Search Results (2)

In the global energy sector, water-bearing reservoir-typed gas storage accounts for about 30% of underground gas storage (UGS) reservoirs and is vital for natural gas storage, balancing gas consumption, and ensuring energy supply stability. However, when constructing the UGS in the M gas reservoir, selecting suitable areas poses a challenge due to the complicated gas–water distribution in the multi-layered water-bearing gas reservoir with a long production history. To address this issue and enhance energy storage efficiency, this study presents an integrated geomechanical-hydraulic assessment framework for choosing optimal UGS construction horizons in multi-layered water-bearing gas reservoirs. The horizons and sub-layers of the gas reservoir have been quantitatively assessed to filter out the favorable areas, considering both aspects of geological characteristics and production dynamics. Geologically, caprock-sealing capacity was assessed via rock properties, Shale Gouge Ratio (SGR), and transect breakthrough pressure. Dynamically, water invasion characteristics and the water–gas distribution pattern were analyzed. Based on both geological and dynamic assessment results, the favorable layers for UGS construction were selected. Then, a compositional numerical model was established to digitally simulate and validate the feasibility of constructing and operating the M UGS in the target layers. The results indicated the following: (1) The selected area has an SGR greater than 50%, and the caprock has a continuous lateral distribution with a thickness range from 53 to 78 m and a permeability of less than 0.05 mD. Within the operational pressure ranging from 8 MPa to 12.8 MPa, the mechanical properties of the caprock shale had no obvious changes after 1000 fatigue cycles, which demonstrated the good sealing capacity of the caprock. (2) The main water-producing formations were identified, and the sub-layers with inactive edge water and low levels of water intrusion were selected. After the comprehensive analysis, the I-2 and I-6 sub-layer in the M 8 block and M 14 block were selected as the target layers. The numerical simulation results indicated an effective working gas volume of 263 million cubic meters, demonstrating the significant potential of these layers for UGS construction and their positive impact on energy storage capacity and supply stability. Full article

In recent years, climate change has occurred on a global scale, causing frequent flooding in many regions. In response to this situation, watershed-wide flood management is attracting attention around the world as a promising approach. Under these situations, Japan has also made a policy shift to watershed-based flood management, which aims to manage floods and control runoff in the entire watershed. For this management, it is essential to obtain areal hydraulic information, especially flow information, from each location in the watershed. To measure river flow, it is necessary to measure water level and velocity. While it is becoming possible to make area-based observations of water levels using simple methods, various attempts have been made to measure the velocity, but continuous data cannot be obtained using simple methods. Low-cost flow velocity meters would facilitate the simultaneous and continuous accumulation of data at multiple points and enable the acquisition of areal flow information for watersheds, which is important for watershed-based flood management. This study aims to develop an inexpensive, simple velocity meter that can be used to make areal measurements within watersheds, and to make this velocity meter usable by residents, thereby contributing to citizen science. Therefore, experimental studies were conducted on a method of measuring flow velocity based on the simple physical phenomenon of rising water surface elevations due to increased pressure at the stagnation point. First, we placed the cylinders in the river or waterway, observed the afflux, and compared the velocities calculated using Bernoulli’s theorem with the velocities at the experimental site. By multiplying the calculated flow velocity by 0.9, the average flow velocity was found to be obtained. Then, by using a large pitot tube with a hole diameter of about 5 mm, the rise in water level in the pitot tube was measured using a pressure-type water level meter, and the flow velocity was calculated using the pitot tube theory and compared with the flow velocity at the location of the hole at the experimental site. By multiplying the calculated velocity by 1.04, the velocity at the location of the hole can be obtained. In addition, the same experiment was conducted using a pitot tube with a slit. The slit tube was placed vertically with the slit facing upstream. Measurements were taken in the same method as for the pitot tube velocity meter and compared to the velocity at that point. By multiplying the calculated flow velocity by 0.99, the average flow velocity at that location can be obtained. These results indicate that a flow velocity measurement method utilizing stagnation points can lead to the development of inexpensive velocity meters. Because of the simplicity of this meter, there is a possibility that citizens can participate in the observation to obtain information on the flow velocity during floods and areal information within a watershed. Full article