Oil and Gas
Summary
The oil and gas industry is technology-intensive, strongly based on inter- and multi-disciplinary scientific development. Exploration and production in increasingly adverse conditions demand the development of advanced research and the formation of qualified human resources. In this context, the Civil Engineering Program has been active since 1977; even at that time PEC/COPPE had been pioneering with innovative developments related to computational methods, to support Petrobras in its exploration and production activities.
In this scenario, the Oil and Gas Research Area from PEC/COPPE involves different topics, incorporated in the following research lines: Offshore Systems and Structures; Structural Integrity; Petroleum Systems; Radar Remote Sensing; Computational Geophysics, and Concretes and refractories for the oil industry. Many of those research lines are related to the Oil and Gas Interdisciplinary Area implemented at COPPE.
The activities related to Offshore Systems and Structures deal with the development and application of techniques for the analysis and design of complex structural systems, for exploration and production in shallow and deep waters: fixed, rigid or compliant structural systems; moored floating systems (such as semisubmersible platforms or FPSOs); riser and pipeline systems. The design of such systems demand deeper knowledge in several areas such as: structural analysis, computational techniques, hydrodynamics, oceanography, geotechnics, foundation systems, materials, statistics, probability, reliability, spectral analysis, signal processing, and optimization.
Activities related to Structural Integrity are intended to the formation of qualified human resources to deal with aspects related to the safety and physical integrity of equipment and structures used at different types of oil industry facilities. The topics approached are: material properties and characterization, stress analysis in offshore and onshore structures, fatigue and fracture mechanics, non-destructive tests and reliability-based inspection.
Petroleum Systems encompasses essential research activities related to the exploratory process of sedimentary basins. The focus is on the formation of qualified professionals, able to analyze those basins, estimate their potentials, and define exploratory opportunities by planning and executing exploration projects. This research line also involves the development and application of numerical solvers oriented towards secondary and tertiary recovery processes in petroleum reservoirs; stability of horizontal or inclined wells; bi- and three-dimensional modeling of sedimentary basins.
Radar Remote Sensing focuses on detecting oil exudations in ocean areas, indicating the presence of active petroleum systems, as well as establishing their tectonic, environmental and time repeatability context. Such activity is essential as a boundary condition to the computational modeling of oil generation and migration processes, adding value to oil industry projects developed in exploratory frontiers.
Computational Geophysics related activities deal with the development of essential tools for obtaining sub-surface information, in terms of reliable images, thus reducing exploratory risks. In this context, geophysical methods (particularly the seismic method) are very important. Research on seismic methods began at COPPE-UFRJ by applying to migration methods and algorithms developed at PEC in the last 35 years (Finite Difference, Finite Elements, integral equations such MEC and Kirchhoff equations). Recently, tomography as well as inverse problem techniques have been included.
Concrete and refractory related activities deal with the development, on micro, meso and macro scale, of experimental and numerical methods for the analysis of refractory concretes used in refinery units, and of cement slurries for oil wells. Thermo-chemo-mechanical phenomena at high temperatures and near atmospheric pressures are considered, such as refractory concretes and medium temperatures and high pressures for oil well cement slurries. Micro, meso and macro scale tests are performed to allow experimental validation of the multi-scale analysis procedures, homogenized in the theoretic frame of the micromechanics. Equipment at the Laboratory of Structures and Materials at COPPE/UFRJ allows the determination of thermo-chemo-mechanical properties, and the mechanical and computational modeling of concretes and refractories for the petroleum industry.
Research Lines
Offshore Systems and Structures
The activities related to Offshore Systems and Structures encompass the development and application of techniques for the analysis and design of complex structural systems, for exploration and production in shallow and deep waters: fixed, rigid or compliant structural systems; moored floating systems (such as semisubmersible platforms or FPSOs); riser and pipeline systems. The design of such systems demands deeper knowledge in several areas such as: structural analysis, computational techniques, hydrodynamics, oceanography, geotechnics, foundation systems, materials, statistics, probability, reliability, spectral analysis, signal processing, and optimization.
Structural Integrity applied to the oil and gas industry
Activities related to Structural Integrity seek the formation of qualified human resources to deal with the safety and physical integrity of equipment and structures used at different types of oil industry facilities. The topics approached are: material properties and characterization, stress analysis in offshore and onshore structures, fatigue and fracture mechanics, non-destructive tests and reliability-based inspection.
Petroleum Systems
Petroleum Systems encompasses essential research activities related to the exploratory process of sedimentary basins. The focus is on the formation of qualified professionals, able to analyze those basins, estimate their potentials, and define exploratory opportunities by planning and executing exploration projects. This research line also involves the development and application of numerical solvers oriented towards secondary and tertiary recovery processes in petroleum reservoirs; stability of horizontal or inclined wells; bi- and three-dimensional modeling of sedimentary basins.
Radar Remote Sensing applied to the Oil Industry
Activities related to this research line focus on detecting oil exudations in ocean areas, indicating the presence of active petroleum systems, as well as establishing their tectonic, environmental and time repeatability context. Such activity is essential as a boundary condition to the computational modeling of oil generation and migration processes, adding value to oil industry projects developed in exploratory frontiers. The following technological areas are included: (i) digital processing and interpretation of images obtained by synthetic aperture radars (SAR), (ii) geoprocessing, (iii) databases, (iv) Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD), with emphasis on Data Mining.
Migration and imaging in Oil and Gas Geophysics
This line of research, related to computational geophysics, deals with the development of essential tools for obtaining sub-surface information, in terms of reliable images, thus reducing exploratory risks. In this context, geophysical methods (particularly the seismic method) are very important. Research on seismic methods began at COPPE-UFRJ by applying to migration methods and algorithms developed at PEC in the last 35 years (Finite Difference, Finite Elements, integral equations such MEC and Kirchhoff equations). Recently, tomography as well as inverse problem techniques have been included.
Concretes and refractories for the oil industry
This research line includes: (i) scientific dosage of oil well cement slurries; (ii) development and characterization of special slurries containing polymers, fibrous reinforcements, nano-particles and reduced CO2 emission cementitious materials; (iv) study of special slurries for saline and vapor injection regions; (v) numerical analysis of stress in the cement sheath; (vi) refractory concrete development and characterization at high temperatures; (vii) use of fibers in high performance refractory concretes; (viii) mechanical and numerical modeling of refractory cladding in refinery units; (ix) study of the effect of coke on the durability of refractories; (x) study of the effect of CO2 and H2S on concrete durability.