Economical Offshore Foundation for Deep Water - Suction Embedded Plate Anchor. The oil/gas industry's venture in finding large resources in deep water has lead to a number of important economic and technical challenges including, among others, new types of foundations. Suction Embedded Plate Anchor (SEPA) has shown its potential of cost-saving against other types of foundations in deep waters. The aim of this project is to use the experties of investigators, on numerical and centrifuge modelling ....Economical Offshore Foundation for Deep Water - Suction Embedded Plate Anchor. The oil/gas industry's venture in finding large resources in deep water has lead to a number of important economic and technical challenges including, among others, new types of foundations. Suction Embedded Plate Anchor (SEPA) has shown its potential of cost-saving against other types of foundations in deep waters. The aim of this project is to use the experties of investigators, on numerical and centrifuge modelling, to study the behaviour of SEPA in sub-marine deposit. Successful completing of the project will contribute to the very little existing data on this new type of foundation - SEPA.Read moreRead less
A new geomechnical tool for the evaluation of hydrocarbon trap integrity. Hydrocarbon exploration drilling is an intrinsically high risk, high cost activity. Even once a potential reservoir is located there remains the possibility that under recent geological activity the trap has become breached and leaked due to failure of overlying or adjacent rock. This Project will develop a technique that builds on current predictive techniques, and numerical modelling methods, to produce a series of sub-s ....A new geomechnical tool for the evaluation of hydrocarbon trap integrity. Hydrocarbon exploration drilling is an intrinsically high risk, high cost activity. Even once a potential reservoir is located there remains the possibility that under recent geological activity the trap has become breached and leaked due to failure of overlying or adjacent rock. This Project will develop a technique that builds on current predictive techniques, and numerical modelling methods, to produce a series of sub-surface geomechanical models for four important petroleum basins. This new and integrated geomechanical approach will improve current predictive capabilities for detecting breached traps, thus enhancing prospectivity in the major petroleum provinces of Australia.Read moreRead less
Design of Offshore Foundations with Large Penetration into Multilayered Soils. The outcomes of this research will allow safer and more efficient extraction of oil and gas in Australian waters. Offshore oil and gas development is a key Australian industry, annually contributing over A$21 billion to the economy, and underpinning much of our prosperity. The new numerical models and design guidelines will allow rigs and platforms to operate more safely and efficiently in our challenging seabed condi ....Design of Offshore Foundations with Large Penetration into Multilayered Soils. The outcomes of this research will allow safer and more efficient extraction of oil and gas in Australian waters. Offshore oil and gas development is a key Australian industry, annually contributing over A$21 billion to the economy, and underpinning much of our prosperity. The new numerical models and design guidelines will allow rigs and platforms to operate more safely and efficiently in our challenging seabed conditions, contributing to the future competitiveness of our oil and gas industry, and securing energy supplies for sustained growth of our economy. The project will advance Australia's leadership in the science of offshore geotechnical engineering and foster research training opportunities for future engineering leaders.Read moreRead less
Development of Models for the Three-Dimensional Analysis of Jack-Up Structures. Mobile jack-up structures perform most of the world's offshore drilling in water depths up to 120m, but have a higher accident rate then fixed installations. To improve their safety, this research will develop the framework for the integrated assessment of jack-up behaviour in three dimensions. To achieve this, an advanced plasticity model that describes cyclic behaviour of the circular shallow foundations of jack-up ....Development of Models for the Three-Dimensional Analysis of Jack-Up Structures. Mobile jack-up structures perform most of the world's offshore drilling in water depths up to 120m, but have a higher accident rate then fixed installations. To improve their safety, this research will develop the framework for the integrated assessment of jack-up behaviour in three dimensions. To achieve this, an advanced plasticity model that describes cyclic behaviour of the circular shallow foundations of jack-ups in both clay and sand will be developed and incorporated with random wave loading of seas in a dynamic structural analysis program. The anticipated advantages of the modelling techniques will be assessed against existing two dimensional industry guidelines and monitored field data. Read moreRead less
Fundamental studies of the packing and compaction of fine particles. This project will investigate the fundamentals of the packing and compaction of fine particles at both microscopic and macroscopic levels through a combined theoretical and experimental program. It involves the use of advanced techniques to generate particle scale information, so that a packing and compaction process can be assessed at various time and length scales. It will produce a comprehensive understanding of the underlyi ....Fundamental studies of the packing and compaction of fine particles. This project will investigate the fundamentals of the packing and compaction of fine particles at both microscopic and macroscopic levels through a combined theoretical and experimental program. It involves the use of advanced techniques to generate particle scale information, so that a packing and compaction process can be assessed at various time and length scales. It will produce a comprehensive understanding of the underlying physics, computer models capable of predicting the micromechanic and transport properties of porous media, and an effective means to solve many packing and compaction problems widely encountered in minerals and materials processing industries.Read moreRead less
Continuum Damage Mechanics in Geotechnical Engineering. Mining and oil exploration are amongst the major industries in Australia and must address geotechnical problems in which growth in damage plays a central role. For example, failure of an offshore platform can occur under cyclic environmental loading, due to accumulated damage to the seabed soils. Design tools are therefore needed that incorporate continuum damage mechanics in modelling the response of geomaterials. The project will place Au ....Continuum Damage Mechanics in Geotechnical Engineering. Mining and oil exploration are amongst the major industries in Australia and must address geotechnical problems in which growth in damage plays a central role. For example, failure of an offshore platform can occur under cyclic environmental loading, due to accumulated damage to the seabed soils. Design tools are therefore needed that incorporate continuum damage mechanics in modelling the response of geomaterials. The project will place Australia at the forefront in this field through the development of rigorous yet simple numerical models that achieve this, and thus underpin safe but economic geotechnical engineering solutions in the mineral resource industries.Read moreRead less
The micro-thermo-mechanics of sand crushing in geotechnical collapse problems. Oil and gas exploration is a major industry in Australia. Collapse problems in the soil to which structures such as oil rigs are anchored are a major challenge, involving issues of safety, longevity and maintenance. Research on this topic has been devoted to non-crushable sands, but Australia's offshore seabed is rich in breakable calcareous sediments. We will create a novel theory and visualisation techniques that wi ....The micro-thermo-mechanics of sand crushing in geotechnical collapse problems. Oil and gas exploration is a major industry in Australia. Collapse problems in the soil to which structures such as oil rigs are anchored are a major challenge, involving issues of safety, longevity and maintenance. Research on this topic has been devoted to non-crushable sands, but Australia's offshore seabed is rich in breakable calcareous sediments. We will create a novel theory and visualisation techniques that will allow us to gain a deep understanding of sand crushing and will be a major step towards minimising the occurrence of catastrophic failures in the offshore oil and gas industry. Read moreRead less
Development of cyclic loading models for application in offshore geotechnics. The response of foundations for offshore structures to repetitive (cyclic) loads is a critical but still inadequately understood area of offshore geotechnics, with designs still usually based on simple modifications to monotonic loading conditions. In this project, a definitive framework for modelling cyclic behaviour will be established. Using this new approach, numerical models will be developed to address problems a ....Development of cyclic loading models for application in offshore geotechnics. The response of foundations for offshore structures to repetitive (cyclic) loads is a critical but still inadequately understood area of offshore geotechnics, with designs still usually based on simple modifications to monotonic loading conditions. In this project, a definitive framework for modelling cyclic behaviour will be established. Using this new approach, numerical models will be developed to address problems at all scales from fundamental constitutive behaviour of soils to macroscopic models for large foundation systems. Their application to offshore design problems (for renewable energy as well as traditional oil and gas applications) will be assessed. Recommendations to current international guidelines will also be made.Read moreRead less
The Australasian Stress Map. The contemporary crustal stress field of Australasia is both more complex and more poorly constrained than that of other continental areas. The crustal stress field controls processes including earthquake hazard; the stability of mines, tunnels and boreholes, and; fluid flow in groundwater aquifers and oil reservoirs. Using data from oil exploration wells, earthquakes and recent geological activity, this project will increase from around 300 to 1000 the number of rel ....The Australasian Stress Map. The contemporary crustal stress field of Australasia is both more complex and more poorly constrained than that of other continental areas. The crustal stress field controls processes including earthquake hazard; the stability of mines, tunnels and boreholes, and; fluid flow in groundwater aquifers and oil reservoirs. Using data from oil exploration wells, earthquakes and recent geological activity, this project will increase from around 300 to 1000 the number of reliable stress determinations available for Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. The stress field will be modelled in order to improve our understanding of its origin and variability.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Gas Permeability Investigations of Highly Stressed Coals. Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is an emerging energy resource in Australia, which has multi-billion dollar CBM reserves. Gas is clean burning, produces little greenhouse gas and almost no disruption to surface activities (like farming) during extraction. These environmental benefits, with low cost, make gas the fuel of choice for power and heat worldwide. This project seeks to assist development of CBM engineering from deep coal seams. Th ....Dynamic Gas Permeability Investigations of Highly Stressed Coals. Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is an emerging energy resource in Australia, which has multi-billion dollar CBM reserves. Gas is clean burning, produces little greenhouse gas and almost no disruption to surface activities (like farming) during extraction. These environmental benefits, with low cost, make gas the fuel of choice for power and heat worldwide. This project seeks to assist development of CBM engineering from deep coal seams. These contain the most gas, but are technically more difficult to develop than shallower reservoirs. In particular, it examines how natural and induced stress fields can be used to improve productivity, by understanding the relationships between different coal types, their environment and gas production rate.Read moreRead less