TY - GEN
T1 - Azimuthal self potential signatures associated with pneumatic fracturing
AU - DeBonne, Wishart
AU - Slater, Lee
AU - Schnell, Deborah
AU - Herman, Gregory
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Pneumatic fracturing is used to enhance the permeability and porosity of tight unconsolidated soils (e.g. clays) and/or bedrock thereby improving the effectiveness of remediation treatments applied to contaminated soils. A laboratory simulation was performed whereby compressed kaolinite sediments were pneumatically-fractured and subsequently injected with an electrolyte/dye simulating a treatment. Fracture geometry was quantified via fracture strike analysis of visible fractures in the tank walls combined with optical borehole televiewer imaging. Azimuthal self potential (ASP) measurements revealed clear electrokinetic self potentials during injection that correlate with dominant fracture strikes in the clay. Polar plots show that ASP lobes coincide with azimuths of high fracture strike density and that cross plots of SP versus number of fractures display a statistically significant positive correlation. Furthermore, the magnitude of electrokinetic SP scales with flow rate for any particular fracture set, and the positive lobes of the ASP anomaly are diagnostic of the flow direction of the treatment.
AB - Pneumatic fracturing is used to enhance the permeability and porosity of tight unconsolidated soils (e.g. clays) and/or bedrock thereby improving the effectiveness of remediation treatments applied to contaminated soils. A laboratory simulation was performed whereby compressed kaolinite sediments were pneumatically-fractured and subsequently injected with an electrolyte/dye simulating a treatment. Fracture geometry was quantified via fracture strike analysis of visible fractures in the tank walls combined with optical borehole televiewer imaging. Azimuthal self potential (ASP) measurements revealed clear electrokinetic self potentials during injection that correlate with dominant fracture strikes in the clay. Polar plots show that ASP lobes coincide with azimuths of high fracture strike density and that cross plots of SP versus number of fractures display a statistically significant positive correlation. Furthermore, the magnitude of electrokinetic SP scales with flow rate for any particular fracture set, and the positive lobes of the ASP anomaly are diagnostic of the flow direction of the treatment.
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M3 - Conference contribution
SN - 9781605603001
T3 - Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society - 21st Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2008
SP - 685
EP - 688
BT - Environmental and Engineering Geophysical Society - 21st Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2008
T2 - 21st Symposium on the Application of Geophysics to Engineering and Environmental Problems 2008
Y2 - 6 April 2008 through 10 April 2008
ER -