High-Temperature Photo-Acoustic Imager for Geothermal Well Integrity Evaluation
Initiative: Combined Wellbore Construction and Evaluation
Project Lead: Clemson University
Project Timeline: 1/01/2025 - 12/31/2027
Clemson University’s High-Temperature Photo-Acoustic Imager for Geothermal Well Integrity Evaluation project aims to design, develop, prototype, and validate a novel well-logging tool to comprehensively evaluate geothermal wellbore integrity. The tool will be enabled by artificial intelligence and based in photoacoustic imaging, with a sensor assembly that can run directionally 360 degrees and be functional for 24 hours in temperatures of 300°C and pressures of 15,000 pounds per square inch (psi).
Currently, no well-logging tool exists that can function at these temperatures and pressures. The proposed technology is a high-fidelity complete inspection tool that is compatible with current conveyance methods. The new tool will provide a full, continuous 3D image of a wellbore (casing, cement, part of formation) with defects identified, classified, and displayed and/or overlaid on the 3D image.
Learn more about the Office of Geothermal’s work in wellbore construction and evaluation.
More About the Project:
Some of the recent key work includes 1) establishing a defect-free, single-pulse photoacoustic baseline model for steel casing, 2) analyzing the impact of initial cement crack widths (100–600 micromicrometers, or μμm) under 220°C geothermal conditions, and 3) establishing 602 μμm as a reference threshold gap for evaluating the detection accuracy of the photoacoustic imaging tool. Note: A single micrometer (μm) is 0.001 millimeters (mm) or 0.000001 meters; a μμm is 0.000001 mm.