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"The reduction works of the Boston & Montana Reduction department, near the north end of this dam is one of the reduction plants belonging to the Anaconda Copper Mining Company, the other being at Anaconda. These works employ about 1,100 men and have a capacity of about 3,800 tons of crude ore per day. This plant is now being remodeled to embody results of experiments and investigations which have been made with a view to more economic.al treatment of ores. A brief description of the plant as it will be after the remodelling is as follows:Concentrator Department: Consists of six units or sections, each section treating from 550 to 600 tons of crude ore per day. This department is not being. remodelled at the present time. A concentrating process, however, has been developed and partially installed in the old mill, and an experimental section embodying this concentration process has also been installed at the concentrator at Anaconda."

Jan 1, 1913

By H. J. Rose

Graphic methods have long been used to advantage in dealing with diverse phases of fuel technology and research. Not only are graphs convenient for presenting data and making calculations, but they are invaluable for deriving generalizations from a mass of data. This is particularly true when relationships are obscure and numerical correlation is poor. This paper describes a new form of graph, the Multibasic Coal Chart, which has been developed to facilitate the study and comparison of coals of all ranks from peat to anthracite on any moisture and purity basis. This type of chart is of unique value for coal classification purposes, since it permits a direct visual comparison of the results obtained when coals are classified by the various systems which have been proposed. Coals are highly variable in character as a result of wide differenees in original vegetal ingredients, degree of metamorphism, and nature and amount of associated impurities. For nearly 100 years, attempts have been made to devise a satisfactory method of classification, and many tables, formulas, ratios and graphs have been suggested. Many of the suggested systems possess considerable merit and have found a limited use, thus promoting a better understanding of coal. However, objections have been raised against each system, and none has received general adoption. When the various systems of classification are compared, it is found that there is an apparently almost hopeless confusion due to: 1. Serious lack of agreement as to the proper moisture and purity basis on which to classify coal. More than ten different bases have been proposed, each of which requires complete recalculat.ion of the analysis data used. 2. Lack of agreement as to what chemical and physical properties are most important and best to use for classification purposes. There is too little knowledge of the degree to which these properties can be correlated.

Jan 1, 1930

By R. V. Norris, E. W. Parker

Edward W. Parker,* Philadelphia, Pa.—At the New York meeting of the Institute a year ago, Mr. R. V. Norris presented a paper on anthracite mining costs, in which he gave the results of an intensive study of this subject by the Engineers' Committee of the United States Fuel Administration. Within the last 30 days, the Federal Trade Commission has issued an official report on the same subject, which covers a longer period of time and comprises statistics of realization values and margins that were pot comprehended in the paper by Mr. Norris. As, however, the data utilized by Mr. Norris formed also a part of the basis for the report of the Federal Trade Commission, a brief digest of the latter may not be out of place at this meeting. The report of the Federal Trade Commission covers primarily the two calendar years 1917 and 1918, divided into five periods which furnish opportunity for the study of how the influence of certain definite factors affected either the cost of production or the price, or both, during the 24 months. The first period, January to April, 1917, which may be considered the basic period, comprised the 4 months in 1917 during which the wage agreement of May, 1916, without modification, was in effect. During this period, the labor cost on fresh-mined coal is placed by the Commission's report at $1.79 per gross ton, the total cost at $2.66, the average realization at $3.29, and the "margin" (sales realization over total f.o.b. mine cost) at $0.63. The second period covers the four months from May 1 to August 31, during which time the first of the supplemental wage agreements (supplemental to the agreement of 1916) was in effect. It was also the period during which the summer discounts were in effect and when prices were practically fixed by a voluntary agreement between the operators and the Federal Trade Commission. It was, further, the period in which the 75 cents differential on prepared sizes permitted to the individual operators by the Federal Trade Commission began; at that time, also, on account of war conditions an unusually large quantity of steam sizes were marketed at exceptionally good prices. On account of the two latter conditions, not explained in the Commission's report, the "margin"1 on operating

Jan 1, 1920

By R. S. Hutton

Jan 1, 1937

By W. V. Swarzenski

In its effort to combat waterlogging and soil salinity, the Water and Soils Investigation Division of WAPDA (West Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority) has carried out an extensive program of test drilling andwater sampling since 1954. Data collected during the past ten years have permitted the delineation of fresh and saline groundwater zones in the Punjab Plain. Fresh groundwater containing generally less than 500 ppm of total dissolved solids is found in wide belts paralleling the major rivers and in other areas of fresh-water recharge. Locally, fresh groundwater extends to depths of 1500 ft and more. Saline groundwater occurs down gradient from sources of recharge, particularly in the lower central parts of the interfluvial areas, and presumably underlies most of the Punjab Plain. The groundwaters of the Punjab are characterized by their evolution from calcium, magnesium bicarbonate waters near sources of recharge to waters containing a dominant proportion of sodium. The highly mineralized waters of the Punjab are generally of the sodium chloride type, whereas in the Dera Ismail Khan District, sodium sulfate waters predominate. The pattern of distribution of saline groundwater zones and the observed gradual increase in mineral content, down gradient from sources of recharge, can be explained best by a hypothesis stressing the process of evaporation from the water table and solution of minerals within the alluvial aquifer. In 1954, detailed groundwater surveys in the Punjab Plain were initiated by WASID, the Water and Soils Investigation Division of West Pakistan's Water and Power Development Authority. The investigations, undertaken under a cooperative agreement between the governments of Pakistan and the United States, were aimed at the formulation of reclamation measures to improve waterlogged and saline soils, and to assess the groundwater potential of the Punjab and other areas of West Pakistan. The nature and urgency of WASID's primary task limited the exploration of the alluvial aquifer generally to its uppermost part. About 1030 test holes drilled in 47,000 sq miles of the Punjab defined the nature of the alluvium to depths of about 600 ft and yielded data on water quality to 400 or 500 ft. A report on the hydrology of the Punjab, based on the results of these investigations was published by WASID in 1963.' The present report incorporates data obtained by WASID since 1962 in a program of deep test drilling in the Punjab and the adjacent areas of Bahawalpur and Dera Ismail Khan District, permitting the definition of fresh and saline groundwater zones to depths of 1500 ft in some areas. Groundwater in the Punjab Plain is contained in alluvial deposits, predominantly sand and silt, which extend almost everywhere to depths of 1000 ft and more. The alluvium has been deposited by the Indus River and its tributaries since late Tertiary time and is contiguous with similar deposits in India. The Indo-Gangetic Plain extends from the foothills of the Himalayas to the ancient rocks of the Peninsular Shield in central India and to the ocean. Gradients are generally very low and range from about 1% ft per mile in the upper part of the plain to less than 1 ft per mile in the south and southwest. The monotony of the alluvial plain is broken by scattered bedrock outcrops in two of the interfluvial areas, Chaj Doab and Rechna Doab. The bedrock hills are projections of the northwest-trending Delhi-Shahpur Ridge that is largely buried by alluvium. The rocks of the buried ridge, presumably of Precambrian age, are essentially impermeable and define the lower limit of the alluvial aquifer in parts of Chaj, Rechna, and Bari doabs. Elsewhere in the Punjab, there are no outcrops of other consolidated rocks and their presence below the alluvium is conjectural. The principal areas of bedrock outcrops, near Kirana and Sangla, are shown diagrammatically in Fig. 1. The movement of groundwater through the alluvial aquifer of the Punjab has been described by Green-man and others.' In most of the area, the pre-irriga-tion water table sloped from the rivers downstream and toward the central axes of the doabs, indicating that the rivers were sources of groundwater recharge. As a result of seepage from irrigation canals, water levels have risen as much as 90 ft. In 1960 they were within 5 to 15 ft of the land surface and above the

Jan 1, 1970

By R. A. Turpin

Bethlehem Steel's Research Department is developing a set of computer programs as mine-planning tools for Bethlehem's coal mines. Several of these computer programs have been completed and have been in routine use by Bethlehem Mines personnel since early 1975. The production scheduling and ventilation planning programs have been installed on an interactive time-sharing computer. The use of time sharing allows mines in remote locations to access these planning tools through standard phone lines and low-cost computer terminals. The capabilities of the interactive production scheduling and ventilation planning programs are briefly described. The advantages of implementing them using time sharing are discussed. A case study illustrates some of the benefits that planning based on the use of these programs has already provided.

Jan 1, 1977

By William H. Emmons

Jan 1, 1912

By New kensington P. A, W. L. Fink, H. R. Freche

The investigation of aluminum alloy systems prior to 1923 was severely handicapped by the low purity of the best aluminum available. However, by that time, the electrolytic purification of aluminum had been developed by the Aluminum Company of America,(1)† and in May, 1923, there was initiated, under the direction of E. H. Dix, Jr.,(2) a program for the investigation of the aluminum-alloy systems using the purest electrolytically refined aluminum. Up to the present time 15 papers (3) have been published, most of which are on the binary aluminum systems. Work is now in progress on the ternary systems, and it seems probable that most of the future work will be on ternary systems. Therefore this survey of the binary aluminum systems investigatcd up to the present time (the sixteenth paper of the series) concludes the first phase of this program. Certain qualitative relations between corresponding portions of the various binary diagrams as well as between different parts of the same diagram were noted some time ago by R. S. Archer.(4) In the present paper these relations and others are considered quantitatively by the application of well-known thermodynamic equations or by newly discovered empirical relations. No attempt will be made here to present the history of the development of the thermodynamic equations defining equilibrium or their application to metallic systems, although a list of references is given at the end of this paper for those who are interested in this phase of the subject. Two thermodynamic equations, which will be employed extensively in this paper, are: loge x1 = - L/RT + C

Jan 1, 1934

By Orville R. Lyons

THE Russellton preparation plant of Republic Steel Corp., located north of Pittsburgh, Pa., prepares 3 1/2x0-in. Thick-Freeport coal by means of a 13-ft 6-in. diam Chance cone and 16 No. 7 Deister tables. The plant feed ranges between 370 and 410 tons per hr, of which approximately 31 pct is ¼x0-in. size, and the plant reject ranges between 14 and 16 pct of the feed. The 3½xY4-in. washed coal, the cone product, is dewatered and desanded by a double-deck Parrish-type shaking screen 46 ft long and 7 ft wide. The 1¼x¼-in. portion is further dewatered by two 4x12-ft single-deck vibrating screens. The ¼x0-in. washed coal from the tables is distributed to three 54x70 in. Bird centrifuges. The dewatered centrifuge product is combined with the product of the de-watering screens prior to loading into railroad cars. During the early part of 1951 complaints were received from officials at Republic's coke ovens concerning the moisture content of Russellton washed coal. The records revealed that during the first half of 1951 the shipped washed coal moisture averaged

Jan 1, 1954

By K. C. Sclater, B. R. Stephenson

Recent progress in oil-recovery methods has brought into prominence gas-energy relations in oil sands. The greater the effort made to utilize this gas-energy relationship to the best advantage in oil recovery, the greater becomes the need for more precise information concerning physical conditions as they actually exist in an oil well. The intelligent use of gas-oil ratios when considering production efficiency has been the subject of much recent discussion. It has been stressed that the pressure as well as the volume of gas must be known when considering the efficiency of a producing well on an energy basis. When methods of production are compared on an energy basis it implies a knowledge of pressure, temperature and physical properties of the fluids at the bottom of the well. In questions concerning gas-lift and the pressure control of wells usually there is a wide variance of opinion among engineers when energy relations come up for discussion. Perhaps this difference f opinion can be traced to erroneous assumptions made with regard to the physical conditions existing within the well. If erroneous assumptions are made it follows that computations based on these assumptions will give results which also will be in error. That erroneous assumptions are made is not to be wondered at because when handling a fluid composed of gas and oil, we are dealing with a complexity of hydrocarbon components each varying to some degree in physical and chemical properties. This means that the physical state of the gas and oil will depend not only on temperature and pressure but that it will be influenced also by the relative amounts of the various hydrocarbon components present. If water is present the problem becomes still more complicated. From these considerations alone it would appear that we can well afford to give some thought to devising more positive methods or means for obtaining data on physical conditions within the well rather than depend entirely on computations from casinghead data. If these data

Jan 1, 1929

By J. M. Roberts, N. Brown

The stress-strain behavior of zinc single crystals was measured over a strain range of 10-6 to 10-2. The phenomenon of macroyielding was observed in detail and plastic strains were detected at almost zero-stress. Closed hysteresis loops were observed during loading and unloading in the strain region of about 10-5. From the hysteresis a frictional stress on the dislocation of about 6 psi was obtained. A preliminary analysis indicates that impurities are primarily responsible for the friction. Nonelastic Strains as much as 10 -4 were recovered depending on the amount of prior deformation. Part of the recovered strain occurs instantaneously upon unloading and the remainder occurs at zero stress. The time dependence of the recovered strain was measured. THIS investigation is concerned with the details of plastic deformation preceding the ordinary yield point as measured with the usual strain sensitivity of about 10-4. The approach leads to internal friction observations in the hitherto neglected frequency range below 10-1 cycles per sec. It is believed that if the phenomenon of macroscopic yielding is to be understood, then the stress-strain curve in the neighborhood of the macroyield point should be greatly magnified. It may then be possible to determine whether macroscopic yielding is a unique event or whether it is a process which begins gradually at a lower stress. In the case of low-carbon steel a unique event obviously occurs at the macroscopic yield point as indicated by a drop in the load, but copper appears to exhibit a gradual transition from the elastic to the plastic state. In zinc the yield point is rather abrupt although the data indicates that some plastic deformation precedes large scale yielding.' One of the purposes of this investigation is to determine whether there is an abrupt transition from the preyield microstrain region to the region of macroscopic deformation. Such a rapid transition would support the concept that there is a critical stress for yielding. The concept that yielding is a unique event associated with such phenomenon as activating a Frank-Read source, freeing the dislocation from solute atoms, dislocations cutting through dislocations, or dislocations moving freely by one another, has been expounded widely on theoretical grounds. It is hoped that highly sensitive measurements of strain in the neighborhood of the macroscopic yield point will shed some light on the event known as the "Yield Point". EXPERIMENTAL METHOD 1) Specimens—High-purity zinc was cast into spherical graphite moulds in air and grown into spherical single crystals by the Bridgman method under a positive pressure of Argon gas. Spectro-graphic analysis of cleaved sections from four crystals showed a purity of 99.994 pet Zn. The specimens were acid machined with an 1/8 in. gage section in a form similar to those used by Parker and co-workers.2 Bausch type grips were fastened to the specimen by Epon VI adhesive. The specimens were oriented so that only [1120] (0001) slip occurred. Fig. 1 shows two of the specimens in the grips. Prior to each test, the gage section of the specimen was given a concentrated HNO3 chemical polish followed by alcohol rinsing and air blast drying. 2) Test Method- The shear tests were performed on an Instron testing machine and the experimental set-up was made very "hard". Strain could be measured to a sensitivity of 10 -6 by means of a capacitance gage extensometer. The design and calibration of this type of extensometer to measure microstrain, as applied to pure shear and tensile tests of metals, will be the subject of a separate paper—therefore, only a brief account will be presented here. The method essentially consists of attaching a

Jan 1, 1961

By A. T. Yu

As the first loads of Noamundi iron ore rumbled into the new 54-in. Gyratory Crusher on March 30, 1968, one of India's largest and most modern iron ore processing complexes began operations. The completion of the $13 million mining and processing complex brought to a successful conclusion the second chapter of a phased expansion program initiated in 1958 by India's gigantic Tata Iron and Steel Co. The completed complex will yield annually 2.5 million tons of washed, sized ore and sinter fines destined for Tata's furnaces at Jamshedpur. Hewitt-Robins Div. of Litton Industries was awarded the turnkey project on the basis of world- wide competitive bids. Eighty miles southwest of the city of Jamshedpur, Noamundi lies on an approximate geographic grid of 22º-5' latitude north and 85º-30' longitude east. The mine is approximately 600 ft above sea level.

Jan 11, 1968

cation received from Brigadicr General Thos. G. Hanson said: "It is my painful duty to communicate to you the fact of the loss of your son, Martin F. Bowles. About 11 o'clock on the night of September 3, Lieutenant Bowles, with Lieutenant Joseph B. Keckler, 355th Infantry, in command of a reconnoitering patrol of our troops, encountered the enemy. In the ensuing engagement your son received a rifle bullet through his heart. His death was instantaneous and painless. His remains were intcrred with full military honors on the 4th of September." He was promoted to First Lieutenant, but his commission did not reach him before his death. He was president of the Missouri Mining Association, Missouri School of Mines, for the year 1916-17.

Jan 1, 1920

cation received from Brigadicr General Thos. G. Hanson said: "It is my painful duty to communicate to you the fact of the loss of your son, Martin F Bowles. About 11 o'clock on the night of September 3, Lieutenant Bowles, with Lieutenant Joseph B. Keckler, 355th Infantry, in command of a reconnoitering patrol of our troops, encountered the enemy. In the ensuing engagement your son received a rifle bullet through his heart. His death was instantaneous and painless. His remains were intcrred with full military honors on the 4th of September." He was promoted to First Lieutenant, but his commission did not reach him before his death. He was president of the Missouri Mining Association, Missouri School of Mines, for the year 1916-17.

Jan 1, 1920

By H. C. Fiedler

A high degree of cuhe-on-edge grain orientation and good magnetic properties were obtained in Si-Fe strip processed from laboratory heats containing vanadium nitride inclusions. The higher the nitrogen content the greater was the restraint on normal grain growth and the greater was the ability to undergo secondary recrystal-lization. The degree of restraint in a heat containing magnanese sulfide inclusions was slightly greater than that in the lowest nitrogen vanadium nitride heat. The high rate of diffusion of nitrogen in the temperature range in which the texture is developed makes it necessary to retard the loss of the inclusions until the texture has been developed. MAY and Turnbulll have shown that to develop the cube-on-edge secondary recrystallization texture in Si-Fe it is necessary that inclusions, such as manganese sulfide, be present to prevent normal grain growth. They showed that the driving force for the growth of the secondary grains is inversely proportional to the diameter of the matrix grains, and that the function of the inclusions is to maintain a small matrix grain size. Fast3has developed cube-on- edge texture in Si-Fe by nitriding the hot rolled band. The silicon nitride thereby formed promotes secondary recrystallization during the anneal of the final gage strip. To obtain the best magnetic properties, the inclusions must be removed from the strip after the grain orientation has been developed. Nitride inclusions have an inherent advantage over sulfide inclusions in that the greater diffusivity of nitrogen as comared to sulfur permits the use of shorter times and or lower temperatures for the purification heat treatment. The purpose of the work to be described was to examine the usefulness of vanadium nitride inclusions in developing the cube-on-edge texture and to determine the magnetic properties of oriented strip made from heats containing these inclusions. A comparison is made with a heat having had iden-

Jan 1, 1962

By Francis Cameron

Gloomy predictions that domestic mineral reserves are approaching exhaustion are unwarranted and may be harmful, this author contends. Specific mineral forecasting errors in the Paley Report are cited to support this contention, and steps that can be taken to insure a progressive mineral industry capable of keeping pace with the major raw material needs of the nation through advancing technology are suggested. Mining is both exciting and rewarding —although at times somewhat frustrating— and we all can have real pride in our industry, in its people, and in its accomplishments. It is, however, with concern that I have noted a deterioration in this Country in what might be called mining's stature and in the growth of a belief in many quarters that our mineral reserves are rapidly approaching exhaustion. In other words, there is a popular image that we are fast becoming a "have not" nation in many respects and that the domestic mining industry can no longer be considered, in the vernacular of Wall Street to offer much in the way of "growth potential." I do not subscribe to this hypothesis, nor do I be-li4ve that the record of the mining industry bears this out. However, let me add that we can, in time, talk ourselves into this frame of mind and we can hasten the day when this very well might come about by unnecessary and unwise legislation or regulation. My remarks today are basically designed to give my reasons for refuting this negative philosophy and to review our record. With your help, I know we can improve our image, and the public's recognition of our industry's peculiar problems. The progress of our civilization over the centuries has been fundamentally based upon proper use of raw materials, both agricultural and mineral, and upon energy, human or otherwise. As the standard of living has progressed century by century, the demands for mineral raw materials have increased in an irregular, but steadily rising progression. Fortunately, those minerals on which we depend most, i.e., iron, coal, petroleum, copper, aluminum, lead, and zinc have been neither too difficult to find nor to process into useful form. Iron, the most useful of all metals, is present in various amounts in most rock types and soils. Gold, seemingly the most generally desired (but certainly not the most useful of all metals), occurs in sea water in a far greater total tonnage than has been won from all of the world's known gold mines. If the latter is true, then why do we not see large installations treating sea water for the recovery of its gold content? The answer, of course, is that even the French, who seem, from their recent actions, to value gold above all else, have not devised a way of doing this at a profit. Theoretically, it is possible, but not with today's technology at a cost which would justify the effort. Man has exploited only those mineral concentrations which accidents of nature have placed within his so far limited means of finding and utilizing. What we geologists and engineers refer to as an orebody is nothing more than a concentration of minerals, exploitable with available knowledge, that will yield a value greater than the value attached to the energy and capital required to produce it. What is "ore" and what is not "ore" is, in the end, a matter of economics. The economic problem stems from the physical and chemical character of mineral deposits. The good Lord stacked the cards heavily in favor of rising costs by limiting the amount of the higher grade ores easily available. As the best and most accessible ores are depleted, it becomes necessary to work harder and with greater ingenuity to produce more from less accessible and lower grade resources. The quantity of mineral raw materials we can have in the future will be determined largely by what we can afford to pay for them in terms of human effort, capital outlay and production energies. We will always have the problem of cost with us and our only real means of keeping ahead of rising costs is by continually improving our technical abilities. We, in this country at least, no longer have open to us large and unexplored virgin wildernesses in which a pick-and-shovel prospector might uncover an untouched mineral bonanza. The rest of the world also has few conventional frontiers left in which the explorer-prospector is free to roam. We do, however, have enormous land areas unexplored, and untouched po-

Jan 1, 1969

By P. T. Bail, J. E. Bobek

In reservoirs containing soft shales interbedded with oil-producing sands, it is possible to have water movement from the shales into the sands during reservoir depletion. This paper presents the results of scaled flow-model tests performed to investigate the efficiency of oil displacement by this vertical influx of water into oil-producing sands. In these model tests, the effects of rate of influx and rock wettability were considered. Oil recoveries by shale-wafer influx and by water flooding were cornpared after 0.4 hydrocarbon volume of water entered the producing sand. This comparison was made for water-wet and oil-wet systems. In water-wet sand, shale-water influx produces slightly less oil than conventional water flooding; in oil-wet sand, shale-water influx produces about one-half as much oil as conventional water flooding. In another type of comparison, it was found that shale-water influx followed by water flooding recovers less oil than water flooding alone. This is true for both water-wet and oil-wet sands. A comparison of tests run at different rates of shale-water influx shows that oil recovery is insensitive to rate in water-wet sand; in oil-wet sand, oil recovery decreases with decreasing rate of influx. INTRODUCTION Localized subsidence of the earth's surface has accompanied the depletion of some oil reservoirs, particularly in California,1, 2 along the Texas Gulf Coast,3 4 and in the Bolivar Coastal fields of Venezuela. Subsidence occurs when fluid withdrawals reduce the pressure in the reservoir. The reasons for subsidence accompanying a reduction in reservoir pressure are not known with certainty.10° However, there is considerable evidence that compaction of soft shale beds adjacent to producing oil sands can be a major cause of this subsi-dence.3, 6, 10-12 When the shales compact, a limited amount of water moves from the shales into the producing sands. A schematic illustration of this oil-producing mechanism is shown in Fig. 1. As the pressure in the sand declines due to oil production, a predominantly vertical pressure gradient develops at the sand-shale boundary. This causes water to move from the shale into the sand as indicated by the solid arrows. This paper reports the results of scaled flow-model tests to investigate the efficiency of oil displacement by the vertical influx of shale water into producing sands. The model tests were not performed with the aim of duplicating the recovery behavior of any specific reservoir. The primary purpose of the tests was to obtain a better understanding of oil displacement by shale-water influx. A knowledge of the oil- and water-production characteristics of even a simplified reservoir system should be of value to engineers estimating the performance of reservoirs where shale-water influx is occurring in conjunction with other production mechanisms. The following limitations and assumptions apply to the model work. 1. The sand of the prototype reservoir is homogeneous and horizontal. 2. The shale-water influx is uniformly distributed along the top and bottom of the sand member being studied. 3. No effects of edge-water drive or dissolved-gas drive that might accompany shale-water influx are considered. PROTOTYPE RESERVOIRS Scaled-model tests were performed to study oil displacement from three prototype reservoir sections. The reservoir sections modeled consist of single sand layers out of a sequence of -sand and -shale layers, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Each prototype represents a homogeneous, high-permeability, unconsolidated sand layer. In the field, the prototype is oriented in such a manner that one end is at the radius of drainage of a producing well and the other end is pointed toward the producing well (Fig. 2). The sand and fluid properties and the dimensions of the three prototypes are given in Table 1. The capillary pressure relationships for the three prototypes are presented in Figs. 3, 4 and 5. The oil-water per-

By B. H. Caudle, B. M. Hickman, I. H. Silberberg

Secondary recovery projects often are not started in oil reservoirs until dictated by rising GOR's or declining oil production. Such circumstances require a well dispersed injection pattern to prevent the oil bank from bypassing the production wells. Many times this purpose is served by using the five-spot or line-drive patterns, in which half of the wells are made injection wells. A regular injection pattern is proposed that is based on the same well spacing as the five-spot but in which only a third of the wells need be converted to injection wells. Fluid flow model studies on this proposed pattern show that production histories will be as good as those for a five-spot pattern at mobility ratios of three and above. The model data are presented in a form that may be used to predict recoveries from both homogeneous and stratified formations. Introduction The injection of fluid into a petroleum reservoir usually is prompted by an actual, or predicted, loss in the productivity of the reservoir. Often, an oil reservoir is produced by pressure depletion until high GOR's dictate a change in policy. Fluid injection also causes increased ultimate recovery, but this usually is of less importance to the operator than is the maintenance of the production rate. It is a fact that the ultimate recovery in any particular fluid injection project is relatively independent of the number and spacing of the injection wells as long as the reservoir voidage through the production wells is balanced by the total injection rate. However, the response of a production well is directly affected by the distance it lies from an injection well. In places where the well productivities are declining, the injection wells should be spaced as evenly as possible among the producing wells ("dispersed" injection pattern). More particularly, if the production response depends upon the formation (and subsequent production) of an oil bank, each production well should be surrounded by injection wells. Otherwise, the oil productivity will increase very little as the oil bank moves past the well.'.' An evenly spaced injection pattern has the best chance of generating an oil kick in the production wells. If reservoir voidage and injection rates are to be equal, the ratio of injection wells to production wells must be equal to the ratio of the average injectivity to the average productivity (in reservoir volumes). This ratio is in strumental in choosing the injection pattern. Table 1 shows the production well to injection well ratio for the dispersed injection patterns that have been described in the literature.'-' All of these patterns will have comparable recoveries and response times (for the same basic distance between wells). The choice of pattern there fore depends upon the relative injectivity and productivity of the wells and upon the type of drilling pattern employed. Another important factor may be the ability of the proposed production wells to make up the lost productivity from those wells converted to injectors. These factors become more pronounced at the higher oil viscosities (low gravity oils). All other things being equal, the probable ratio of single well injectivity to single well productivity will be equal to the water-oil mobility ratio of the proposed flood. Thus, high mobility ratios (due to low gravity oil) should call for fewer injection wells — as long as these injection wells are "dispersed" to obtain more even pro duction response for the remaining wells. Secondary re covery projects in oil reservoirs seldom, if ever, will have mobility ratios requiring more injection wells than production wells. Thus, only the last five of the patterns listed in Table 1 will be of significant interest in oil recovery. Almost every development drilling program calls for the wells to be drilled along equally spaced rows and

Jan 1, 1969

Discussion of the paper of Norman B. Braly, presented at the Butte meeting, August, 1913, and printed in Bulletin No. 80, August, 1913, pp. 1881 to 1906. GEORGE A. PACKARD, Butte, Mont.:-I would like to ask Mr. Braly if he has any information as to the relative efficiency of the sinking pump, using it as he refers to it, discharging the exhaust into the water column or otherwise. MR. BRALY :-I have never gathered any information on that point. It is a question of getting the work done. In driving the shaft, using that method, we find it easier on the men and everything else. In the bottom of the shaft, if you exhaust back into your column, it is a quiet. shaft. Another thing is the freezing: if you are sinking with air in your pump, you will find it is liable to freeze, and in that case as the air is still under compression it will not freeze the pump. The difference is very small if there is any. But, as might be expected, the pump is a little less efficient when exhausting the air into the column. MR. PACKARD :-I suppose all of us know what a pump in the bottom of the shaft is. My experience has been, although I have no figures, that the capacity of a pump is quite considerably decreased if you are pumping, say, from a depth of 200 ft. through a No. 7 Knowles pump, when you exhaust the air into a column, but, on the other hand, it is also my impression that we can raise the water to a little greater distance. I would like to get some figures from somebody who has made actual tests.

Jan 11, 1913

By F. W. Schremp, V. L. Johnson

This paper discusses the results obtained from high temperature, high pressure filter loss studies in which field samples of clay-water, emulsion, and oil base fluids were used. High temperature, high pressure tests of some premium priced emrilsion and oil base drilling fluids show filter loss peculiarities that are not predicted by standard API tests. It is recommended that high temperature, high pressure filter loss tests be used to evaluate the performance of such fluids. Apparatus is described which proved to be satisfactory for evaluating filter loss behavior over a wide range of temperatures and pressures. INTRODUCTION The petroleum industry spends large sums of money each year on chemical treating agents for lowering filter loss and on premium-priced low filter loss drilling fluids. While it is an accepted fact that low filter loss is advantageous during drilling operations, it is questionable whether the present standard method of determining filter loss gives a reliable indication of the loss to he expected under bottom hole conditions. The purpose of this paper is to show that high temperature. high pressure filter loss tests Should be used to evaluate filter loss behavior of fluids for deep drilling. Concern over possible effects of filter loss on oil well drilling and well productivity dates back to the early 1920's. During the years 1922 to 1924, filtration studies were reported by Knapp,' Anderson2 and Kirwan." These studies were the first to be reported in the literature on this subject. No further information was published on the subject until 1932 when Rubel' presented a paper in which he discussed the effect of drilling fluids on oil well productivity. In 1935. .Jones and Babson constructed the first laboratory tester designed to study the effects of temperature and pressure on the filter loss behavior of clay-water drilling fluids. In a discussion of their investigations, Jones and Babsons stated, "Performance characteristics of a mud can he evaluated with considerable reliability by a single test at 2,000 psi and 200°F. Exact correlation between the results of performance test5 made under these conditions and the behavior of muds in actual drilling operations is of course impossible." Jones arid Babson apparently were well aware that at best laboratory tests can give only qualitative answers to the question of what is the actual behavior of a drilling fluid when subjected to deep drilling conditions. Jones' presented a paper in 1937 in which he described a static filter loss tester to be used for routine filter loss tests. This instrument subsequently was adopted as the standard APl filter loss tester. In 1938, Larsen7 developed a relationship between filtrate volume and filtrate time that is in general acceptance today. Larsen was cognizant of the danger of estimating bottom hole behavior from filter loss measurements at room temperature. He tried to predict the effect of temperature on filter loss by relating temperature effects through the temperature dependence of filtrate viscosity. This was undoubtedly an over-sirriplification of the temperature dependence of drilling fluid filter loss. In 1940, Byck" published a summary of experimental results of filter loss tests made on six representative California clsy-water drilling fluids. He concluded that "no existing method will permit even an approximate determination of the filtration rate at high temperature from data at room temperature. It is necessary to measure filtration at the temperature actually anticipated in the well, or to make a sufficient number of tests at various lower temperatures so that a small extrapolation of these data to the anticipated well temperature may be applied." Byck's findings were presuma1)ly well accepted and recognized by drilling Fluid technologists, and yet, they did not lead to wide adoption of high temperature drilling fluid filtration equipment. This is evidenced by the fact that no addition information has appeared in print on the subject since 194). Study of Byck's data shows that there was a useful consistency in them. The fluids did not show predictable losses at high temperatures, but they did line up at high temperatures in approximately the same order that they lined up at low temperatures. That is, if a fluid appeared to be a good fluid with relatively low loss at low temperatures, it would also be a good fluid with relatively low loss at high temperatures. In the last decade. the above situation has changed. The drilling fluid art is markedly different from what it was. The outstanding change, as far as the present discussion is concerned, has been the adoption of wholly new types of drilling fluids. Oil base and emulsion drilling fluids have come in to wide use. It is, therefore, necessary- to re-examine previously satisfactory generalizations to see if they are still valid. It turns out. as might have been expected. that Byck's explicit generalization. already quoted, is still true. Filter losses at high temperatures cannot be predicted from filter losses at low temperatures. However, no further generalizations are valid now. Fluids of different chemical types show different general behaviors. No longer do the fluids line up approximately the same at high temperatures as they do at low temperatures. They may line up entirely differently. Special fluids exhibiting very low loss at low temperatures may have losses as high as those of ordinary clay-water fluids at high temperatures. This fact is highly significant, because premium prices are being paid for the special fluids.

Jan 1, 1952