Controlled fluid injection to reduce potential seismic energy along fault lines

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10048702-B1
Application number	US-201715434515-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Feb 16, 2017
Priority date	Feb 16, 2017
Publication date	Aug 14, 2018
Grant date	Aug 14, 2018

Abstract

Controlling release of earthquake energy, in one aspect, may include a controller device injecting fluid into bore holes at dynamically regulated levels to cause controlled seismic events. The bore holes are placed along a fault line with a potential for hazardous earthquakes, and installed with sensors and fluid flow controls communicating with the controller device. The seismic events caused by injecting the fluid are monitored via the sensors. Based on the monitoring, the injecting of the fluid to one or more of the bore holes may be regulated dynamically to control the sizes of the seismic events along the fault line.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of controlling release of earthquake energy, comprising:
a controller device injecting fluid into bore holes at dynamically regulated levels to cause controlled seismic events, the bore holes placed along a fault line with a potential for hazardous earthquakes, the bore holes installed with sensors and fluid flow control communicating with the controller device;
monitoring via the sensors the seismic events caused by injecting the fluid; and
based on the monitoring, controlling the injecting of the fluid to one or more of the bore holes to control sizes of the seismic events along the fault line,
wherein the monitoring the seismic events caused by injecting the fluid further comprises the controller device receiving real time sensor data from the sensors and relaying the data to an analytics engine,
the analytics engine evaluating the sensor data to produce a heat map comprising energy potential, viscosity, seismic events, liquid, and motion surrounding an area of the fault line, and wherein,
the controlling the injecting of the fluid comprises, based on the heat map, the controller device controlling volume of fluid to the one or more bore holes,
wherein flow of the fluid is controlled based on processing of the real time sensor data wherein actions and responses are dynamic.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller device activating or deactivating the fluid flow to the one or more bore holes.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller device monitoring the seismic events caused by injecting the fluid further comprises monitoring site data associated with the area of the fault line via Internet of Things (IoT), wherein the analytics engine evaluates the site data with the sensor data to produce the heat map.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the volume of fluid to control is determined based on machine learning, wherein a machine is trained to predict the volume based on the sensor data and the site data, and wherein the machine is periodically retrained based on updated sensor data and updated site data received responsive to the controller device continuing the monitoring.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the controller device, the sensors and the fluid flow controls communicate via at least one of wired and wireless communications.

6. A computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method of controlling release of earthquake energy, the method comprising:
a controller device injecting fluid into bore holes at dynamically regulated levels to cause controlled seismic events, the bore holes placed along a fault line with a potential for hazardous earthquakes, the bore holes installed with sensors and fluid flow control communicating with the controller device;
monitoring via the sensors the seismic events caused by injecting the fluid; and

based on the monitoring, controlling the injecting of the fluid to one or more of the bore holes to control sizes of the seismic events along the fault line,
wherein the monitoring the seismic events caused by injecting the fluid further comprises the controller device receiving real time sensor data from the sensors and relaying the data to an analytics engine,
the analytics engine evaluating the sensor data to produce a heat map comprising energy potential, viscosity, seismic events, liquid, and motion surrounding an area of the fault line, and wherein,
the controlling the injecting of the fluid comprises, based on the heat map, the controller device controlling volume of fluid to the one or more bore holes,
wherein flow of the fluid is controlled based on processing of the real time sensor data wherein actions and responses are dynamic.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the controller device activating or deactivating the fluid flow to the one or more bore holes.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the controller device monitoring the seismic events caused by injecting the fluid further comprises monitoring site data associated with the area of the fault line via Internet of Things (IoT), wherein the analytics engine evaluates the site data with the sensor data to produce the heat map.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the volume of fluid to control is determined based on machine learning, wherein a machine is trained to predict the volume based on the sensor data and the site data, and wherein the machine is periodically retrained based on updated sensor data and updated site data received responsive to the controller device continuing the monitoring.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein the controller device, the sensors and the fluid flow controls communicate via at least one of wired and wireless communications.

11. A system of controlling release of earthquake energy, comprising:
a controller device injecting fluid into bore holes at dynamically regulated levels to cause controlled seismic events, the bore holes placed along a fault line with a potential for hazardous earthquakes;
a sensor installed with each of the bore holes, the sensor communicating with the controller device;
fluid flow control installed with each of the bore holes, the controller device communicating with the fluid flow control;
the controller device monitoring via the sensors the seismic events caused by injecting the fluid and further controlling the injecting of the fluid to one or more of the bore holes to control sizes of the seismic events along the fault line,
an analytics engine coupled to the controller device, wherein the controller device receives real time sensor data from the sensors and relays the data to the analytics engine, the analytics engine evaluating the sensor data to produce a heat map comprising energy potential, viscosity, seismic events, liquid, and motion surrounding an area of the fault line, and the controller device controls volume of fluid to the one or more bore holes based on the heat map to control the injecting of the fluid, wherein flow of the fluid is controlled based on processing of the real time sensor data wherein actions and responses are dynamic.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the controller device activates and deactivates the fluid flow to the one or more bore holes based on the heat map to control the injecting of the fluid.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the analytics engine evaluates site data associated with the area of the fault line monitored via Internet of Things (IoT) with the sensor data to produce the heat map.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the volume of fluid to control is determined based on machine learning, wherein a machine is trained to predict the volume based on the sensor data and the site data, and wherein the machine is periodically retrained based on updated sensor data and updated site data received responsive to the controller device continuing the monitoring.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the controller device, the sensor and the fluid flow control communicate via at least one of wired and wireless communications.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Florence Christopher R
• Libow Eric B
• Moore Jordan T
• Sherk Walker L
• Wallace Thomas S
• Yang Pu

Classifications

• G01V1/288

  Event detection in seismic signals, e.g. microseismics (G01V1/36 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01V2210/1429

  Subsurface, e.g. in borehole or below weathering layer or mud line · CPC title

• E02D3/00 Primary

  Improving or preserving soil or rock, e.g. preserving permafrost soil (securing of slopes or inclines E02D17/20; damming or interrupting passage of underground water E02D19/12; improving soil for agricultural purposes A01; soil stabilisation for road building or like purposes E01C21/00, E01C23/10; setting rock anchoring bolts E21D) · CPC title

• G01V1/28 Primary

  Processing seismic data, e.g. for interpretation or for event detection (G01V1/48 takes precedence) · CPC title

• E21B43/26

  by forming crevices or fractures · CPC title