Location
Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall
Start Date
4-11-2013 1:00 PM
Description
Heavy oils are dense, viscous crude oils. They are plentiful, but their high viscosities make them difficult to produce. Predicting and controlling their flow behavior is crucial for assessing their value and designing production facilities. However, the basic mechanisms responsible for their large viscosities are not fully understood. In this talk we will present results from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and rheological measurements we have undertaken to try to tease out some of the dynamics responsible for the large viscosities of heavy oils.
We find that as the temperature of heavy oils is reduced, their viscosities appear to follow a universal scaling relation, and, at low enough temperatures, they undergo a glass transition. In this talk, we explore whether ideas from glassy dynamics can help explain the rheology of heavy oils above the glass transition temperature. We will compare NMR studies of the dynamics of heavy oils and less viscous black oils and present models for their different behavior that suggests that the NMR results for heavy oils are consistent with properties of glassy dynamics.
Toward a better understanding of the high viscosity of heavy oils: An NMR study of heavy oils and their connection to glassy dynamics
Cherry Auditorium, Kirk Hall
Heavy oils are dense, viscous crude oils. They are plentiful, but their high viscosities make them difficult to produce. Predicting and controlling their flow behavior is crucial for assessing their value and designing production facilities. However, the basic mechanisms responsible for their large viscosities are not fully understood. In this talk we will present results from nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and rheological measurements we have undertaken to try to tease out some of the dynamics responsible for the large viscosities of heavy oils.
We find that as the temperature of heavy oils is reduced, their viscosities appear to follow a universal scaling relation, and, at low enough temperatures, they undergo a glass transition. In this talk, we explore whether ideas from glassy dynamics can help explain the rheology of heavy oils above the glass transition temperature. We will compare NMR studies of the dynamics of heavy oils and less viscous black oils and present models for their different behavior that suggests that the NMR results for heavy oils are consistent with properties of glassy dynamics.
Comments
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