The world is dependent on the production of oil and gas, and every day the demand increases. Technologies have to keep up with the demand of this resource to keep the world running. Since hydrocarbons are finite and will eventually run out, the increasing demand of oil and gas is the impetus to search for oil in more difficult and challenging areas. One challenging area is offshore in ultradeep water, with water depths greater than 5000 ft. This is the new arena for drilling technology. Unfortunately with greater challenges there are greater risks of losing control and blowing out a well. A dynamic kill simulator was developed in late 2004 to model initial conditions of a blowout in ultradeep water and to calculate the minimum kill rate required to kill a blowing well using the dynamic kill method. The simulator was simple and efficient, but had limitations; only vertical wells could be simulated. To keep up with technology, modifications were made to the simulator to model directional wells. COMASim (Cherokee, Offshore Technology Research Center, Minerals Management Service, Texas A&M Simulator) is the name of the dynamic kill simulator. The new version, COMASim1.0, has the ability to model almost any type of wellbore geometry when provided the measured and vertical depths of the well. Eighteen models with varying wellbore geometry were simulated to examine the effects of wellbore geometry on the minimum kill rate requirement. The main observation was that lower kill rate requirement was needed in wells with larger measured depth. COMASim 1.0 cannot determine whether the inputs provided by the user are practical; COMASim 1.0 can only determine if the inputs are incorrect, inconsistent or cannot be computed. If unreasonable drilling scenarios are input, unreasonable outputs will result. COMASim1.0 adds greater functionality to the previous version while maintaining the original framework and simplicity of calculations and usage.

Currently the "Pump and Dump" method employed by Exploration and Production (E&P) companies in deepwater is simply not enough to control increasingly dangerous and unpredictable shallow hazards. "Pump and Dump" requires a heavy dependence on accurate seismic data to avoid shallow gas zones; the kick detection methods are slow and unreliable, which results in a need for visual kick detection; and it does not offer dynamic well control methods of managing shallow hazards such as methane hydrates, shallow gas and shallow water flows. These negative aspects of "Pump and Dump" are in addition to the environmental impact, high drilling fluid (mud) costs and limited mud options. Dual gradient technology offers a closed system, which improves drilling simply because the mud within the system is recycled. The amount of required mud is reduced, the variety of acceptable mud types is increased and chemical additives to the mud become an option. This closed system also offers more accurate and faster kick detection methods in addition to those that are already used in the "Pump and Dump" method. This closed system has the potential to prevent the formation of hydrates by adding hydrate inhibitors to the drilling mud. And more significantly, this system successfully controls dissociating methane hydrates, over pressured shallow gas zones and shallow water flows. Dual gradient technology improves deepwater drilling operations by removing fluid constraints and offering proactive well control over dissociating hydrates, shallow water flows and over pressured shallow gas zones. There are several clear advantages for dual gradient technology: economic, technical and significantly improved safety, which is achieved through superior well control.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 230-235). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2001. / Bibliography: leaves 232-244.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 230-235). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 379-383). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

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The long-term psychological effects of surviving a major disaster are poorly understood. A survey of survivors of the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster (1988) was undertaken to examine the role of factors relating to: the trauma; the survivors, and the survivors’ circumstances in relation to long-term outcome. Methods: Ten years after the disaster 78% (46/59) of the survivors were located, and, of these, 72% (33/46) agreed to be participate in a study conducted by questionnaire, diagnostic interview and semi-structured interview. In total, 61% of all survivors participated in this study. A further three individuals (7%) completed postal self-report measures. Results: High levels of physical disorder, general psychopathology and post-traumatic symptoms were reported. Twenty one percent (7/33) of the survivors who participated in the study still met the most stringent diagnostic criteria for PTSD over 10 years after the disaster; 73% met the same rule within three months of the disaster. Features such as physical injury, personal exposure to certain stressors during the trauma, survivor guilt, anger and employment difficulties were significantly correlated with long-term general and specific post-traumatic psychopathology and with social and occupational function. Features of the legal proceedings were also associated with long-term outcome. Whilst the media was experienced as intrusive, no statistically significant associations with long-term outcome were found. Treatment was generally accessible to participating survivors (97%) with non-professional help (82%) and outreach (69%; 25/36) widely used. Although many difficulties were experienced 61% of participants could identify some positive outcomes from the experience. Discussion: This study emphasises the need to consider a broad range of factors affecting outcome including the individual’s experience during a traumatic event, pre-existing stressors and factors relating to the response to the disaster and their environment. High rates of help-seeking were found to co-exist with high symptoms levels and this may relate to treatment effectiveness or failure to apply appropriate treatment in disaster populations. Attention to issues such as employment difficulties and compensation processes may improve survivor well-being in the long-term after disasters. Conclusions: This long-term follow-up of survivors of a major disaster has confirmed that the impact of a disaster is durable and extensive with psychological services required over prolonged periods.

Drilling is a standard process for producing holes in metal materials. With an increased hole depth the demands increase on both machine and tool. Deep hole drilling is a complex process which ischaracterized by a high metal removal rate and hole accuracy. A hole deeper than ten times the diameter can be considered a deep hole which requires a specialized drilling technique. During adeep hole drilling process, the forces generated on the deep hole drill give a rise to a resultant radial force. The resultant radial force pushes the drill in a radial direction during a drilling operation. The radial force direction is of crucial importance in regard of tool guidance, stability and hole size accuracy. This force affects tool performance, reduces tool life and has an impact on the bore surface. Due to the complex nature of deep hole drilling, Sandvik Coromant wishes to get a better understanding of how their current deep hole drilling tools are balanced. The purpose of this study is to conduct a survey of a number of drills of Sandvik Coromant deep hole drill assortment. The main aim of this study is to calculate and measure the resultant radial force generated during a deep hole drilling operation. The forces are calculated with the aid of a calculation program and test-runs on a number of drills. This report presents the calculated magnitude and direction of the resultant radial force duringentrance, full intersection and at the exit of the workpiece. In addition to the measured values of theresultant radial force during entry and full intersection. Four different drill geometries are evaluated which of two are competitor drills. A deep hole drill geometry is re-modified in aspect to drill stability based on the outcome of the measured and calculated results. The results acquired from the performed calculation and measurements of the resultant showed that the resultant radial force acts in an angular direction that was outside the range between the support pads. This true for three of the four evaluated drill geometries. There were minor differences between the measured and calculated forces which enforce the reliability of the used calculation program. The modified drill geometry of a deep hole drill gave an indication of which geometry variables have impact on the resultant radial force magnitude and angular direction. The data presented in this report can be a base for future development of a deep hole drill toolgeometry in regard to the resultant radial force. Variables affecting the calculated results and theresultant radial force are presented and discussed. The study is concluded with suggestions of futurework based on the acquired data.