WIPP Salado hydrology program data report No. 1

WIPP Salado Hydrology Program Data Report number-sign 1 presents hydrologic data collected during permeability tests of the Salado Formation performed from August 1988 through December 1989. Analysis and interpretation of the test data are presented in a separate report. The report presents the results of the drilling and testing of six boreholes drilled from the WIPP underground facility 655 m below ground surface in the Salado Formation. Permeability tests were conducted using multipacker test tools with inflatable packers to isolate borehole intervals to allow formation pore-pressure buildup and subsequent pulse-withdrawal tests. Test data include pressures and temperatures in brine-filled, packer-isolated test intervals and borehole-closure and axial test-tool-movement measurements. Permeability tests were performed after installing multipacker test tools in test boreholes, inflating the packers, and allowing pressures to build up in the isolated intervals. Pulse-withdrawal tests were performed after buildup pressures approached the apparent formation pore pressure. Pulse injections were sometimes performed to increase the fluid pressures in isolated intervals. Compliance tests were conducted in lengths of steel and stainless-steel casing to evaluate the mechanical performance of the multipacker test tools. The stainless-steel compliance-test chamber was installed with externally mounted thermocouples in a downward-angled borehole in Experimental Room 4. Compliance tests included leak tests and simulated pulse-injection and pulse-withdrawal sequences. 9 refs., 143 figs., 2 tabs