Nomenclature#

Notation#

The following abbreviations, acronyms, initialisms, and mathematical and unit symbols are used in this documentation.

API (organization)#

American Petroleum Institute

API (software)#

application programming interface

bbl#

(unit symbol) barrel, oil barrel

BPD#

barrels per day

coeff.#

coefficient

CSV#

(file format) Comma Separated Values

DOE#

U.S. Department of Energy

EOT#

end of tubing

ft#

(unit symbol) foot, international foot

GUI#

graphical user interface

HDF5#

(file format) Heirarchical Data Format v5

I/F#

interface

I/O#

input/output

ID#

inner diameter, internal diameter

in#

(unit symbol) inch, standard inch

JSON#

(file format) JavaScript Object Notation

LAS#

(file format) Log ASCII Standard

lb#

(unit symbol) pound, avoirdupois pound

lbf#

(unit symbol) pound-force

LF#

leach/fill mode

M&O#

maintenance and operations

MarkDown#

(file format) MarkDown

Mbbl#

(unit symbol) one thousand barrels (= 10³ bbl)

NOTE: this is a U.S. customary prefixed symbol; this is not a “mega-barrel” and is not using the SI “mega-” prefix. Do not use this notation with SI units.

MD#

measured depth

MMbb#

(unit symbol) one million barrels (= 10⁶ bbl)

NOTE: this is a U.S. customary prefixed symbol - do not use this notation with SI units.

NIST#

National Institute of Standards and Technology

OBI#

oil-brine interface

OD#

outer diameter, outside diameter

ODE#

ordinary differential equation

OL#

ordinary leach mode

psi#
lbf/in²#

(unit symbol) pound-force per square inch

QA#

quality assurance

reStructuredText#

(file format) reStructuredText

Sandia#

Sandia National Laboratories

SF#

product storage fill mode

sg#

specific gravity

SI#

International System of Units (see also [28])

SMRI#

Solution Mining Research Institute

SNL#

Sandia National Laboratories

SPR#

U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve

TD#

total depth

TOML#

(file format) [Tom’s Obvious Minimal Language]

USC#

U.S. Customary (see also [29])

WL#

withdrawal leach mode

wt. pct.#

weight percent

YAML#

(file format) YAML Ain’t Markup Language

ZDP#

zero-depth point

°F#

(unit symbol) degree Fahrenheit

Glossary#

barrel#
barrels#
oil barrel#

U.S. and petroleum industry unit of volume. The oil barrel is equal to 42 U.S. liquid gallons, which are in turn defined as exactly 231 cubic inches. Thus, the oil barrel is equal to 9702 cubic inches or 539/96 cubic feet (9702/1728 == 539/96) [29]. The unit symbol is “bbl” or “bbl oil”.

customary units#

Sansmic uses U.S. Customary units internally. Customary units are non-SI units still used in the U.S. and some other countries. Customary units still in use are nearly all based on the English foot in some way. However, U.S. Customary units are not the same as Imperial units, and referring to them that way is a recipe for confusion [29].

Note that U.S. Customary units are also not the same as now-deprecated U.S. Survey units.

See: NIST Handbook 44 appendices B and C.

degree Fahrenheit#

Customary unit of temperature. A change of one degree Fahrenheit is exactly equal to a change of 5/9 degree Celsius. The unit symbol is “°F” or “degF” if limited to alphanumeric characters [29]. Conversion is done using the following formula.

\[T~/^\circ\mathrm{F} = 32 + \frac{5}{9} T~/^\circ\mathrm{C}\]
foot#
feet#
international foot#

Customary unit of length, defined as exactly 0.3048 meters [29]. The unit symbols “ft” and “ift” are both acceptable and interchangable [29].

inch#
inches#

Customary unit of length, defined as exactly 0.0254 meters (12 in = 1 ft) [29]. Unit symbol is “in[29].

measured depth#

The measured depth (MD) is the positive-valued distance from a specific zero-depth point (ZDP) downhole within a well, wellbore, or cavern. It is not corrected or adjusted to another datum (e.g., sea level), and it is not corrected for well deviation or horizontal movements.

pound#
pounds#
pound avoirdupois#

Customary unit of mass. One pound avoirdupois is defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilograms [29]. The unit symbol is “lb” or “lb avdp” (to differentiate it from some other pound) [29].

pound-force#
pounds-force#

Customary unit of force, equal to one pound accelerated at standard gravity (gₙ ≡ 9.80665 m/s²). One pound-force is exactly equal to 4.4482216152605 newtons The unit symbol is “lbf[29].

pound-force per square inch#
pounds-force per square inch#

A customary unit of pressure. The technical unit symbol is “lbf/in²”, but the symbol “psi” is more commonly used; “PSI” is an abbreviation appropriate for text, but should not be used as a unit symbol [29]. The PSI does not have an exact decimal representation, though it can be written exactly as a fraction. 1 psi is approximately equal to 6894.757 pascal.

SALT#

SMRI solution mining code

SANSMIC#

Sandia Solution Mining Code

U.S. Customary units#

The International customary units plus additional units that are U.S. specific, such as the U.S. liquid gallon. The oil barrel is not techincally a U.S. Customary unit, although it is defined in terms of U.S. Customary units (1 barrel = 42 U.S. gallons). Note that U.S. Customary units are also not the same as now-deprecated U.S. Survey units.

See: NIST Handbook 44 appendices B and C.

U.S. Survey units#

DEPRECATED The old (pre-2022) U.S. Survey units are based on the foot of the late 1800s. This foot was renamed the “U.S. Survey Foot” in 1959, when the international foot became the standard “foot” in the United States [29]. In 2022, the U.S. Government deprecated the U.S. Survey Foot and its derived units [29]. All survey units (acre, chain, etc.) are now defined in terms of the international foot [29].

When referring to historical measurements, and using the deprecated units, the unit should be prefixed with the letter “s” (e.g., sft and sac instead of ft and ac) [29]. They should no longer be used when creating new documents or new measurements. The “survey foot” and “survey mile” are now the preferred terms for the old U.S. Survey Foot and U.S. Survey Mile with unit symbols “sft” and “smi”, not “usft” or “usmi” [29].

See: NIST Handbook 44 appendices B and C.

zero-depth point#

The zero-depth point (ZDP) is the point on a wellhead, rig, or other permanent datum, that is used to set

\[z_\mathrm{zdp} := 0.0\]

for measured depth (MD) values. This should not change over time once a well has been completed.

U.S. Customary Units#

It is assumed that any user is familiar with SI units; however, for those that want the most up-to-date information, NIST-SP-330 provides the U.S. English-laguage version of the official SI definition. [28]

The following U.S. Customary units (USC) are non-SI units that are used in SANSMIC along with the equivalent SI unit and conversion factor. See NIST-HB-44 Appendix B and C for more information on customary units and the legal and official conversion factors specified by the U.S. Government. [29]

USC to SI conversion factors

USC unit

Definition (in SI units)

ft

:= 0.3048 m

in

:= 2.54 cm

in²

≡ 6.4516 cm²

ft³

≡ 0.028316846592 m³

Mbbl/d

≡ 158.987294938 m³/d

lb

:= 0.45359237 kg

lbf

≡ 4.4482216152605 N

psi

≡ 1 lbf/in²

≡ (44482216152605 / 6451600) kPa

≈ 6.894757 kPa

sg

= 1000 kg/m³