CIVIL & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
Andrew P. Bunger, PhD
710 Benedum Hall | 3700 O’Hara Street | Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Associate Professor, R.K. Mellon Faculty Fellow in Energy Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (Secondary) Center for Energy NETL RUA Professor
P: 412-624-9875 C: 412-290-6345 bunger@pitt.edu
Improving Effectiveness and Sustainability of Hydraulic Fracturing Hydraulic fracturing has been the most important method for stimulating production of oil and gas for more than 60 years. With its critical role in the growth of shale gas/oil, hydraulic fracturing has now come to the forefront of conversations about energy and the environment as well as intensified research efforts aimed at ensuring it is done in a manner that is both effective for its purpose and sustainable for communities and the environment. The effectiveness and sustainability of hydraulic fracturing operations go hand in hand. When the methods of hydraulic fracturing are optimal, the surface impacts
and environmental risks are minimized. Similarly, poor practice that fails to minimize environmental and community impacts jeopardizes the benefits that can be achieved from responsible production of gas and oil emerging sources such as shale reservoirs. Dr. Bunger’s research aims at achieving optimality of hydraulic fracturing processes by predicting and controlling the types of growth patterns that will be generated when high pressure fluid injection is used to break reservoir rocks. Dr. Bunger uses analytical, numerical, and experimental methods to understand fundamental
physical processes with an emphasis on contrasting network versus localized growth, growth that is contained to the reservoir versus growth out of zone, and practices that minimize versus exacerbate risk to well integrity and hence to groundwater resources due to the potential for contaminant migration along poorly completed or damaged wells. Dr. Bunger’s additional and complimentary research interests include the mechanics of hydraulic fractures, coupled fluid-shale interaction, and the emplacement dynamics of magma-driven dykes and sills.
Experience and Facilities Dr. Bunger has 15 years of experience in experimental, analytical, and computational investigation of hydraulic fracturing, rock mechanics, and site testing including in situ stress measurement. The University of Pittsburgh Hydraulic Fracturing Laboratory supports research into hydraulic fracture propagation. It includes: 1) a true-triaxial cell, including hydraulic pump and pressure control, capable of applying up to 20 MPa of stress independently in each of 3 direction to specimens measuring up to 300 mm on a side, 2) multi-axis video monitoring that is enabled by viewing ports in the loading platens of the triaxial cell, backlight sources built into the loading platens, and digital video cameras 3) a syringe pump used for injecting fluid for hydraulic fracturing, 4) sensors for monitoring injection fluid pressure and temperature.
Top: Photo from “Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer,” US Department of Energy, April 2009. Bottom: Sketch of laboratory equipment showing an example with a transparent PMMA specimen.
64
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING
