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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Explosively produced fracture of oil shale. Progress report, July-September 1982

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6401723

The Los Alamos National Laboratory is conducting rock fragmentation research in oil shale to develop the blasting and fluid-flow technologies required to prepare a rubble bed for a modified in situ retort. The first section of this report summarizes the rock fragmentation program completed with the cooperation of the Oil Shale Consortium and Science Applications, Inc.; it also details the plans for a joint DOE/Sandia National Laboratories/Los Alamos program based on the results of the Consortium program. In addition, Sec. I describes the explosive engineering tests conducted to evaluate dead-pressing characteristics and to verify the reversal-plane fracture capabilities of the ANFO slurry explosive used in the Consortium program. The second section presents a paper on computer modeling and theory that relates the permeability of fractured rock to percolation theory and statistical crack mechanics.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-36
OSTI ID:
6401723
Report Number(s):
LA-9614-PR; ON: DE83008357
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English