Main applications
- Detecting and quantifying gas hydrates in sediments by physical techniques.
- Effect of sediment mineralogy and/or over burden pressure on the phase behaviour of gas hydrates in sediments.
- Simulating various formation and dissociation scenarios for natural gas hydrates.
- Simulating various gas production techniques from natural gas hydrates.
- Investigating the effect of LDHIs on gas hydrate formation and inhibition.
- Measuring acoustic properties of various fluid systems.
- Measuring saturation pressure using ultrasonic techniques
Operating conditions
Pressure: up to 6,000 psia (40 MPa)
Temperature: -20 ºC to 80 ºC
Description
The Ultrasonic Rig consists of a stainless steel cell which is filled with real or artificial unconsolidated sediments or consolidated rock cores. The cell is surrounded by a coolant jacket with circulating fluids controlled by a programmable cryostat (253 to 353 K) and is stable to within 0.05K. The system has a maximum operating pressure of 41 MPa. Sediment overburden and pore fluid pressures can be controlled independently. Temperature and pressures are monitored by means of a PRT and Quartzdyne pressure transducers (accuracy of 0.01MPa), respectively. At the two ends of the cell, an ultrasonic transmitting transducer and a receiving transducer are mounted in each end cap. Transducers can be compressional or shear, or combinations of P-wave and S-wave at a central frequency of 1MHz. An ultrasonic pulser/receiver (P/R) is connected to the two transducers to generate and receive pulse signals. The received signal through test sediments is amplified by the P/R and the sent to a digital storage oscilloscope (DSO). The DSO acquires the series of pulse waves and sends data to a personal computer (PC) through a parallel port interface. The PC shows waveforms on its screens and saves data in both waveform and data format for further processing.