Kinetic and Friction Head Loss Impacts on Horizontal
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KINETIC AND FRICTION HEAD LOSS IMPACTS ON HORIZONTAL WATER SUPPLY AND AQUIFER STORAGE AND RECOVERY WELLS A Thesis by BENJAMIN JOSEPH BLUMENTHAL Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Chair of Committee, Hongbin Zhan Committee Members, Peter Knappett Sungyon Lee Head of Department, John R. Giardino December 2014 Major Subject: Geology Copyright 2014 Benjamin Joseph Blumenthal ABSTRACT Groundwater wells can have extreme pressure buildup when injecting and extreme pressure drawdown when extracting. Greater wellbore contact with the aquifer minimizes pressure buildup and pressure drawdown. Aquifers are usually much more laterally extensive than vertically thick. Therefore, horizontal wells can be longer than vertical wells thus increasing aquifer contact and minimizing pressure issues. The length and therefore the effectiveness of horizontal wells are limited by two factors, either well construction or intra-wellbore head loss. Currently no analytical groundwater model rigorously accounts for intra- wellbore kinetic and friction head loss. We have developed a semi-analytical, intra- wellbore head loss model dynamically linked to an aquifer. This model is the first of its kind in the groundwater literature. We also derived several new boundary condition solutions that are rapidly convergent at all times. These new aquifer solutions do not require approximation or pressure pulse tracking. We verified our intra-wellbore head loss model against MODFLOW-CFP and found matches of three significant figures. We then completed 360 simulations to investigate intra-wellbore head loss. We found that only when aquifer drawdown was small will intra-wellbore head loss be relatively important. We found intra-wellbore head loss is relatively important only in extreme scenarios. We also found that kinetic head loss was greater than friction head loss if the well was less than 10m – 100m long. ii To investigate well construction limitations, we developed an equation for the optimal slant rig entry angle, a drilling forces model, and a well construction cost model. We then collected well cost data and combined these models to make 60 well cost estimates. We found the relative cost of a horizontal well, compared to a vertical well, decreases with depth. We then used our aquifer model to investigate the benefits of horizontal wells. We found several parameters that increase the number of vertical wells replaced by a horizontal well. These parameters include less time since pumping began, nearby recharge boundaries, vertical fractures, lower permeability, higher specific storativity, and thinner aquifers. Comparing horizontal well benefit with cost, we found that horizontal wells may or may not be economically advantageous depending on site specific conditions. iii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to my wonderful, beautiful wife, Kristen Blumenthal. She has been a treasured companion throughout our time together at Texas A&M. Her love has been a sustaining force though all of my studies and work. I love her a bushel. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to give a special thanks to the Texas Water Resources Institute, the United States Geological Survey, and the Mills Endowment for funding my graduate work including this thesis. The funding from these sources made this work possible, and for that I am grateful. I would also like to thank Texas Water Resources Institute management for supporting this thesis proposal, especially Kevin Wagner and Lucas Gregory. I am very thankful for the support of my committee chair, Dr. Hongbin Zhan. He was great to work with, supportive of my ideas, and very knowledgeable. I learned much under his guidance. I would also like to thank my committee members for their input on the thesis, Dr. Peter Knappett and Dr. Sungyon Lee. The drilling portions of this thesis would not have been possible without the tireless support of Mr. Fred Dupriest. Mr. Dupriest was not obligated take time out of his busy schedule to help me, yet he did. Mr. Dupriest did not only help me understand a question here or there, but he went great lengths to explain concepts and calculations to me. He spent countless hours corresponding with me and reviewing the drilling sections of this thesis. Without his help, a major portion of this thesis would not have been possible. I would also like to thank all of the industry professionals who helped me throughout this thesis. I would especially like to thank Ms. Theresa Jehn-Dellaport and Mr. Vern Rash for their perspective on horizontal water supply wells that they worked v on. I would like to thank Mr. James Dwyer for his insights on current issues facing groundwater professionals investigating horizontal wells and Mr. David Pyne for his thoughts on horizontal well ASR. I also would like to thank Mr. Marvin Glotfelty for all his data; without his extensive collection of groundwater well cost data, the cost analysis section of my thesis would have been much less rigorous. Special thanks also goes out to the two service companies that collect industry data and were gracious enough to share it with me for free; RigData.com and Susan Murphy with The OCTG Situation Report®. There were many other professionals who helped me along the way from advice, to cost data collection, to helpful literature references; without these people this thesis would not have been possible. Finally I would like to thank my parents, Brent and Julie, and my brother Sam, for all the work and love they have invested in me. I would not be the person I am today without them. They have always encouraged me to push my limits and to work hard. Their support and love is something that I hold very dear. I am forever grateful for all that they have done. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................vii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi LIST OF TABLES .........................................................................................................xvii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ................................... 1 Motivation .................................................................................................................. 1 Literature Review of Aquifer Storage and Recovery ................................................. 2 Types of Injection Well ASR ................................................................................. 4 Reason for ASR Storage and ASR Source Water .............................................. 4 Method of Storage .............................................................................................. 6 Physically Bound ASR ................................................................................... 6 Chemically Bound ASR ................................................................................. 7 Blended ASR .................................................................................................. 8 ASR Modeling ........................................................................................................ 9 Reactive Geochemical & Bio-Geochemical .................................................... 10 Flow and Transport .......................................................................................... 10 Texas ASR ............................................................................................................ 16 Horizontal Well ASR ........................................................................................... 17 Literature Review of Horizontal Wells .................................................................... 19 Drilling Rig and Well Terminology ..................................................................... 22 Borehole Completion Type .............................................................................. 24 Borehole Measures ........................................................................................... 25 Historical Perspective ........................................................................................... 28 Directional Groundwater Well Case Studies........................................................ 42 Directional Wells for Water Supply Production .............................................. 42 Des Moines, Iowa (1998) ............................................................................. 42 Antelope Hills, Bennett, Colorado (2002-03) .............................................. 45 Castle Pines North Metro District, Colorado (2004) .................................... 49 Directional Environmental Wells ..................................................................... 53 Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina (1988-1991) .......................... 53 Williams Air Force Base, Chandler, Arizona (1992) ................................... 53 vii Page Well Construction ...............................................................................................