FLUTe HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY PROFILER*

This technique uses the blank liner installation described under everting liner mechanism to map the flow paths from the borehole as the blank liner is being installed. The method is described in detail with examples of results at Characterization of flow paths from boreholes. The results are typically obtained in 30 minutes to 2 hours and provide detail of the flow paths unavailable from straddle packer tests of the entire borehole. The blank liner used for the measurement is usually left in the hole to seal the hole against any contaminant migration via the hole.

The system consists of the basic blank liner and the machine which controls the liner tension, records the depth and velocity of installation, and records the water level in the liner (the driving force) in time. From that data is calculated the transmissivity of the entire borehole and the distribution of that transmissivity in the borehole. This technique allows the identification of all significant flow paths from the borehole. The data is recorded onto a laptop into a spreadsheet which reduces the data to a transmissivity plot of the borehole.

Comparisons of this technique with straddle packer tests have shown excellent agreement and much more detailed fracture flows than can not be obtained with the typical straddle packer procedure. Comparisons with geophysical measurements and video logs show that the flows measured are related to fractures and bedding planes seen in the logs. However, it is also noted that some prominent fractures seen in the video logs do not have significant flow. Permeable zones are also clearly defined in the data plots.

The method uses the fact that an everting liner forces the water from the borehole and sequentially covers the flow paths as it descends towards the bottom of the hole. Unlike straddle packer testing, there is no concern about bypass of the liner by leakage of the liner seal or flow in a permeable formation. There is no investigation derived waste generated by the measurement. The flow paths measured are often used to define the sampling intervals to be used for the Water FLUTe multi level sampling system which is subsequently installed to obtain water samples and head data.

See publications for several papers on the conductivity profiling technique.

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* U.S. pat. No. 6910374B2 and 7,281,422 plus numerious foreign pats.