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By K. E. Brown, A. R. Hagedorn

A 1,500-ft experimental well was used to study the pressure gradients occurring during continuous, vertical, two-phase flow through 1-in., 1 1/4-in. and 1 1/3-in. nominal size tubing. The test well was equipped with two gas-lijt valves and four Mathak electronic pressure transmitters as well as with instruments to measure the liquid production rate, air injection rate, temperatures and surface pressures. Tests were conducted for widely varying liquid flow, rates, gas-liquid ratios and liquid viscosities. From these data, an accucrate pressure-depth traverse was construcred for each test in each of the three tubing sizes. From the results of these tests, correlations have beer] developed which allow the accurate prediction of flowing pressure gradients for a wide variety of tubing sizes, flow conditions, and liquid properties. Also. the correlations and equations which are developed satisfy the necessary condition that they reduce to the relationships approprate to single-phase flow when the flow rate of either the gas or the liqutid phase becomes zero. All the correlations involve only dimensionless groups. which is a condition usually Sought for in similarity analysis but not always achieved. The correlations developed in this study have been used to calculate pressure gradients for pipes of larger diameter than those upon which the correlations are based. Comparisons of these calcuclaed gradients with experimetally determined gradients for the same flow conditions obtained from the literature indicate that extrapolation to these larger pipe sizes is possible with a degree of accuracy sufficient for engineering calculations. The extent of this extrapolation can only he determined with additional data from larger pipe diameters. INTRODUCTION The accurate prediction of the pressure drop expected to occur during the multiphase flow of fluids in the flow string of a well is a wideiy recognized problem in the petroleum industry. The problem has been brought even more into prominence with the advent of tubingless or slim-hole completions which use small-diameter tubing. Many of the correlations which give reasonably accurale results in the lager tubing sizes are greatly in error when applied to small-diameter conduits. Small-diameter conduits are defined as 1 1/2-in. nominal size tubing or smaller. The study of the pressure gradients which occur during multiphase flow of fluids in pipes is exceedingly complex because of the large number of variables involved. Further difficulties relate to the possibility of numerous flow regimes of widely varying geometry and mechanism and the instabilities of the fluid interfaces involved. Consequently, a solution to the problem by the approach normally used in classical fluid dynamics based on the formulation and solution of the Navier-Stokes equation has not been forthcoming. This is primarily the result of the nonlincarities involved and the difficulty of adequately describing the boundary conditions. As a result of the foregoing, most investigators have chosen semi-empirical or purely empirical approaches in an efford to obtain a practical solution to the problem. Much of the previous work in this area was done in short-tube models in the laboratory. A number of problems arise, however, when attempts are made to extrapolate these laboratory results to oilfield conditions where a much longer tube is encountered. In those few studies where data taken in long tubes were utilized, the data covered only a limited range of the variables, and as a result inaccuracies are introduced when the correlations are extended outside the range of the original data. Also, as a consequence of the limited amount of data available for these studies, the effects of several important variables were overlooked. The problem of predicting the pressure drop which occurs in multiphase flow differs from that of single-phase flow in that another source of pressure loss is introduced, namely, those pressure losses arising from slippage between the phases. This slippage is a result of the difference between the integrated average linear velocities of the two phases, which in turn is due to the physical properties of the fluids involved. In contrast to single-phase flow. the pressure losses in multiphase flow do not always increase with a decrease in the size of the conduit or an increase in production rate. This is attributed to the presence of the gas phase which tends to slip by the liquid phase without actually contributing to its lift. Many investigators have attempted to correlate both the slippage losses and the friction losses by means of a single energy-loss factor analogous to the one used in the single-phase flow problem. In an approach of this type, hourever, many of the important variables, such as

Jan 1, 1966

By W. B. Plank

THE figures on enrollment in the engineering schools of the United States and Canada indicate that the total number of students in these schools for the current year, 1949-50, is about 10% less than it was a year ago. This year, 226 - 533 undergraduates and graduate students are studying engineering in the United States and Canada as compared with. 249,913 students last year. These figures are taken from advance data in the Journal of Engineering Education for February 1950.

Jan 1, 1950

By H. W. Hardinge

DISREGARDING for the present the economic side of a new device, let us turn to that feature of the conical pebble-mill which is of interest from a scientific point of view, and consider the device as a puzzle in which the theories of the cylindrical type of mill have been increased. Many articles have been written on the theory of the tube-mill, and explanations have been made which do not explain.; but these have evolved suggestions of practice which have resulted in changes in the tube as to length, diameter, feed, discharge, speed of rotation, rotation on hollow trunnions, rotation on rings, and changes in the operation as to quantity and size of pebbles, charge of load above or below the axis, crushing by causing the larger pieces of the material of the charge to act as grinders, etc. The practical worker in crushing is first interested in the endeavor to reach an economic means of accomplishing a desired end; but the improvements in crushing-practice have been largely left to the manufacturer of machinery, who, as a rule, has little, if any, knowledge of the specific requirements-such as sizing for concentration without pulverizing the metals, instead of pulverizing the rock or gangue; the metals being the more friable, while the rock is tough and not so easily disintegrated. A reversal of this practice is the aim of sliming direct for cyanidation. In the ordinary cylindrical mill, having a diameter of 4 or 5 ft. and a length of from 15 to 27 ft., it has been found that the maximum size of the particles of the charge must not exceed 1 mm. (about 25 mesh), some of which, upon entering the mill, is immediately reduced to a slime. The work upon the individual particle having been finished, it should be passed out of the mill; but, instead of this, the finely comminuted material

Jan 7, 1908

By John W. Lane, Richard A. Ronzio, Frederick N. Bender

Climax Molybdenum Co. operated a hydrometallurgical plant at Climax, Colo., from August 1966 to August 1968 to recover molybdenum from an oxidized ore. The feed, tailings from sulfide flotation, was first upgraded by cycloning. The concentration plant handled 6000 tpd of feed and produced 2000 tpd of slime concentrate. The concentrate was leached by a sulfuric-sulfurous acid solution at 65°C. The molybdenum was solubilized in the form of "molybdenum blue." Activated charcoal was added to the leach tailings in a resin-in-pulp type circuit. Molybdenum was adsorbed on the charcoal. The charcoal was screened from the pulp and washed. The washed charcoal was pumped to columns where it was ammoniated and air-blown. The oxidized molybdate then was washed from the charcoal. The eluate was evaporated until ammonium dimolybdate crystallized out. The ammonium dimolybdate was calcined to molybdenum trioxide.

Jan 1, 1973

By Paul Weir

BLEACHING clays have been used extensively in the oil-refining industries for a number of years. Their use in water purification is relatively recent and less extensive. They are frequently classified as (1) those naturally active and (2) those active after artificial activation with acid. Fuller's earths fall within the general group of bleaching clays and gradually the commercial term "fuller's earth" has been applied to natural clays originating, for the most part, in the south- eastern section of the United States. Bentonitic clays are usually classed as activable and are prevalent in the southwestern section of the United States. Bleaching clays vary considerably in chemical and physical properties throughout the country, or even in different parts of one deposit (Table 1). [ ] The fuller's earth type of clay is characterized by a lack of plasticity, relatively adsorbent, foliated structure, and does not swell to form a

Jan 1, 1939

By L. A. Roe

The flotation of fine particles less than five microns in diameter and the flotation of liquids from liquids generally requires bubble generation methods different than methods used in dispersed air type machines used in mineral flotation. Conditions in the separatory zone in mineral cells are generally more dynamic as compared to the quiescent conditions often absolutely necessary for the flotation of fine particles and liquids. An example of quiescent flotation with very fine bubbles is the lithium flotation plant which operated at Trona, California for 34 years, until it ceased operations in 1978. A review of the process development and the commercial flotation operations at Trona is given in this paper. The clarification of oil field brines by flotation of the oil from the brine has been used for over twenty-five years. Recent installations related to the Prudhoe Bay oil field and the Alaska pipeline are described.

Jan 1, 1980

By W. A. Foster

NINETY years after the Riddle nickel deposit N was discovered in Oregon in 1864, Hanna Coal & Ore Corp. began mining operations. Until 1954 much prospecting and preliminary development work had been done on the property, but no ore had been shipped other than for metallurgical testing. The deposit is being explored by churn drilling and trenching, and a few test shafts have been put down for the purpose of studying the ore in place, determining volume and moisture factors, and gathering bulk samples for pilot plant and smelter tests. In churn drilling, 6-in. casing is driven down 2 or 3 ft behind the drill bit and bottomed at each 5-ft interval. All the sludge for each cased 5-ft interval is dumped through a splitter and one eighth is saved and analyzed. Drillholes are stopped after going through the ore zone and penetrating fresh peridotite in which the nickel content is less than 0.5 pct.

Jan 8, 1957

"Minerals in Transition" is the timely theme of this year's SME-AIME Fall Meeting and Exhibit, to be held September 10-12 at the Salt Palace, Salt Lake City, Utah. Approximately 2000 members and guests are expected to attend the meeting, which will include 117 technical papers, presented during 27 sessions. To complement the technical program, a record number of mining manufacturers and suppliers will be on hand to exhibit the latest in equipment innovation and professional services.

Jan 8, 1975

By Om P. Garg

During the period between 1970 and 1974 the Iron Ore Company of Canada had embarked on a detailed program to evaluate all aspects of mine design work for its open pit mines around Schefferville, located both in Quebec and Labrador, Newfoundland, Canada. One of the main conclusions was that the majority of the slope angles for the ultimate pit walls could be steeped. During the period 1975 and 1976,five (5) open pit iron ore mines were redesigned using the steeper slope angles up to 55 degrees. Initially these pits were designed at slope angles varying between 37 degrees and 45 degrees due to the generally fractured and leached nature of rocks in the area. During the active mining phase between 1976 and 1979, the stability of the steeper ultimate pit walls was monitored. The mining of ore was successfully completed in 1978 and 1979 in three pits. This of course, resulted in a significant savings due to a reduction in the quantity of waste that had to be removed. The successful pit slope redesign project was a co-operative effort between the Federal Government, Universities and the Iron Ore Company of Canada.

Jan 1, 1983

By J. P. Murphy, T. E. Leontis

DURING the last few years, the trend in the aircraft and automotive industries has been toward higher and higher operating engine temperatures. This has created considerable interest in the effect of temperature on the properties of alloys. In the magnesium field, it has been recognized for many years that the addition of cerium imparts high strength and good resistance to creep at elevated temperatures. Beck,1 in his treatise on-magnesium, has summarized the work of German investigators. This includes the unpublished data of Menking, showing the increase in strength and hardness of extruded alloys containing 2 to 20 per cent Ce at temperatures from 200 to 300°C. (68° to 572°F.) and the results of Vosskühler, who demonstrated the improved resistance to creep of alloys containing 6 per cent Ce plus 2 per cent Mn and 0.5 per cent Ce plus 2 per cent Mn at 150°C. (302°F.). Wellinger and Keil2 have also reported the creep properties of a forged magnesium-cerium-manganese alloy at 200° and 250°C. (392° and 482°F.). Haughton and Prytherch have determined the tensile properties of various forged magnesium alloys containing cerium, cerium plus manganese, cerium plus calcium, cerium plus nickel, cerium plus nickel plus manganese, and cerium plus cobalt plus manganese at temperatures up to 290°C. (554°F.). Magnesium-cerium alloys have been used in some commercial applications. It is reported that an alloy containing 3 per cent Ce plus 0.5 per cent Mn plus 0.5 per cent Ca is being used on a forged impeller in Great Britain. Two forged parts made from an alloy with a nominal composition of 5 per cent Ce and 2 percent Mn have been found on the German .BMW-801D aircraft engine. These two forgings consist of a supercharger impeller and a rear cam-follower guide. In this country, several types of pistons have been made experimentally in both .the cast and the forged conditions from an alloy containing 6 per cent Ce plus 2 per, cent Mn and in the cast condition from an alloy of magnesium plus 10 per cent Ce. The cast pistons have been tested in various types of internal-combustion engines, with promising results. This paper presents the results of an extensive investigation on the properties of various cerium-containing magnesium alloys in both the cast and the forged conditions. Data are presented to show the beneficial effects of increasing amounts of cerium on the mechanical properties of magnesium at elevated temperatures. The effects of heat-treatment on the properties of these alloys and the attendant changes in the microstructure are discussed. The

Jan 1, 1946

By H. A. J. Wilkens, H. B. C. Nitze

From time to time papers treating of specific cases of Southern gold-mines and mining have appeared in the Transactions of this Institute, as well as in other journals and publications. Mr. George I?. Becker, of the United States Geological Survey, made a reconnaissance of the Southern Appalachian gold-belt during the fall of 1894; the results of his investigations are published under the title of "A Reconnoissance of the GoldFields of the Southern Appalachians," in the Sixteenth Annual Report of the Director of the United States Geological Survey, 1894-95 : Part III., " Mineral Resources of the United States." Mr. Becker has treated the subject mainly in a scientific geological manner. We present this paper to the members of the Institute as requested by the Secretary last May, with the object of covering the ground from a more practical and technical standpoint. The notes for this paper were made in a large measure from personal observations, gained chiefly during the past summer on a trip through the field. In connection with this trip we collected a suite of typical hand-specimens, representing the gold-ores and wall-rock from the more important localities. This collection forms a part of the exhibit

Jan 1, 1896

By C. W. MacGregor

THE observation of the flow layers, or Lüders' lines, produced in mild steel when it is stressed into the plastic range often provides considerable useful information for the study of the fundamental mechanism of the plastic flow of metals. It is a commonly observed fact that as soon as the upper yield point in a mild-steel tensile-test bar is passed, an unstable condition develops in the equilibrium, the load on the testing machine drops and if the surface of the bar contains a thin mill scale, the latter begins to flake off rapidly along certain "lines." These "lines" are in reality traces of wedge-shaped flow layers and are formed by the intersection of the surface of slip and the surface of the bar. The average plane of the flow layer itself has been found by various experimenters to be inclined at an angle of approximately 45° to the axis of the test bar. In a body of more complicated shape stressed in possibly a different man-ner, the tangent planes to the flow layers at each point seem in many cases to be inclined at an angle of about 45° to the principal stress direc-tions at the point. As examples of the latter may be mentioned the logarithmic spirals obtained when a rivet hole is punched in a thin plate, or when a tube is subjected to internal pressure only, etc. Hence if the flow layers are observed from an experiment, the shear-stress trajectories -the curves indicating the directions of the maximum shearing stresses in the body-may then be approximately determined. Since the latter curves form an orthogonal family inclined at 45° to the principal stress directions, the family of principal stress trajectories, or the curves indicating the directions of the principal stresses, may be thus obtained. Although the discontinuous type of stress-strain curve at the yield point is commonly observed with test bars of mild steel, more recent experiments have shown that this is by no means the only material exhibiting this interesting phenomenon. A similar effect has been observed in zinc and cadmium crystals, by Becker and Orowan;1 in duralumin and other aluminum alloys, by Dawidenkow,2 Elam,3 Fell, and others; in copper and copper-alloy crystals, by Elam;5 in brass by Elam;5 in brass wires by deForest;6 in higher carbon steels, tungsten steel, and

Jan 1, 1939

Jan 1, 1925

By W. Hurst

What is entailed here is the extension of the sinzplified material balance formulas to encompass interference between oil fields. As previously reported, the ex-plicitness as so revealed for the cunzulative pressure drop as a function of all factors contributing to its change in the material balance equation, is now transcribed through the inter-conzmunicating aquifer to effect an increased pressure drop on an adjoining field by interference. Such is performed by mathematical analyses and the application of the Laplace transformations. What is accomplished is that the reiteration problems previously associated with interference studies are nullified, since volumetric changes for the fluids in situ are automatically adjusted by the explicitness so expressed, and what pertains to the superposition principle applies only to the impeded water drive upon a su.bject field, which is likewise incorporated in the over-all pressure drop that results. The mathematics treats with the rigorous solution of the problem, as well as with methods easily amenable to numerical interpretation by the practicing engineer. In all cases, however, what is deduced for areal extents, reveal interference between wells when time becomes large that further substantiate the analyses. Probably of equal significance, all variables and for/nation characteristics are accounted for. This applies to the differences in PVT analyses that occur from field to field and the physical parameters associated with the lithology of the reservoirs. The latter is deduced from a rigorous interpretation of the unsteady-state flow problem for sands of different permeabilities in series. Thus, what purports to be a trial-and-error calculation to include variations in sand conditions within the intercommunicating aquifer to define water drive has little importance compared to the designation of such paranzeters at the reservoir to constitute the essential criteria. INTRODUCTION In a recent publication, the reader has been introduced to the simplified material balance formulas,' It has been shown that the complexities formerly associated for identifying and determining reservoir pressure in the material balance relationship can be resolved by treating with the Laplace transformations, the inversion of which reveals pressure as an explicit function of all factors contributing to its change. For an under saturated oil reservoir, this constitutes an integrated effect from the inception of production; and for a saturated oil reservoir, such represents a survey traverse. However, what is most important, for the first time we are able to express the pressure change in a reservoir directly to the oil, gas and water produced, and to the physical parameters of the formation, in the same manner that reservoir pressure has served in the past to define well interference — which opens up this avenue of endeavor for investigating interference between oil fields. The occurrence of interference is by virtue of the juxtaposition of two or more oil reservoirs producing in the same aquifer. Thus, in any one field, the extended production so incurred creates a pressure lowering in the field, as well as in the aquifer, which can now be transcribed by these simplified material balance formulas to the adjoining reservoir to observe the increased pressure change so induced. These effects are retroactive from field to field, to reveal a pressure drop far in excess of normal depletion to evidence the interference pattern that can result. Such is the purpose for the present undertaking — to develop the mathematical physics treating with this phenomenon of interference between oil fields, employing the simplified material balance formulas. Since Ref. 1 often will be referred to in the text, it is identified as "The Simplification", in the same connotation that another paper has been referred to as the "Laplace Trans-formation. However, the amount of material to be covered in these passages is substantial; therefore, the total emphasis will be placed upon developing these fundamental ideas treating with interference rather than attempting to offer work curves, which always can be prepared. For the practical application of these simplified material balance formulas that form the framework of the present development, the reader will find a comprehensive treatment in the Appendix of Ref. 1, illustrating a factual field example. In essence, what is proposed by this presentation is to make available to the practicing engineer a simplified means to treat with interference between oil fields, independent of the complex machine computations that have attended such undertakings in the past. As the problem unfolds, a common pattern will be discernible, whereby the many reiteration processes that previously required computing devices are eliminated.

By Virgil R. D. Kirkham

RECONNAISSANCE of a part of southeastern Idaho and small strip of western Wyoming lying between longitudes 111° and 111° and 45' W., and latitudes 43° and 43° and 30' N., comprising an area of approximately 1330 sq. mi., was undertaken during the summer of 1923 for the collection of data regarding the oil possibilities of the region. TOPOGRAPHY, SETTLEMENT, AND ACCESSIBILITY The entire area lies within the upper Snake River drainage basin. Snake River flows through the northeastern and eastern part of the area in a northwesterly direction. The entire drainage system has been controlled by the structure of the sedimentary beds in the area, which exhibit numerous alternations of hard and soft strata with consequent unequal erosion. The headwaters of the most important streams, as well as many others, flow in a northwesterly or southeasterly direction along

Jan 1, 1925

By Robert F. Mehl

THIS essay is an attempt to present the elementary facts and ideas concerning the growth of crystals, especially of metals. Freezing, like all heterogeneous processes, is a process of nucleation and growth; it manifests itself in metallurgy primarily in the freezing of ingots. The preceding paper in this volume discusses nucleation; the paper to follow describes ingot solidification. The present paper will treat of the growth of nuclei to large crystals, embracing a long series of phenomena, many of which are familiar to metallurgists.† Crystal growth, it will be immediately noted, occurs not only in the freezing of metals, but in the freezing of all substances; and it is a prominent and familiar phenomenon in crystallization from solutions, aqueous or otherwise, and in crystallization from the vapor phase. It will be necessary to include such systems in this discussion, for so much of value to metallurgists has been learned from their study. Apart from this, so far as metals are concerned, it will be simpler to limit the discussion to the freezing of pure metals and of solid solutions. Other types of freezing-eutectic, peritectic, etc.-will be excluded, though they have much of interest and of importance. BASIC MECHANISM OF FREEZING Ideally, nucleation and growth processes can best be considered from the point of view of isothermal reaction and upon the assumption of random nucleation. In. such an ideal case, nuclei form at random, and at a characteristic rate either constant or changing with time, and grow to spherulites at a characteristic rate, constant or changing with time, Fig. I.. On the simplest assumption, the reaction rate-in this case the rate of freezing-is a resultant of these two component rates. The reaction rate equation may be written in terms of these two component rates. The formation of pearlite from austenite closely approaches this ideal case. The ideal case forms a very useful point of departure in considering real cases. Various factors of reality produce deviations from this assumed ideality. In freezing, the isotropic medium, the melt, passes to the anisotropic solid, the crystal. Crystals are lattices of atoms, and the unit cell is often referred to as a crystal unit. Rosenhain, many years ago, represented the nucleation and growth process on freezing in the manner shown in Fig. 2, feeling, intuitively, that there must be some crystal unit in crystal growth. It now appears that this may be true, though his picture requires much elaboration. The greatest deviation from ideality lies in the nonisothermal nature of the freezing process in metals. To approach this properly it should be recalled that many nonmetallic substances freeze slowly. Tammann, to whom we owe the classic approach, studied complex organic materials in which (as in the case of eutectoid steels at high

Jan 1, 1951

By David R. Mitchell, R. M. Fleming

MANY trends were evident in the coal industry during 1951. Some were favorable for the industry; others were not. Probably those having the most far-reaching consequences are those affecting coal's markets. The rapid dieselization of many railroads and the continued trend toward oil and natural gas for home heating has caused serious dislocations in various mining districts. Mines have been forced to close down or to work on a reduced time basis. Conversely the increased activity in the metallurgical industries has increased the demand for coking and special purpose coals, and the growing production of electric energy has increased the demand in certain areas for steam coals. The increased demand for metallurgical coal and for steam raising by the large utilities is more than equal tonnage-wise to the loss of coal to railroad dieselization and conversions to oil and gas in the domestic market. Since much of the expansion is at captive mines of large corporations, many commercial operators supplying railroad and domestic users have had their markets curtailed without any compensating demand from other sources. Feverish activity was in evidence in many areas by commercial operators attempting to find new markets. The Norfolk and Western Railway is the, only major American railroad committed to the burning of coal. It has an exceptionally good cost record. During 1951, fifteen additional modern coal-burning steam switching locomotives were authorized for construction in the company's Roanoke shops at a cost of about $1,450,000. When the new order is completed the road will own a total of sixty locomotives of the modern-switcher type, including thirty acquired by purchase last year. The Norfolk and Western today is the only American railroad building its own motive power. All of these locomotives burn coal. Production Coal production in the year 1951 will approximate 570 million tons of anthracite, bituminous coal, and lignite. Of this, approximately 7 pet is anthracite. Total production is approximately 30 million tons more than in 1950 and reflects the increase in general industrial activity. Exports are expected to be close to 50 million tons. The industrial stockpile is close to 75 million tons, the highest it has been since 1943. With the exception of the usual local stoppages the year 1951 was unmarked by labor disputes. It was a year of good labor-management relations with a negotiated wage increase unmarred by a work stoppage. This may be the beginning. of an era of sensible negotiations to find agreeable settlements of disputes without the usual protracted bickering and industry-wide strike. The United Mine Workers of America has condemned wildcat strikes, stating that in nearly every, instance proper grievance procedures have not been instituted. Government defense organizations, perhaps profiting by their experiences during World War II, are pursuing a more enlightened program with regard to the fuel requirements of the nation. Many prominent officials have stated that wherever possible coal should be considered the primary source of fuel in all defense expansion. With the increased consumption of steel by defense projects, approval of transportation facilities for liquid and gaseous fuels have been refused where these fuels would enter a coal producing area. Liquid and gaseous fuel producers also have failed to provide satisfactory evidence that they have sufficient reserves and are capable of supplying their product in adequate amounts for the periods of time required. Realization has at last become prevalent that the hydro-electric power installations in several areas are insufficient to handle increased demands.' Steam generating plants are being constructed in these areas and equipped to burn coal. Most notable of these, is the TWA area whose supplemental steam power plants are expected to consume 10 million tons of coal per year when completed. The Pacific Northwest is another area which is expected to follow the same pattern. Nearly all new steam-power generating plants are being equipped to burn coal either as a primary fuel or as an emergency measure. Metallurgical Coal The steel and other metallurgical industries are expanding rapidly to meet increased industrial demands and defense orders. Since these industries are dependent on coke, coke has had a year of high production and can be expected to break all existing records when steel-plant expansions are completed. Most notable of the expansion projects is that of the Delaware River area where the iron ore will be received by ship from Canada and South America. U. S. Steel is only one of several steel corporations that are planning on putting integrated steel producing units in this area. The Defense Solids Fuels Administration announced in December that through. November 30, 1951. 29 projects in eight states, with a total cost of

Jan 1, 1952

By K. E. Brown, J. P. Brill, T. C. Doerr

A wide range of intermittent gas-lift tests way conducted in a 1,500-ft experimental well through 11/4- and 11/2-in, nominal size tubing. The well was equipped with two gas-lift valves, four Maihak electronic pressure transmitters and surface facilities to measure casing and tubing pressures, temperature, liquid production and the rate and volume of gas injected. For each tubing size, tests were conducted varying the slug length, gas volume injected and liquid viscosity and surface tension. From these tests, an empirical "fallback" or liquid loss correlation has been developed. No general fallback correlation could be obtained, and the correlation is presented in the form of one curve for each slug length of a given liquid and lubing size. A conceptual model has been developed which combines the fallback correlation with equarions which govern liquid slug pow. A mathematical simulation of the model in the form of a digital computer program is used to calculate total recovery, gas volume used and clearance time for a given test. Tubing pressures at the gas-lift valve and at the gm-slug interface are calculated as a function of time. Tubing pressures at the surface during slug clearance ore also calculated. The results compare favorably with the test data and verify the conceptual model. The extent to which the model can be used for other tubing sizes, depths, liquids and gas-lift valves can only be determined with additional experimental data. Data are also necessary so that a fallback curve can be constructed for the particular test conditions studied. INTRODUCTION The flow of liquid slugs in vertical conduits has long been an established production method in the petroleum industry. Under the name "intermittent gas lift", many advances have been made in engineering design. However, the unsteady-state nature of liquid slug flow has discouraged attempts to describe the problem analytically. The result has been that intermittent gas lift is dominated by rules-of-thumb engineering practices developed over many years. The advent of slim-hole completions has increased the demand for a more rigorous solution to the intermittent problem. Small-diameter conduits offer more frictional per intermittent cycle. Small-diameter conduits are defined to be 1%-in. nominal size tubing or smaller. When oil is produced from the reservoir in which it is found, and transported to surface tanks by intermittent gas lift, three separate flow stages are encountered: flow of the fluids to the wellbore through a porous medium, vertical flow of a liquid slug from the point of gas injection to the surface, and horizontal flow of the liquid slug through the surface flowlines from the wellhead to the surface tanks. The three stages are depicted schematically in Fig. 1. The present study deals with liquid slug flow in both the vertical and horizontal conduits, ending when the bottom of the liquid slug reaches the surface. Due to the large number of variables involved, the analytical study of intermittent gas lift is extremely complex. The possibility of flow regimes other than slug type, the nature of the force fields acting on the system, the interfacial instabilities involved, the varying operational principles of existing gas-lift valves and the complete unsteady-state nature of the physical phenomena occurring in an intermittent gas-lift cycle relate some of the difficulties encountered.

By Hiroshi Kato, Shin’ichi Nagashima, Hiroshi Takechi

The preferred orientations detleloped during cold rolling, annealing, and hot rolling of low-carbon steel sheets have been investigated by means of an inverse pole figure technique. And X-ray line profile meas-urerrlents were made for the study of the factor which causes the textural changes between cold-rolled and recrystallized sheets. From ND (sheet normal divection) and RD (rolling direction) inverse Pole figures tlze axis detisity change with increasing cold reduction was measured and the Preferred orientations were analyzed. These results can be explained by crystal rotation due to slip during rolling deformation. The ND axis density change during annealing of cold-rollitig sheets is contrary to the change observed in the case of rolling. It was found that the orientation dependency of stored strain energy resulting from cold rolling apparently corresponds to the textural changes during recrystallization. The texture in hot-rolled sheets was found to be influenced by finishing tenlperatltre. In a sheet kol-rolled below the Ar, temperature a significant differernce in texture between the surface and central layers was obtained, the former having {hkl}(111} and {110 )(uvw) orientations and the latter having {pqr}( 110) orientation. A large number of investigations1 6 have been made on the textures of iron and low-carbon steel sheets, and, since it was shown7 13 that preferred orientations are closely related to deep drawability of steel sheets, studies14" 7 on the influence of production processes upon textures have been made from the standpoint of industrial interest. Generally, the textures in low-carbon steel sheets have several components of preferred orientations, but the overlapping of poles makes it difficult to analyze texture quantitatively from pole figures. On the other hand, an inverse pole figure directly expresses quantitative values of components of preferred orientations as the density of a certain sample axis with respect to the crystallite coordinates. Such a texture representation is desirable for a study of deep drawability. The purpose of the present work is to use both inverse and conventional pole figures, with emphasis on the former, to clar~fy the textural changes ~n low-carbon steel sheets by the production processes of hot rolling, cold rolling, and annealing. And the factor causing the textural changes during annealing is studied using an X-ray diffraction line profile technique. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE Sheet specimens for study of cold rolling and annealing textures were taken from a hot-rolled strip of rimmed steel 2.7 mm thick. The chemical composition is shown in Table I. Although the study of cold-rolling textures requires a suitable material with random orientation, it is difficult to produce a perfect random one. But the used specimens, obtained from the hot-rolled strip with a finishing temperature higher than Ar3, were nearly random, such as shown in Fig. 15. These were cold-rolled to various reductions by a 4-high rolling mill with 150-mm-diam work rolls and 300-mm-diam backup rolls. The influence of hot-rolling conditions such as finishing and coiling temperatures on textures of hot-rolled strips was studied. The chemical compositions of these hot coils are given in Table I1 and the hot-rolling conditions are given in Table 111. inverse Pole ~i~ure -~easurement. Two methods for determining inverse pole figures with high precision have been proposed. The first, by Jetter et a1.,18 consists of obtaining mean densities of divided regions in a unit stereographic triangle by solving simultaneous linear equations to approximate the integral relation between conventional and inverse pole figures. The second, proposed by ~oe'~-'~ and Bunge,22'23 consists of determining an expanded series of spherical surface harmonics which express axis densities from several sets of pole distribution data. Both methods require laborious numerical calculations which make them unsuitable for practical use. However, the axis densities of the locations corresponding to low Miller indices in a unit stereographic triangle can be obtained

Jan 1, 1969

By A. H. Willis

In this paper the results of an exploratory study conducted by personnel of the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory on 18.6, 22, and 40 wt pct uranium-zirconium alloy will be presented. LARGE power output and long life or endurance from small, compact nuclear reactors require the use of enriched uranium for a fuel material. However, the ability to remove heat from the element, the tolerable fission product concentration, or some physical limitation of the system can limit the allowable fuel enrichment, or the volume of the fuel. In such an event, the fuel-element designer must find a suitable diluent for the uranium. Zirconium is an attractive material for such a purpose as it has good nuclear properties and a low absorption cross section. Because it has a good corrosion resistance in water, zirconium is a suitable cladding and the uranium-zirconium alloy makes a good core material. The alloy has a high thermal conductivity, a low elastic modulus, and a low thermal-expansion coefficient, all of which tend to minimize the thermal stresses in the core. Furthermore, the unirradiated material is reasonably ductile and has adequate strength. DESCRIPTION OF SAMPLES Two types of cylindrical samples were used in this study 1) short, 1/2-to 1-in.-long samples to test the irradiation stability of the alloy and 2) 2-ft-long samples to investigate the resistance of an element to longitudinal deformation. Composite samples having 0.060-to 0.140-in. core diameters and clad with a 0.010-in. thick zirconium jacket were fabricated by coextrusion and by hydrostatic pressure bonding of the cladding to the preformed core material. Both fabrication processes produced the uniform metallurgical core-to-cladding bond which was felt necessary to minimize the uncertainty of the central core temperature. Both consumable-arc and induction-melting techniques were used to melt the uranium-sponge zirconium core alloy. Since a graphite crucible was used in induction-melting this alloy contained more carbon impurity, which resulted in a finer grain size than the arc-melted alloy. The core to cladding interface was uniform in elements coextruded from the fine-grain, induction-melted core material, while those elements fabricated using arc-melted core material had very irregular interfaces because of the coarser grain size. Both cold-worked and heat-treated fuel materials were irradiation tested. Cold-worked alloys were swaged to about a 5 pct final reduction in area without subsequent annealing. The heat-treated alloys were heated to 800°C, held at temperature for 15 min and furnace-cooled to about room temperature. This

Jan 1, 1960