Explosively produced fracture of oil shale. Progress report, January to March 1981
This is the first Los Alamos Oil Shale progress report in a new format, designed to continue the publication of technical papers each quarter and to report the progress made each quarter in oil shale research. This first report describes the history of the project to put the present status in perspective and outlines the program and its objectives. In subsequent reports, program achievements will be reported along with the usual technical papers. Section I covers program management, explosive characterization, dynamic rock mechanics, field verification tests, and stress wave, fluid flow, and retort stabiliy modeling. Program history, recent accomplishments, and future plans are discussed for each program element. Details are also given on how the program dovetails with that of industry, particularly with the Oil Shale Consortium. Finally, the unique operational principles and field applications of the CORRTEX system to oil shale field experiments are explained. Section II presents several technical papers. An overview of the rock fragmentation effort to enhance the permeability of oil shale using explosives summarizes the project, its rationale, and objectives. Results of explosive characterization tests show that the maximum pressure and gas drive of ANFO are greatly enhanced by the addition of aluminum. In fracture modeling, spallation is studied in terms of crack growth, and the effect of anisotropy in explosive fragmentation is calculated and compared with radiograph data from field tests. Our TRACER model is explained and fluid flow calculations for heat and mass transfer in the Occidental Oil Shale, Inc. MR-3 retort are shown to compare well with field data. Also, the status of the two-dimensional retorting model, which fully couples retort chemistry with fluid dynamics, is given.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 5422551
- Report Number(s):
- LA-8956-PR; ON: DE82009547
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
EXPLOSIVE FRACTURING
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
OIL SHALES
RETORTING
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
RETORTS
STABILITY
ALUMINIUM
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CRACK PROPAGATION
FIELD TESTS
FLUID FLOW
FRAGMENTATION
HEAT TRANSFER
MASS TRANSFER
PERMEABILITY
ROCK MECHANICS
ROCKS
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMICAL REACTORS
COMMINUTION
DECOMPOSITION
DISTILLATION EQUIPMENT
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUIPMENT
FOSSIL FUELS
FRACTURING
FUELS
MATERIALS
MECHANICS
METALS
SIMULATION
TESTING
040300* - Oil Shales & Tar Sands- Drilling
Fracturing & Mining