Flowing fluid electric conductivity logging for a deep artesian well in fractured rock with regional flow

The flowing fluid electric conductivity (FFEC) logging method is a well-logging technique that may be used to estimate flow rate, salinity, transmissivity, and hydraulic head of individual fractures or high-permeability zones intersected by a wellbore. Wellbore fluid is first replaced with fluid of a contrasting electric conductivity, then repeated FEC logging is done while the well is pumped. Zones where fluid flows into the wellbore show peaks in the FEC logs, which may be analyzed to infer inflow rate and salinity of the individual fractures. Conducting the procedure with two or more pumping rates (multi-rate FFEC logging) enables individual fracture transmissivity and hydraulic head to be determined. Here we describe the first application of the multi-rate FFEC logging method to an artesian well, using a 500-m well in fractured rock at Horonobe, Japan. An additional new factor at the site is the presence of regional groundwater flow, which heretofore has only been studied with synthetic data. FFEC logging was conducted for two different pumping rates. Several analysis techniques had to be adapted to account for the artesian nature of the well. The results were subsequently compared with independent salinity measurements and transmissivity and hydraulic head values obtained from packer tests in the same well. Despite non-ideal operating conditions, multi-rate FFEC logging successfully determined flow rate, salinity, and transmissivity of 17 conducting fractures intercepted by the logged section of the borehole, including two fractures with regional groundwater flow. Predictions of hydraulic head were less accurate, a not unexpected result in light of operational problems and the form of the equation for hydraulic head, which involves the difference between two uncertain quantities. This study illustrates the strengths and weaknesses of the multi-rate FFEC logging method applied to artesian wells. In conjunction with previous studies, it demonstrates the usefulness of the method for a broad range of conditions encountered in subsurface fractured rock. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.