Hydraulic Testing Tools (HTT)
In some situations, it is desirable to isolate portions of a borehole in order to characterize discreet hydrogeologic features within the borehole such as fractures, flowing zones, and/or low-permeability intervals. The isolation of these intervals and/or discreet features is accomplished through the use of packers. HydroResolutions has designed and developed single- and multi-packer hydraulic testing tools (HTT) that can be used for characterizing hydrogeologic systems running the entire range of measurable permeability. The typical HTT application is aquifer testing in low-permeability systems in which pulse and/or slug tests are required, however, the HTT is easily configured to perform constant-rate and/or constant-head aquifer tests with flows as low as 0.2 gpm and as high as several hundred gpm.
Utilizing packers along with the other integral components (downhole shut-in valve, hydraulic piston pulse generator, pressure control system, and instrumentation package) of the HydroResolutions HTT, the properties of discreet intervals and/or features can be investigated in remarkable detail. Such detailed information is extremely valuable in the assessment of a hydrogeologic systems’ flow and transport properties. When the entire length of the open borehole is tested at once, the properties of preferential flow paths and/or potentially confining layers are often masked and poorly estimated due to the averaging that occurs.
In some cases, it is important to isolate a portion of a borehole in order to assess differences in water quality as a function of depth within a hydrogeologic system. The strategic placement of a packer(s) within a borehole can result in dramatic water quality improvement by effectively segregating waters of different qualities.
HydroResolutions staff have designed and developed HTTs for use in a variety of applications that include testing boreholes from the surface as well as from within underground facilities. These project-specific HTTs have been used in the detailed hydrogeologic characterization associated with active and proposed radioactive waste repository programs, mineral exploration, evaluation of geothermal reservoirs, assessment of potential carbon capture and sequestration sites, and water supply investigations. HydroResolutions HTTs have been designed and deployed in boreholes with isolated intervals varying in length from 1 meter to 30 meters. In cases where the isolated interval is more than 5 meters in length the HTT must be assembled as it is deployed in the borehole.
Straddle-packer HTT components including bottom and top packers, piston pulse generator, shut-in valve, and instrumentation package (30 meter interval)
If desired, HydroResolutions can configure an HTT to measure and record (and allow for real-time viewing graphically through the use of our DACS) temperature and pressure below the bottom packer, between packers, and above the top packer. In low-permeability systems, it is also desirable to monitor the pressure/fluid level in the tubing string that connects the HTT to the ground. All of this information is used to diagnose possible problems with the HTT so that they can be resolved immediately. Also for use in low-permeability systems, HydroResolutions has developed a state-of-the-art pressure maintenance system that controls the packer-inflation pressure and the pressure of all of the downhole hydraulic systems (shut-in valve and pulse piston). This pressure maintenance system effectively eliminates pressure fluctuations in the isolated intervals that would otherwise result from variations in packer and hydraulic-system pressures that often result from surface temperature fluctuations.
These many unique features of the HydroResolutions HTT serve to minimize the possibility of collecting data that are not representative of the hydrogeologic system being tested and thereby make the data analysis process more reliable.
HydroResolutions often participates in collaborative HTT and instrumentation design and development efforts in order to meet especially demanding project requirements such as deep small-diameter boreholes. These relationships allow HydroResolutions to meet project-specific requirements that would not otherwise be possible.
HydroResolutions/IPI collaboration to design & develop downhole pressure/temperature sensors integrated into an HTT to be deployed in 70 mm boreholes in South Korea
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