Theses and Dissertations from UMD

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New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Horst, DavidSubject: search.filters.subject.Fracking

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    AN ALTERNATIVE TO HYDRAULIC FRACTURING: AN EXPLOSIVELY DRIVEN MECHANICAL DEVICE
    (2018) Horst, David; Fourney, William L; Mechanical Engineering; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Hydraulic fracturing is currently used to extract natural gas from shale formations in the U.S, but there are major concerns regarding the environmental impact. As an alternative method of well stimulation, a mechanical device driven by explosive loading was developed. The goal of the device is to control the orientation of crack growth, in an unfavorable in situ stress field. Small scale model testing was conducted in PMMA, simulating an unconventional reservoir. A hydraulic press was used to simulate the in situ stress and high speed cameras were used to capture images of detonation, device function, and crack development. Variations were made to device geometry and the resulting crack growth is visually compared. Optimal device dimensions for fracture initiation are determined, and the effect of borehole characteristics on crack formation is discussed. Scaling recommendations for testing the device at full scale are provided.