Carbon-capture and sequestration (CCS) in geologic reservoirs is one strategy for reducing anthropogenic CO2 emissions from large-scale point source emitters. Recent developments have shown that basalt reservoirs are highly effective for permanent mineral trapping on the basis of CO2-water-rock interactions, which result in the formation of carbonate minerals. However, the injection of super-critical CO2 into the subsurface causes a disturbance in the pressure, temperature, and chemical systems within the target reservoir. How the ambient conditions change in response to a CO2 injection ultimately affects the transport and fate of the injected CO2. Understanding the behavior and transport of CO2 within a geologic reservoir is a difficult problem that is only exacerbated by heterogeneities within the reservoir; for example, permeability can be highly heterogeneous and exhibits significant control on the movement of CO2. This work is focused on constraining the permeability uncertainty within a flood basalt reservoir, specifically the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG). In order to do so, this dissertation is a culmination of four projects: (1) a geostatistical analysis resulting in a spatial correlation model of regional scale permeability within the CRBG, (2) a Monte Carlo-type modeling studying investigating the effects that permeability uncertainty has on the injectivity and storativity of the CRBG as a storage reservoir, (3) a modeling study utilizing 1-, 2-, and 3-D numerical models to investigate how the thermal signature of the CO2-water system evolves during a CO2 injection, and (4) a Monte Carlo-type modeling study focused on the integrity of the CRBG as a CO2 storage reservoir through a probabilistic assessment of static threshold criteria. / Doctor of Philosophy / The process of capturing CO2 from point-source emitters, such as power plants and injecting that CO2 into a geologic formation is one way to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions. Recent field studies have shown that basalt reservoirs may be very effective at permanently storing the injected CO2 making them a secure geologic formation to store the CO2. However, basalt reservoirs can be highly fractured, which causes the properties of the reservoir (e.g. permeability, porosity, etc.) to be nonuniform. Having nonuniform reservoir properties creates uncertainty when planning a large-scale CO2 injection. This research is focused on understanding and constraining the uncertainty of nonuniform reservoir properties associated with a large-scale CO2 injection. The work presented utilizes a geostatistical analysis of permeability to inform a variety of numerical models to study how nonuniform reservoir properties affect CO2 injection rate, how much CO2 can be stored, how the pressure and temperature of the reservoir changes, and how secure the storage reservoir is during a CO2 injection.

Experimental methods were developed and used to quantify the behavior of composite materials during heating to support development of heat and mass transfer pyrolysis models. Methods were developed to measure specific heat capacity, kinetic parameters, microstructure changes, porosity, and permeability. Specific heat and gravimetric data for kinetic parameters were measured with a simultaneous differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) / thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). Experimental techniques were developed for quantitative specific heat measurement based on ASTM standards with modifications for accurate measurements of decomposing materials. An environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) was used in conjunction with a heating platform to record real-time video of microstructural changes of materials during decomposition and cooling following decomposition. A gas infusion technique was devised to measure porosity, in which nitrogen was infused into the pores of permeable material samples and used to determine the open-pore porosity of the material. Permeability was measured using a standard pressure differential gas flow technique with improvements over past sealing techniques and modifications to allow for potential high temperature use. Experimental techniques were used to measure the properties of composite construction materials commonly used in naval applications: E-glass vinyl ester laminates and end-grain balsa wood core. The simultaneous DSC/TGA was used to measure the apparent specific heat required to heat the decomposing sample. ESEM experiments captured microstructural changes during decomposition for both E-glass vinyl ester laminate and balsa wood samples. Permeability and porosity changes during decomposition appeared to depend on microstructural changes in addition to mass fraction. / Master of Science

Permeability of hot mix asphalt (HMA) is a property that is important to the pavement's durability. Measuring permeability along with density will give a better indication of a pavement's durability than density alone. The presence of water for extended periods of time in the pavement is directly linked to early deterioration. The first goal of this research is to study the anisotropic nature of hot mix asphalt permeability within the lab, which required the development of a horizontal permeameter. This method is inexpensive and suitable for a lab technician to use and analyze. A series of samples with different air void contents were used to observe how the ratio of vertical to horizontal permeability changes with air void content. The second goal was to develop a modified field permeameter to study the water-pavement contact area effect on field permeability. A reliable sealing system was created that is consistent and is not detrimental to the pavement surface. The results of the study show that larger contact areas yield increasing influence of vertical flow, which represents the one dimensional assumption of Darcy's Law falling head method. The third goal was to validate the results by simulating the field permeability test with a finite element model. A number of simulations with different permeability values and anisotropic permeability ratios were conducted. The horizontal and vertical flows were observed within the test area to analyze the flow pattern and influence of the directional permeability. The results matched the trends found in the field permeability study. / Master of Science

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Call number: LD2668 .T4 1959 C45

No description available.

Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels from a pre-existing vasculature, is crucial during development and for many diseases including cancer. Despite tremendous progress in the understanding of the angiogenic process, many aspects are still not fully elucidated. Several attempts have been made to identify novel genes involved in endothelial cell biology and angiogenesis. Here we focused on Pald1, a recently identified, vascular-enriched gene encoding paladin. Our in vitro studies indicate that paladin is a lipid phosphatase catalyzing dephosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol phosphates, a process essential for endocytosis and intracellular vesicle trafficking. We confirmed paladin’s vascular expression pattern and revealed a shift from a broad endothelial cell expression during development to an arterial mural cell-restricted expression in several vascular beds in adult mice. Paladin expression in the lung, however, was not restricted to the vasculature, but was also observed in pneumocytes and myofibroblasts. Lungs of female, but not male, Pald1 null mice displayed an obstructive lung phenotype with increased alveolar air sacs that were already apparent early in the alveolarization process. Only endothelial cells, but not other main lung cell types, were affected by loss of paladin. Endothelial cell number was reduced in 4-week old mice, possibly due to increased endothelial turnover in Pald1 deficient lungs. Vascular defects were also found in the retina. Loss of paladin led to reduced retinal vascular outgrowth accompanied by a hyperdense and hypersprouting vascular front. Downstream signaling of the major angiogenic driver, vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) was sustained in Pald1 null mice, and VEGFR2 degradation was impaired. Furthermore, paladin inhibited endothelial cell junction stability and loss of paladin led to reduced vascular permeability. Whether the differences in VEGFR2 signaling and adherens junction stability are connected remains to be fully explored. The newly identified lipid phosphatase activity of paladin and its specific effects on VEGFR2 signaling and adherens junction stability indicate that paladin may be controlling the endocytic pathway.

published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

As oil and gas supply decrease, it becomes more important to quantify the uncertainty associated with reservoir models and implementation of field development decisions. Various geostatistical methods have assisted in the development of field scale models of reservoir heterogeneity. Sequential simulation algorithms in geostatistic require an assessment of local uncertainty in an attribute value at a location followed by random sampling from the uncertainty distribution to retrieve the simulation value. Instead of random sampling of an outcome from the uncertainty distrubution, the retrieval of an optimal simulated value at each location by considering an economic loss function is demonstrated in this thesis. By applying a loss function that depicts the economic impact of an over or underestimation at a location and retrieving the optimal simulated value that minimizes the expected loss, a map of simulated values can be generated that accounts for the impact of permeability as it relates to economic loss. Both an asymmetric linear loss function and a parabolic loss function models are investigated. The end result of this procedure will be a reservoir realization that exhibits the correct spatial characteristics (i.e. variogram reproduction) while, at the same time, exhibiting the minimum expected loss in terms of the parameters used to construct the loss function. The process detailed in this thesis provides an effective alternative whereby realizations in the middle of the uncertainty distribution can be directly retrieved by application of suitable loss functions. An extension of this method is to alter the loss function (so as to emphasize either under or over estimation), other realizations at the extremes of the global uncertainty distribution can also be retrieved, thereby eliminating the necessity for the generation of a large suite of realizations to locate the global extremes of the uncertainty distribution. / text

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