Synchronization in multi-motor hydromechanical systems

Introduction. The paper submits the analysis of existing design solutions of flow dividers used to synchronize hydraulic drives of working bodies of technological and mobile machines. The market demands for multithreaded throttle flow dividers without valves with the controlled division ratio, such as multi-axle vehicle chassis, are identified. The objective of the work was to analyze the possibility and rationale for developing a throttle four-way flow divider without valves with sensing elements of the Venturi tube type. The solution should provide the synchronicity of movement (rotation) of more than three working bodies of technological and mobile machines.Materials and Methods. A patent search for the designs of hydraulic flow dividers is carried out, and systems that require the division of the hydraulic fluid flow into more than two executive bodies are considered. An upgrade option, which allows dividing the flow into four branches, is proposed for the design of a three-channel throttle flow divider without valves.Results. The urgency of developing a multithreaded throttle flow divider without valves for application in industrial and mobile machines is validated. Two types of four-flow dividers are considered, their weaknesses are indicated. It is noted that the development of a multithreaded throttle flow divider based on the designs created in 1989 and 1991 will reduce the number of hydraulic pumps and get rid of the series connection of double-flow dividers. In this way, it is possible to reduce pressure losses in the hydraulic system and implement adaptive control of hydraulic motors of multi-motor mobile machines. The possibility to obtain a divider/combiner into four flows by adding an outlet chamber connected to the membrane chamber through a channel entering the Venturi nozzle on the basis of a three-flow throttle divider is shown. The principle of operation of such equipment is described.Discussion and Conclusions. The principles of construction of throttle flow dividers without valves are considered. An upgrade option is proposed to increase the number of division channels from three to four. However, to validate the operability of this design, a numerical analysis of the various modes of operation of the divider is required — calculation of the reduced volumetric stiffness of its working cavities. The information obtained can be used to modernize the hydraulic units of technological and mobile machines, increase their reliability, manufacturability, and efficiency. The issues that need to be solved in further research are identified.

An Investigation into Hydraulic Permeability of Fibrous Membranes with Nonwoven Random and Quasi-Parallel Structures

Fibrous membranes with a nonwoven random structure and a quasi-parallel fibrous structure can be fabricated by the electrospinning technique. The membranes with different structures exhibited different behaviors to a hydraulic flow passing through the membranes. This work presents the effects of the fiber arrangement, fiber diameter, and deformations of the fibers on the hydraulic permeability. The results showed that the hydraulic flow can generate an extrusion pressure which affects the porosity and pore structure of the fibrous membranes. The quasi-parallel fibrous membranes and nonwoven membranes exhibited similar variation tendencies to the change of the experimental variables. However, the quasi-parallel fibrous membranes exhibited a higher sensibility to the change of the hydraulic flow rate. The hydraulic permeability of the quasi-parallel fibrous membranes was further analyzed with packing state models in this work.

Hydraulic flow rate increase maneuver for ichthyofauna repulsion in bulb-type generating units – Jirau Hydroelectric Power Plant

Several repulsion systems have been developed to minimize the confinement of ichthyofauna in draft tubes. In this perspective, this study intends to analyze the efficiency of the hydraulic flow rate increase maneuver, using a hydroacoustic system for real-time monitoring of the movement of the ichthyofauna confined within the draft tube of the generating units of Jirau Hydroelectric Power Plant. It is located on the Madeira River, in Rondônia, Brazil. We analyzed footage of 105 machine shutdowns taken between 2019 and 2020 at Jirau Hydroelectric Power Plant that used the hydraulic flow rate increase maneuver as a strategy to repulse ichthyofauna. Also, the footage of 7 two-stage shutdowns in the year 2020 was analyzed, the first stage without the maneuver and the second with the maneuver. The follow-up of 105 shutdowns demonstrate that approximately 85% of the footage showed little or no movement of ichthyofauna in the draft tube, with images of movements showing patterns characteristic of small fish (~97%). Furthermore, the quantitative evaluation of the two-stage maneuver indicated a reduction of approximately 91% in the movement of ichthyofauna after the hydraulic flow rate increase maneuver. Thus, the increase in the rate of the hydraulic flow procedure, developed by Jirau Energia, proved to be an innovative and efficient strategy in reducing extensive social and environmental impacts and in favoring positive economic impacts.

Prediction of Hydraulic Flow in the New Zohr Carbonate Reservoir, Eastern Mediterranean Using Artificial Neural Networks

A new gas reservoir includes the carbonates of upper-Cretaceous Formation in the Zohr oilfield of eastern Mediterranean Sea in Egypt. The main aim of this study is to assess the new carbonate reservoir by thin section study and estimate hydraulic flow units HFUs by smart system. This carbonate formation is now considered the most important gas reservoir in northern Egypt. In this paper five microfacies were identified based on microscope petrographic analysis. The examined rocks were formed in lagoon, shoal and open marine depositional environments. The relationships between microfacies and flow units are further evaluated in this study. The determination of such relationships have proven to be challenging due to petrographic complications arising from diagenetic processes. The correlation behind pore space percentage and permeability is important to recognize hydraulic flow in the reservoir under consideration in this study.

Hydraulic Flow Unit Classification and Prediction Using Machine Learning Techniques: A Case Study from the Nam Con Son Basin, Offshore Vietnam

The test study area is the Miocene reservoir of Nam Con Son Basin, offshore Vietnam. In the study we used unsupervised learning to automatically cluster hydraulic flow units (HU) based on flow zone indicators (FZI) in a core plug dataset. Then we applied supervised learning to predict HU by combining core and well log data. We tested several machine learning algorithms. In the first phase, we derived hydraulic flow unit clustering of porosity and permeability of core data using unsupervised machine learning methods such as Ward’s, K mean, Self-Organize Map (SOM) and Fuzzy C mean (FCM). Then we applied supervised machine learning methods including Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Boosted Tree (BT) and Random Forest (RF). We combined both core and log data to predict HU logs for the full well section of the wells without core data. We used four wells with six logs (GR, DT, NPHI, LLD, LSS and RHOB) and 578 cores from the Miocene reservoir to train, validate and test the data. Our goal was to show that the correct combination of cores and well logs data would provide reservoir engineers with a tool for HU classification and estimation of permeability in a continuous geological profile. Our research showed that machine learning effectively boosts the prediction of permeability, reduces uncertainty in reservoir modeling, and improves project economics.

Predicting the flow zone indicator of carbonate reservoirs using NMR echo transforms, and routine open-hole log measurements: Insights from a field case study spanning extreme micro-structure properties

Predicting the flow zone indicator is essential for identifying the hydraulic flow units of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Delineation of hydraulic flow units is crucial for mapping petrophysical and rock mechanical properties. Precise prediction of the flow zone indicator (FZI) of carbonate rocks using well log measurements in un-cored intervals is still a daunting challenge for petrophysicists. This study presents a data mining methodology for predicting the rock FZI using NMR echo transforms, and conventional open-hole log measurements. The methodology is applied on a carbonate reservoir with extreme microstructure properties, from an oil “M” field characterized by a relatively high-permeability with a median of approximately 167 mD, and a maximum of 3480 mD. The reservoir from the M field features detritic, or vuggy structure, covering a wide range of rock fabrics varying from microcrystalline mudstones to coarse-grained grainstones. Porosity has a median of approximately 22%. Dimensional analysis and regression analysis are applied for the derivation of four transforms that appear to capture approximately 80% of the FZI variance. These four transforms are formulated using the geometric mean of the transverse NMR relaxation time (T2lm), the ratio of the free fluid index (FFI) to the bulk volume irreducible (BVI), the bulk density, the sonic compressional travel time, the true resistivity, the photo-electric absorption, and the effective porosity. Non-linear regression models have been developed for predicting the FZI using the derived transforms, for the carbonate reservoir from the M field. The average relative error for the estimated FZI values is approximately 52%. The same transforms are used as input for training a developed general regression neural network (GRNN), built for the purpose of predicting rock FZI. The constructed GRNN predicts FZI with a notable precision. The average absolute relative error on FZI for the training set is approximately 3.1%. The average absolute relative error on FZI for the blind testing set is approximately 22.0 %. The data mining approach presented in this study appears to suggest that (i) the relationship between the flow zone indicator and open-hole log attributes is highly non-linear, (ii) the FZI is highly affected by parameters that reflect rock texture, rock micro-structure geometry, and diagenetic alterations, and (iii) the derived transforms provide a means for further enhancement of the flow zone indicator prediction in carbonate reservoirs.

Integrating XRD and Well Logging Data to Establish Electro-Facies and Permeability Models for an Unconventional Heterogeneous Tight Gas Reservoir, Obaiyed Giant Gas Field

Formation evaluation in heterogeneous reservoirs can be very challenging especially in fields that extend over several kilometers in area where the permeability varies from 0.1 mD up to 1000 D within the same porosity. The porosity, hydrocarbon saturation and net sand thickness in most of Obaiyed field wells are consistent; hence, the productivity of these wells is enormously dependent on the reservoir permeability. Since the permeability is highly heterogeneous, initial production rate of the wells varies between few MMSCFD to almost one hundred MMSCFD. The huge permeability variation led to a tremendous uncertainty in the dynamic modeling, which resulted in an inaccurate production forecast affecting the field economics estimation. Understanding permeability distribution and heterogeneity in Obaiyed field is the key factor for establishing a realistic permeability model, which will lead to a successful field development strategy. Extensive work was performed to understand key factors that govern the permeability in Obaiyed using the data of 1-kilometer length of cores acquired in more than 50 wells covering different reservoir properties in the field. Core data were used to separate the reservoir into different Hydraulic Flow Units (HFU) according to Amaefule's work performed on the Kozeny-Carmen model. Afterwards, a correlation between the HFU and well logs was established using IPSOM Electro-Facies module in order to define the flow units in un-cored wells. The result of this correlation was used to calibrate a Porosity-Permeability relationship for each flow unit. The next step was examining the clay-type distribution and diagenesis in each flow unit using the petrographic analysis (XRD) results from the core xdata. All factors controlling the permeability can now be represented in hydraulic flow units which are considered as a method of measurement of the reservoir quality. Consequently, property maps were constructed showing the location and continuity of each of the flow units, leading to a more deterministic approach in the well placement process. Based on this new work methodology, a production cut-off criteria relating the reservoir productivity to both clay minerals presence and percentages was established for multiple wells scenarios. As a result, the development strategy of the field changed from only vertical wells to include horizontal wells as well which proved to be the only economic approach to produce the Illite dominated zones. This paper presents a workflow to provide a representative estimation of permeability in extremely heterogeneous reservoirs especially the ones dominated by complex clay distribution.

DEVELOPMENT OF A FICH PROTECTION DEVICE DESIGN

The water intake structure is a functional element of the water supply system, but it must also be a fish protection object. The following basic requirements are imposed on the devices of modern fish protection devices at water intakes: prevention of ingress and death of young fish and larvae, prevention of injury to young fish and larvae, removal of protected fish from water intake, reliability of operation under specific conditions and means. According to the principle of operation, the most effective is the active scheme, with the forced formation of the hydraulic flow structure. The design of a universal combined type device with the use of a jet generator as a flow-forming element that creates a reactive hydraulic movement designed to protect fish and juveniles with a body size of less than 15 mm is proposed.