomas Egleston

The adoption of the regenerative principle for burning fire-bricks, pottery, etc., has been delayed beyond what would naturally have been expected, because there bas been until recently little necessity for high heat in burning such material. But the introduction of pro-

Jan 1, 1887

By K. D. Sheffler, R. W. Hertzberg, R. W. Kraft

The Ni-Ni,Ti lamellar eutectic alloy responds to unidirectional solidification by alig-nment of the platelets of the two phases roilghly perpendicular to the moving solid-liquid interface. X-ray diffraction and zetallographic experimenls show that the following cryslallographic relationships exist in the directionally solidified ingots: lamellar interface w [0001] Ni3Ti 11 (111 }Ni local growth direction (1120) Ni3Ti n (110) Ni These relationships are rationalized on the basis of the crystallography of the constituent phases. In recent years researchers in several laboratories have shown that an aligned or "controlled" micro-structure can be produced in many binary eutectic alloys by forcing the alloy to solidify unidirectionally in an elongated crucible.&apos;-3 It also has been found that a unique crystallographic relationship often develops between the two phases in such a structure.4, 5 Since a parallel arrangement of phase particles in an alloy should, and, in many cases, does, produce unique and highly anisotropic properties, the alloys so produced are of potential interest in a variety of applications. Studies of these alloys are also of interest at the academic level because they help to improve our basic understanding of the way in which metals solidify. This paper reports the metallographic and crystallographic structure of another of these alloys—that between nickel and Ni3Ti. In a separate paper, hot tensile and stress rupture properties as well as deformation and fracture behavior of the same alloy are discussed.19 EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS AND RESULTS General Characteristics of the Eutectic Reaction. Several small exploratory Ni-Ti melts were made to resolve a conflict in Hansen6 over the eutectic composition. The alloy containing 16.4 at. pct Ti, Fig. 1, appeared metallographically to be closest to the eutectic composition, although small dendritic patches of proeutectic nickel are present. The eutectic morphology is lamellar and appears quite sharp and angular, indicating a strong influence of crystallographic factors upon the microstructure. Some of the eutectic nickel platelets are continuous with the primary phase, whereas in hyper eutectic melts a "halo" of nickel generally surrounded the proeutectic inter-metallic platelets, indicating that nickel is the nucleating phase in this eutectic reaction. Extensive precipitation of Ni3Ti has occurred in the primary nickel phase in a Widmanstatten pattern which makes the dendrites difficult to differentiate from the eutectic mixture. This phenomenon may account for discrepancies among the eutectic compositions reported in the literature. The sloping solvus line bounding the nickel primary solid solution explains the presence of the intermetallic precipitate. Poole and Hume-Rothery7 report that the solubility of titanium in nickel drops from 13.8 at. pct at the eutectic temperature (1304°C) to approximately 9 at. pct at 700°C (Ni3Ti, on the other hand, melts con-gruently and exhibits essentially no solubility for nickel or titanium). Lever rule calculations based upon Poole and Hume-Rothery&apos;s phase diagram indicate an increase from 21 vol pct Ni3Ti in the eutectic mixture at the eutectic temperature to 61 pct at room temperature. Selective point count measurements of the volume fraction of eutectic Ni3Ti platelets in the eutectic microstructure yielded a value of 46 i 2 vol pct, which required extensive precipitation of Ni3Ti from the nickel solid solution onto the eutectic intermetallic platelets during cooling from the solidification temperature. Influence of Directional Solidification. Nickel bar and titanium sponge of 99.9 pct purity were induction-melted in zirconia crucibles under argon in the proportion of 13.8 wt pct (16.4 at. pct) Ti to produce 14-lb master heats which were cast into investment molds yielding 5/8-in.-diam pins approximately 10 in. long. These pins were remelted under argon in horizontal zirconia boats and unidirectionally solidified to produce 1/2-in.-sq ingots approximately 44 in. long. Details of the experimental techniques and apparatus are described elsewhere.&apos;

Jan 1, 1970

By H. H. Waller, D. L. Monroe, D. P. R. Smyth

ORIGINALLY slusher drift development was conventional, advancing the drift full 10x13-ft size at 6 ft per round. This proved dangerous and costly because the weak fractured rock of the orebody cannot be left raw for any length of time without its reacting with air to cause spalling. With this method of drift development ground conditions were worsened by many blasts and the length of time it was necessary for the drift to remain open. The problem was practically solved by driving 5x7-ft pilot drifts, then enlarging to 10x13-ft raw size by slashing with 50 to 60-ft diamond drill holes. Calculated explosive charges are used to avoid wall and roof shattering. Still more recently jacklegs and sectional steel replaced the diamond drills, resulting in the same work for less than half the cost, see Figs. 1 and 2. Crosscuts at right angles to the main haulage drifts, which cross through the center of the ore-body, divide the ore into 200-ft blocks. Eight slusher drifts on 50-ft centers draw from one block. The slusher floor is 11 ft above the rail, inclined at 1 pct grade, and the top is 18 ft below the undercut. The finished slusher drift is 102.5 or 120 ft long, depending on whether it is north or south of the crosscut. Drawpoints are staggered on each side at 17.5-ft centers. The completed drift is concreted and has an inclined ramp and a vent at the back. When crosscuts and gangways have been excavated and concreted and slusher stations installed, slusher drift development is carried out in 10 clear-cut stages: 1—Pilot drift is driven full length, 5x7 ft. 2—Station is excavated at half-way point in pilot drift. 3—Pilot drift is enlarged to slusher drift size by drilling. 4—Lower part of slash is blasted and mucked for floor concrete. 5—Floor is poured. 6—Inside upper half of slusher drift is blasted, mucked, and concreted. 7—Outside upper half of slusher drift is blasted, mucked, and concreted. 8—Drawpoints are excavated. 9—Drawpoints are concreted. 10—Concrete ramp and sheave protection recess are constructed at back end of slusher drift. A 5x7-ft pilot drift is driven full length on the center line of the proposed slusher drift using a jackleg and detachable bits on 7/8-in. hexagon steel. A 10-hp air-driven slusher and 36-in. scraper pull muck directly into cars in the main haulage crosscut, see Fig. 2. Operations are on a three-shift basis. One man mucks the previous round, drills, and blasts his round in a shift. Average advance is 5 ft per shift. When the pilot drift is completed, 7 ft of drift in the center section is enlarged to full raw slusher drift size of 10x13 ft, for the set-up to drill long slash holes. The pilot drift is slashed to full raw size from this station with jacklegs and tungsten carbide chisel bits on 7/8-in. sectional steel. Crews line the holes without trouble, working from controls established by the engineers, and the pattern of holes for the slash is arranged to give the least shattering effect

Jan 1, 1955

By C. Zener, J. H. Hollomon

IT Is commonly recognized that a given material may be described as ductile or brittle only with reference to the conditions of test. Thus under the usual test conditions quartz is brittle, but under high pressures it is ductile. Salts that are brittle at room temperature become ductile at elevated temperatures. Pitch, brittle with respect o rapid loads, flows at low rates of loading. Pearlitic steel, ductile under the usual conditions of test, may be embrittled under the proper conditions of combined stresses, temperature, and rate of loading. EARLIER INVESTIGATIONS A clear analysis of the conditions necessary for plastic flow and for fracture was first given by Ludwik,1 who introduced two types of stress, the "flow stress" and the "stress at fracture." These stresses may refer to tensile or to shear stresses, or, in fact, to any type of stress. Ludwik considered these two stresses to be independent of one another, functions of the conditions of test and of the prior history of the material. For the purpose of analysis, both a flow stress and a stress at fracture can be envisaged as functions of strain over the entire range from zero to infinite strain. Thus, the material is brittle if the stress at fracture is less than the flow stress and ductile if the reverse is true. According to Ludwik&apos;s analysis, the problem of determining the effects of combined stresses, of temperature and of strain rate upon the behavior of metals reduces to a problem of determining the effect of these variables upon the flow stress and upon the stress at fracture. In the present paper, methods are described for determining the effects of two of these variables, temperature and strain rate, and examples are given of the dependence or now stress and stress at fracture, upon these two variables. The effect of combined stresses will be discussed in a succeeding paper. The flow stress may be determined from a load-diameter curve. Load-diameter curves were obtained over a wide range of temperature and over the limited range of strain rates obtainable with the lever-type Riehle machine used. The. curves were then converted to an extremely wide range of strain rate by making use of the equivalence of the effects of changes in strain rate and changes in temperature, previously proposed2 and demonstrated&apos; by the authors. According to this principle of equivalence, strain rate E and temperature T affect the flow stress only through a single parameter p of the form: p = EeQ/RT [I] In this equation, R is the gas constant (2 cal. per gram mol per deg. C.), and Q is a heat of activation, which varies from material to material, and may depend upon the strain, but not upon the strain rate or the temperature. There is associated with every value of p a flow-stress curve. Combinations of strain rate and of temperature that give the same p have the same flow-stress curve. Therefore, merely by changing the temperature of test, the effect of changing the strain rate may be obtained. Thus, under isothermal conditions, the material will behave the same at

Jan 1, 1944

By W. E. Bonini, E. A. Hickok

IN the course of an investigation directed toward expanding ground-water facilities in Essex and Morris counties, New Jersey, the Board of Water Commissioners of the city of East Orange authorized a seismic-refraction survey&apos; for the purpose of de-lineating bedrock topography below unconsolidated overburden. Results of the survey were highly satisfactory and led to the preparation of a comparatively detailed bedrock contour map. Knowledge of the bedrock depth and configuration was an important aid in selection of sites for test drilling. The portion of the East Orange Water Reserve under consideration is in the flood plain of the Pas-saic River about 10 miles west of Newark, N. J. The flood plain is about 175 ft above mean sea level and is bordered by low hills rising to elevations of approximately 250 ft. The bedrock underlying the Water Reserve consists of sandstone and shale of the Triassic Brunswick formation and is covered everywhere by deposits of unconsolidated glacial outwash sand and gravel, lacustrine clay, and recent river silt as much as 150 ft thick. Yield of wells in the sandstone and shale averages 100 to 200 gpm. Since production wells constructed in the sand and gravel aquifer in the buried river valley shown on the contour map (Fig. 1) yield 300 to 1400 gpm, it was proposed to locate additional production wells in this buried valley, where the yields per well would be maximum. In 1939 and 1946 the East Orange Water Dept. had electrical-resistivity surveys made to determine depths to bedrock. From the resistivity data the exploration company prepared a bedrock contour map. A well field expansion program begun in 1955 utilized this information to locate sites for test wells along a predicted northward extension of the buried valley in which existing production wells are located. After several test wells (wells 201-205) had been drilled, it became apparent that the resistivity information was unreliable." For example, test well 201 recorded bedrock at a depth of 72 ft, whereas the resistivity depth determination was 130 ft. As a consequence, the test drilling program was temporarily suspended and a seismic survey was under- taken to determine the topography and extent of the buried valley known from well records to underlie the existing well field. In the first phase of this study, several seismic shot point locations were placed at sites where well logs had been obtained previously. This procedure is necessary in a new area to determine whether the seismic method is applicable and what degree of accuracy is to be expected. At the East Orange Water Reserve, depths obtained from the shot points near test wells 202, 203, and 204 were within 8 to 11 pct of the depths logged (Table I). With this assurance that accurate results could be obtained, additional seismic spreads were located on the Water Reserve. Using a portable refraction seismograph, in the fall of 1955 a crew of four men shot a total of 29 reversed seismic spreads in a period equivalent to six field days. Charges as heavy as 3 1b of 40 pct dynamite were necessary at a few places to overcome ground vibrations caused by traffic on nearby highways. At most other sites, a 1-1b charge was sufficient. Travel-time plots were made for all spreads, and depths and true velocities were calculated according to formulas for multiple sloping layers by Ewing, Woollard, and Vine.&apos; The plot of spread 7 (Fig. 2) is typical of the short spreads in which bedrock was shallow—about 50 ft in this case. Where there were not enough arrivals through the bedrock to define the high velocity bedrock line, the spreads were lengthened. This was done by placing shots on line several hundred feet away from each end of the line of geophones. It was then possible to construct complete reverse plots for both short and extended shot points (see spread 27, Fig. 3). Four individual depths were calculated from each extended spread. Three and in some cases four seismic layers were observed. The surficial layer had a velocity range of 900 to 1200 fps, the lowest velocity recorded. This seismic layer is above the water table and is interpreted as recent river silt. The bedrock had the highest velocities, which ranged from 10,600 to 16,400 fps. Intermediate velocities ranged from 4500 to 6800 fps. In every case the intermediate layer was within

Jan 1, 1959

By H. R. Tunnell

Every one connected with a mine knows that it is hard to keep down the costs of moving ore from the place where it is broken to the shaft or portal. Considered broadly, the subject of handling would cover all work done in a mine, but here it has been limited to handling ore in stopes and drifts, through chutes, and on levels. Good ventilation and a strict enforcement of rules for the prevention of dust safeguard the health of the men and lower transportation costs. Handling ORe in Stopes and Drifts The object of all stoping is to mine ore of good grade at low cost. In Butte, most of the ore is mined, from veins dipping from 60° to the horizontal to those which are vertical, by means of square-set, rill, timbered-rill, and back-filling stopes. When blasted, a part of the rock is carried by gravity to the grizzlies over the chutes, the rest is shoveled. Rock, when broken in a stope, may be deflected by inclined floors or slides toward the top of a chute leading to the level below. Ore broken clean enough to ship should be carried, by the force of its fall, into a chute or.as nearly into that chute as the safety of the stope and the men permits. Ore that requires sorting, about 80 per cent. of all ore mined, is caught on a grizzly and the waste picked out. Waste rock broken in a stope is used to fill that stope and should be blasted into the gob with as little handling as possible. About two-thirds of all the ore mined in Butte comes from square-set stopes; this method was used in nearly all cases until 1912, when the rill method of stoping was introduced in the Tramway mine, of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. The shoveling and timbering costs in square-set stopes are high when compared with the costs in the rill stopes. All the ore cannot be carried to the chute, in falling from place, unless the chutes are very close together or the distance from the back of the stope to the top of the chute is sufficient to slide all the ore broken. The number of chutes is limited by the tendency of the ground to cave; if carried too close together the stope is weakened. Small stopes, or blocks,

Jan 1, 1923

By L. R. Grabill

The Bassick mine, located six miles east of Silver Cliff, Colorado, has, ever since its discovery, been noted for peculiar features. Some of these characteristics exist in one or two other mines, while some are entirely unique. Among these peculiarities I have selected the most noticeable for treatment in this paper: First. The methods of deposition of the ores, which is not, as in ordinary veins, in strata or layers parallel to the walls of the fissure. The ores are arranged in concentric layers upon detached and abraded fragments of the walls; each ore in a separate stratum, and always in the same place in the series. Second. The characteristics of the fissure or opening; its shape and dimensions; its contents, or the vein-filling; and its verticality. Third. The peculiar products of the mine. The most noticeable of these products is charcoal, which is occasionally, and at long intervals, found throughout the ore-body, and in the surrounding conglomerate, from the surface down to the present depth, which is something over eight hundred feet. The existence of charcoal here is, as far as I know, the only instance of its discovery in mines of metallic ores. Fourth. Besides the charcoal, there are other products, in themselves not peculiar, whose manner of arrangement and composition are unusual. The mine is situated near the centre of a small rounded hill of eruptive trachytic rock and feldspathic conglomerate. The diameter of the base of this hill varies from 700 to 1200 feet, and its height is 200 feet above the general level. A cliff or outcrop of fine conglomerate is exposed on the southwest side of the hill. On the northeast it joins by an upward slope the fine-grained, hardened feldspathic paste of Mount Tyndall, which rises 600 feet higher, and of which the elevation containing the Bassick mine thus forms an arm. On visiting the mine, one&apos;s attention, whether he is a scientist or not, is immediately attracted by the unusual method of arrangement of the ore. It is seen to be disposed in concentric layers around fragments of trachyte. These fragments, of which each one con-

Jan 1, 1883

By Harry A. Lipsitt, Rollins E. Hook, Attwell M. Adair

A necessary condition for a uniaxial stress distribution in compression testing is that the specimen end surfaces make full contact with the apparatus compression plates. In addition all compression surfaces must be machined perpendicularly to the loading axis. In general this condition is not sufficiently fulfilled in a simple apparatus. Therefore on application of the load the compression plate may first touch the specimen at one point only. This may cause crumbling of the specimen if the material under investigation is brittle (e.g., ionic crystals). It also precludes a precise study of the beginning of deformation as the effective cross sectional area is unknown. In addition a complex stress state is set up which renders quantitative work impossible, e.g., on dislocation density and arrangement as a function of stress. To overcome these difficulties a "self-adjusting" upper compression plate is required. A simple and reliable method of achieving this is shown in Fig. 1: A steel hemisphere is placed on the specimen. As soon as the compression plate (which no longer needs precise machining) makes contact with this hemisphere the load is uniformly distributed over the whole specimen surface, and a homogeneous uniaxial state of stress results. An advantage of the method is that the loading is always central, even when the specimen surface is not parallel to the compression plate (Fig. 1, dashed line). Therefore to a first approximation a uniaxial state of stress is maintained if the misorientation of the specimen end surface is small. Two typical stress strain curves of identically prepared sodium chloride crystals are shown in Fig. 2; curve 1 was taken without and curve II with the hemisphere under otherwise identical conditions. The improvement in the accuracy of defining the beginning of elastic and plastic deformation is clearly indicated. The writer wishes to thank the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft for financial support, and Professor P. Haasen for providing facilities for this work.

Jan 1, 1962

By P. Barnes

Several statements have been made to the Institute, somewhat detached from each other, as to the cost of some parts of these works, but they have not included any extended description of the buildings or machinery. The general plan of the work connected with the water supply differs, in some important details, from that which has been common either in the Pittsburgh district or elsewhere, and a somewhat extended description may be of interest to the Institute, in connection with a note of the cost of the work. The plan as a whole, and nearly all the important details, were developed by Mr. William P. Shinn, C.E., the general manager of the Company. The immediate and responsible charge of the work was in the hands of Mr. John C. Lewis, C.E., to whom had been committed all the work of this general description, including the laying out of the whole of the foundations, the erection of the buildings, and the grading and laying down of the entire railroad system. The continuous operation of the machinery and other fixtures of these waterworks, for more than three years, has fully demonstrated the correctness and econonly of the plan adopted. No casualties of any moment have befallen the apparatus, and no improvements have been suggested as important except that the gate at the river end of the conduit should have been made more completely water-tight, so that the whole length of the conduit could be pumped out dry without resort to any temporary dam in the conduit itself. In general terms the works of the Edgar Thomson Company are situated on a plateau, about 52 feet above the low-water level of the Monongahela River, and about 2000 feet from its bank. The site of the works is bordered on one side by Turtle Creek, a small stream which drains a considerable area of coal mining territory. This creek is about 100 feet from the group of buildings which have been erected, but it flows into the Monongahela River at a point, about 1200 feet further up than that selected for the entrance to the waterworks conduit. It was ascertained by analysis that the water in the creek contains an important percentage of sulphate of lime, while the water of the river is of unusual purity, in respect of any salts

Jan 1, 1879

By H. R. Tunnell

Every one connected with a mine knows that it is hard to keep down the costs of moving ore from the place where it is broken to the shaft or portal. Considered broadly, the subject of handling would cover all work done in a mine, but here it has been limited to handling ore in stopes and drifts, through chutes, and on levels. Good ventilation and a strict enforcement of rules for the prevention of dust safeguard the health of the men and lower transportation costs. Handling ORe in Stopes and Drifts The object of all stoping is to mine ore of good grade at low cost. In Butte, most of the ore is mined, from veins dipping from 60° to the horizontal to those which are vertical, by means of square-set, rill, timbered-rill, and back-filling stopes. When blasted, a part of the rock is carried by gravity to the grizzlies over the chutes, the rest is shoveled. Rock, when broken in a stope, may be deflected by inclined floors or slides toward the top of a chute leading to the level below. Ore broken clean enough to ship should be carried, by the force of its fall, into a chute or.as nearly into that chute as the safety of the stope and the men permits. Ore that requires sorting, about 80 per cent. of all ore mined, is caught on a grizzly and the waste picked out. Waste rock broken in a stope is used to fill that stope and should be blasted into the gob with as little handling as possible. About two-thirds of all the ore mined in Butte comes from square-set stopes; this method was used in nearly all cases until 1912, when the rill method of stoping was introduced in the Tramway mine, of the Anaconda Copper Mining Co. The shoveling and timbering costs in square-set stopes are high when compared with the costs in the rill stopes. All the ore cannot be carried to the chute, in falling from place, unless the chutes are very close together or the distance from the back of the stope to the top of the chute is sufficient to slide all the ore broken. The number of chutes is limited by the tendency of the ground to cave; if carried too close together the stope is weakened. Small stopes, or blocks,

Jan 1, 1923

By F. Lynwood Garrison

The future of the Witwatersrand depends upon the possibility of mining and milling profitably the large tonnage of relatively low-grade gold ores known to exist in that area. The problem must be solved if the existence of the gold-mining industry in South Africa is to be saved and continue. To show that this disaster may be avoided, or at least postponed for another decade or longer, the following official statement is of interest: "There is a fairly large area of possible orebody on the East Rand of whose value and depth from the surface we have some though not very accurate knowledge. There is a far larger area south of the Central Rand which probably carries much payable ore, but at depths that at present appear too great to mine. Finally, there is a narrow strip of country over 100 miles in length stretching south from the Rand to Klerksdorp and beyond, which may contain large ore-bodies. The Witwatersrand rocks outcrop over portions of this ground and in places conglomerates occur in it that carry small bodies of payable ore. There is reason to believe that conglomerates of the Witwatersrand system exist over all this strip, though they are for the most part covered by later sediments. It seems probable also that there are large blocks of payable reef in this belt, at any rate in the area that lies close to the present western limit of the developed mines. The structure in this neighborhood is however very complicated and to prove the orebodies will be both difficult and costly." Ores in the Witwatersrand It should be explained in this connection that the conglomerates mentioned here were originally old gravel beds now consolidated into bedded sedimentary rocks, very hard because strongly cemented with secondary silica. The gold exists in this cement and is rarely found in the pebbles composing the rock or bed called locally reef. It is important to realize that these gold deposits are beds; not veins as generally understood by mining engineers and geologists. In addition to these low-grade ore reserves we have also to consider the ore left behind in the old stopes of the upper levels near the surface,

Jan 1, 1931

By M. R. Geer, H. F. Yancey

THE performance of coal-washing equipment, that is, the effectiveness with which coal and impurity are separated, is a subject of undisputed interest to all concerned with the preparation of coal. Through the years much has been written in both American and European literature on the performance of coal-washing equipment and its interpretation, but until recently no effort has been made to consolidate this wealth of information into a single, comprehensive treatment of the subject. A splendid effort in this direction was made at the First International Conference on Coal Preparation held in Paris in June 1950 in which representatives from virtually every coal-producing country participated. Although the scope of the conference covered the entire field of coal preparation, many of the sixty-odd papers and a great deal of the discussion dealt with the subject of evaluating washery performance. Prominence was given this subject by the Centre d&apos;Etudes et Re-cherches, des Charbonnages de France, which sponsored the conference. This research organization, generally referred to as Cerchar, was formed in 1948 following the nationalization of the French coal industry. Since that date it has conducted an intensive study of coal preparation. Perhaps because of a fresh viewpoint, Cerchar realized immediately that complete information on the performance of French washeries and a thorough understanding of the mechanism of gravity separation were the fundamental prerequisites in a program to improve preparation practice. For this reason Cerchar concentrated on obtaining performance data and on a comprehensive study of methods of evaluating such information. Some idea of the magnitude of this work will be appreciated from the fact that 175 performance tests were made in 44 plants. The work performed by Cerchar emphasized a condition that is recognized by many of those concerned with coal preparation, namely that the lack of uniformity in presenting data on washery performance, the diversity of methods used in evaluating such information, and the frequent confusion of the terms related to performance have been prime factors militating against the progress from art to science. Thus, Cerchar feels that standardization of the methods employed for evaluating washery performance, not only in France but in the entire world, is essential to progress, and the prime objective of the Paris conference was to seek international standardization of the evaluation methods advocated by Cerchar. At the conclusion of the conference the question of standardization was referred to the International Standards Organization. A careful study of the dozen papers on the subject of evaluating washery performance presented at the conference reveals that none of the methods is new; most of them date back over a decade. Nevertheless, the intensive scrutiny of these methods brought about by the conference unquestionably has resulted in a valuable exchange of ideas and a clarification of thought that could scarcely be achieved in any other way. The object of the present report is to make available to the American coal industry the ideas developed at the conference which seem most important from an American viewpoint and to provide a critical analysis of some of the evaluation methods advocated by Cerchar. The various methods of evaluating washery performance are illustrated partly with data that have been published in American literature, and some new data have been obtained as the result of experimental work undertaken since the conference to provide information on certain controversial points. An English translation of the proceedings of the conference, including the discussion as well as the papers, will be available,&apos; and previous to the conference Coal Age2 published a very brief description of some of the principal evaluation methods used by Cerchar. Americans will appreciate as well as do the French the desirability of standardizing both the termi-

Jan 1, 1952

By B. H. Caudle, A. R. Khan

The oil production performance of thin-oil-column type reservoirs producing entirely by natural water drive are discussed in this paper. The dimensionless production histories were obtained in a series of scaled porous-medium laboratory-model tests under varying effects of rate of production, mobility ratio across moving boundary, ratio of oil- and water-sand thickness and mobility ratio across fixed boundary including the effects of different residual oil saturations in the water-invaded regions. This scaled-model study of thin oil columns indicated that greater recovery of oil results for lower values of the following: rate of production, mobility ratio across the moving boundary, water-sand thickness relative to the oil-sand thickness, and mobility ratio across the fixed boundary or residual oil saturation in the water-invaded region of oil sand The results of the study are given as dimensionless production history plots which may be used to predict the performance of the field they represent. INTRODUCTION Oil fields producing under natural water drive can be classified into two major groups: (1) an "edge-water drive" reservoir group in which the water is encroaching from the reservoir periphery, and (2) the group of reservoirs in which the oil-sand is entirely underlain by an aquifer. Reservoirs in the second group are further subclassified as "bottom-water drive" reservoirs and "thin-oil-column" reservoirs. The latter reservoirs are characterized by their relatively equal oil- and water-sand thicknesses and by having both the oil and water zone relatively thin. When oil is produced from a water-drive reservoir by a partially penetrating well, water breaks through sooner or later before all of the displace-able oil is recovered. Many analyses of this general situation have been made with varying degrees of realism in their approaches, both theoretical and experimental5.6 in nature. Pertaining to the scaled laboratory model studies of natural water drives using porous media, detailed investigations have been made by Henley, et al.7 on bottom-water drive and by Caudle8 on edge-water drive reservoirs. No laboratory model studies, however, have been made to investigate the performance characteristics of thin-oil-column reservoirs. This paper presents the results of a study on scaled models of thin-oil-column reservoirs, operated under varying conditions corresponding to the actual field practices. SCALING PARAMETERS The object of scaling is to produce a one-to-one relationship between physical and dynamic parameters of the model -and prototype. The most comprehensive treatment of scaling techniques for oil reservoirs is given by Geertsma, et a1.,9 which covers two methods for arriving at dimensionless groups for scaling. Table 1 lists the scaling parameters suitable for creating kinematic and dynamic similarities between the model and the prototype in the variables considered for the thin-oil-column reservoirs. In order to achieve similarity it is essential that the dimensionless groups listed in Table 1 have equal values in the model and the protorype simulated. Since it has been established that the role of interfacial forces is neglible in gross fluid movement in a reservoir no attempt was made to scale capillary forces- Although there are reports describing Scaling criteria for these forces,10,ll consideration of the necessary but restrictive conditions for

Jan 1, 1970

By David Cornell, D. L. Katz

Procedures for computing turbulent flow of gas in steady state near the well bore and a graphical method for predicting unsteady state laminar flow at distances from the well have been combined to compute pressure gradients in gas reservoirs. Methods are discussed for predicting single and multiple transients at constant flow rate in an infinite reservoir, predicting constant How rate. in a finite reservoir, reproducing and interpreting back pressure test data, and prediction of the behavior of a closed-in gas well. An example of the graphical method is given for a single transient and the results are compared to a published analytical solution. A typical calculation of the pressure gradient in a reservoir and the production of gas is made .starting with data from a hack pressure test. INTRODUCTION The calculation of pressure gradients throughouse a ga-reservoir at any point in its production history is a complex problem involving turbulent flow near the well bore and unsteady state flow of the gas from the reservoir. The problem is complicated further by the variety of boundary conditions that may be imposed upon the flow. Such boundary conditions include finite or infinite reservoirs. constant or variable rates of production, constant or varying bottom hole pressures, complex initial pressure distributions throughout the reservoir, and pressure maintenance through cycling. In addition to these problems there are the practical difficulties associated with natural gas reservoir analysis These might include: (1) variation. in the permeability and porosity throughout the formation. (2) variations in the thickness of the formation, (3) communication of the producing formation with other producing zones. (4) radial variations in permeability due to influx of drilling fluid. acidizing. or the buildup of liquid in the formation around the well, (5) partial penetration of the producing zone. (6) water flood, and many others. These problems will be considered eventually. In the mean- time, it is necessary to present methods of handling the case of radial flow through a homogeneous, regular, producing stratum to a single well uncomplicated by other factors. The idealized case of steady state, radial flow from a natural gas reservoir was studied by Elenbaas and Katz5 and by Mac-Koberts.&apos; An analysis of the unsteady flow of gases through porous media has been made by Aronofsky and Jenkins&apos; for the one dimensional laminar case with the boundary conditions of constant downstream pressure and uniform initial pressure. Solutions for the partial differential equation for unsteady state radial flow of liquids through porous media have been given by Van Everdingen and Hurst" for the constant bottom hole pressure and constant production rate cases for laminar flow in a reservoir initially at a constant pressure. The analogous heat transfer equation has been treated by Perry and Berggren9 for the case of quenching a cylindrical hole in an infinite medium to a constant temperature. The back pressure curve, which involves the variation of the bottom hole pressure as it is determined by the behavior of the reservoir as a whole. has been studied by Rawlins and Schellhardt,10 Binck-lev,&apos; Baumel and Breitung,&apos; and others. No complete. adequate treatment has been given for the unsteady state, radial flow of gases into a cylindrical hole from a porous medium with or without the presence of turbulent flow and for any set of boundary conditions. If one relies only on analytical solutions of the basic equations, a new solution must be obtained for each new boundary condition. Furthermore, the complexity of the mathematical expressions for boundary conditions other than the very simple cases limits the use of analytical solutions. Graphical methods exist, however. that are general in nature, accurate, and readily employed. The analysis of steady and unsteady, laminar and turbulent, radial flow for various boundary conditions with application to specific natural gas well problems by means of graphical procedures forms the content of this paper. STEADY STATE RADIAL FLOW EQUATION FOR LAMINAR AND TURBULENT FLOW A steady state radial flow equation for laminar and turbulent flow through unconsolidated sands has been given by Muskat as discussion of the work by Elenbaas and Katz.5 This equation is based on the properties of unconsolidated

Jan 1, 1953