General

Engineering

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 1E Q: What is the physical law that gives the pressure drop in a fluid across a cylindrical tube?
A: It assumes that the flow is laminar, viscous and incompressible. It also assumes that the
flow traveled is longer than the diameter of the cross-sectional area. Hagen-Poisuelle
Equation, ΔP=8μLQ/(πr4).

2E Q: What is the apparatus used to measure mud filtrate volume and mud cake thickness?
A: API filter press

3E Q: What apparatus measures the viscosity of a fluid?

A: Rheometer viscometer

4E Q: What is the principle of Corresponding States and how is it used?

A: Fluid properties can be related to a fluid’s critical temperature and pressure. Can be used
to calculate z-factors.

5E Q: What is the molecular weight of air?

A: 29 g/gmol

6E Q: What is the standard temperature across the United States?

A: 60 degrees Fahrenheit

7E Q: What is the standard pressure across the United States?

A: 14.7 psia

8E Q: What are the units of fugacity?

A: Pressure

9E Q: Define interfacial tension.

A: Work done per unit area in expanding the surface of a liquid in contact with another phase

10E Q: Define surface tension.

A: Work done per unit area in expanding surface of a liquid against its own vapor phase

11E Q: Name 4 points on a binary phase diagram.

A: Critical Point, Bubble Point, Dew Point, Cricondentherm, Cricondenbar

12E Q: What is a cricondentherm?

A: Maximum temperature at which two phases can exist

13E Q: What is a cricondenbar?

A: Maximum pressure at which two phases can exist

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14E Q: What is the name for the fluid described below?
A: Newtonian fluid

15E Q: What is the name for the fluid described below?

A: Power Law fluid

16E Q: What is the name of the fluid described below?

A: Bingham Plastic Fluid

17E Q: What is the name of the fluid described below?

A: Herschel Bulkley Fluid

18E Q: This term or unit represents the hydrogen-ion concentration in a substance.

A: pH

19E Q: This commonly used temperature scale in the industry named after a Scottish engineer has
absolute zero set at 0 degrees while using Fahrenheit as its incremental degree.
A: Rankine

20E Q: This term describes the apparent weight loss of an object immersed in fluid.
A: Buoyancy

21E Q: Name two assumptions for Lame's equation.

A: Linearly elastic, homogenous, isotropic, and 2-D

22E Q: This is constant when experiencing a Joule-Thompson effect.

A: Enthalpy

23E Q: What is the recommended pressure (psi) used for a standard API filtration test?
A: 100 psi

24E Q: This thermodynamic principle mentioned by Van der Waals indicates that all fluids at the
same reduced temperature and pressure have the same compressibility factor and deviate
from ideal gas behavior to the same degree.
A: Principle of corresponding states

25E Q: This thermodynamic variable is equal to the pressure of an ideal gas that has the same
chemical potential as the real gas. In other words, it becomes equal to the pressure of the fluid
at pressures low enough that the fluid approaches ideal gas state.
A: Fugacity

26E Q: What is the maximum number of coexisting phases at equilibrium for a pure fluid?
A: Three, 3

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27E Q: Above ice's melting point, does the specific volume of the substance increase or decrease?
A: Decreases

28E Q: This cycle developed by a French engineer demonstrates the most efficient cycle for
converting thermal energy into work or extracting the most work from a given flow of heat
between two temperature baths.
A: Carnot cycle

29E Q: How many isomers does Pentane have?

A: Three, 3

30E Q: Regarding phase behavior, this is the point where 3 phases coexist in equilibrium.
A: Triple Point

31E Q: On a phase diagram, this is the term given to a line of highest temperature where a mixture
can exist in two phases.
A: Cricondentherm

32E Q: This is the name where molecules of natural gas, usually methane, are trapped in ice
molecules.
A: Methane Hydrate, Clathrate

33E Q: What equation represents Boyle's Law?

A: P1V1 = P2V2

34E Q: What equation relates capillary pressure to interfacial tension?

A: Young-La Place

35E Q: This diagram can be used to determine the overall, vapor phase, and liquid phase
compositions of 3 separate components at one temperature and pressure.
A: Ternary Diagram

36E Q: Which measure of project profitability is the discount (interest) rate at which the net present
value equals 0?
A: Rate of return, internal rate of return

37E Q: What are 5 assumptions behind Darcy flow?

A: Re <1, Newtonian, No-slip boundary conditions, single phase flow, no chemical Interaction
between rock and fluid

38E Q: What is the formula for effective porosity?

A: (Interconnected volume)/(Total volume)

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39E Q: Define formation volume factor
A: Reservoir volume/standard volume

40E Q: Define the tortuosity

A: The ratio between the length of the curve to the distance between the end points

41E Q: Define kinematic viscosity

A: Apparent viscosity divided by density of the fluid

42E Q: Name four types of naturally occurring hydrocarbons

A: Paraffins, Napthenes (cycloparaffins), Aromatics, Asphalts

43E Q: What conditions are required for Darcy’s Law to be valid?

A: Laminar flow, steady state, non-compressible fluid, complete segregation (non-interacting
fluid)

44E Q: What is the equation for the minimum porosity in a dispersed shale?
A: Porosity = sand porosity * shale porosity

45E Q: If a lower permeability sand was present at the same depth, would the water saturation in
that sand be higher, lower or the same as in Sand A?
A: Higher

46E Q: A water-wet solid surface is characterized by a contact angle of?

A: Theta < 90 degrees

47E Q: What chemical found in TNT is also found in oil, particularly Borneo crude?
A: Toloul

48E Q: This is a rubber or plastic material used as a seal.

A: Elastomer

49E Q: Describe what a z factor is also give the equation for it.
A: The "z" factor is the ratio of the volume occupied by a gas at a given pressure and
temperature to the volume the gas would occupy at the same pressure and temperature if it
behaved like an ideal gas. Z= VACTUAL /VIDEAL

50E Q: What is the equation for gas specific gravity?

A: Yg = Ygas/Yair

51E Q: What do the variables represent in the gas specific gravity equation?
A: Yg is the specific gravity of the gas, Y is the density of the gas, and Yair is the density of dry
air.

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52E Q: What are the two types of chemical bonds?
A: Covalent and ionic bonds

53E Q: Wildcatter's used to taste and classify oils as sweet, medium sour, and sour based on what
property of oil?
A: Sulfur Content

54E Q: What are the two possible ways single phase flow can be characterized?
A: Laminar or Turbulent

55E Q: The velocity profile is parabolic for what type of flow?

A: Laminar

56E Q: Assuming uniform pipe diameters, what will be the pressure drop due to kinetic energy for
an incompressible fluid.
A: Zero

57E Q: When calculating relative pipe roughness, Є=k/d, what is k?

A: Length of the protrusions on the pipe wall

58E Q: In two phase flow what is hold up?

A: When the lighter phase flows faster than the denser phase

59E Q: What is bubble flow?

A: Dispersed bubbles of gas in a continuous liquid phase.

60E Q: What is slug flow?

A: At higher gas rates, the bubbles coalesce into larger bubbles, called Taylor bubbles, that
eventually fill the entire pipe cross section. Between the large gas bubbles are slugs of liquid
that contain smaller bubbles of gas entrained in the liquid.

61E Q: What is churn flow?

A: With a further increase in gas rate, the larger gas bubbles become unstable and collapse,
resulting in churn flow, a highly turbulent flow pattern with both phases dispersed. Churn flow
is characterized by oscillatory, up and down motions of the liquid.

62E Q: What is annular flow?

A: At higher gas rates, gas becomes the continuous phase, with liquid flowing in an annulus
coating the surface of the pipe and with liquid droplets entrained in the gas phase.

63E Q: Which two phase pressure gradient correlation can be used for any pipe inclination and flow
direction?
A: Beggs and Brill

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64E Q: Why for two phase flow would an increase in the imposed well head pressure result in a
proportionately larger increase in the corresponding bottom hole pressure?
A: Because gas would be re-dissolved, increasing the density of the fluid in the wellbore.

65E Q: With two phase flow, why does the flow regime not affect the pressure drop in horizontal
flow as it does in vertical flow?
A: No potential energy contribution to the pressure drop in horizontal flow

66E Q: Brill and Beggs described three flow regimes for horizontal gas-liquid flow, what are they?
A: Segregated flow, intermittent flow, and distributive flow

67E Q: What is segregated flow?

A: The two phases are for the most part separate.

68E Q: What is intermittent flow?

A: Gas and liquid phase alternates

69E Q: What is distributive flow?

A: One phase is dispersed in the other phase.

70E Q: What are the three types of segregated flow?

A: Stratified, Wavy and Annular.

71E Q: What are the two types of intermittent flow?

A: Slug and Plug.

72E Q: What are the two types of distributive flow?

A: Bubble and mist.

73E Q: How are the effects of valves and fittings included when calculating the pressure drop.
A: Adding the equivalent length to the actual length

74E Q: This pressure is defined as the non-wet phase pressure minus wetting phase pressure in
the interface between two immiscible fluids.
A: Capillary Pressure

75E Q: This type of permeability is a measure of the conductance of a porous medium for one fluid
phase when the medium is saturated with more than one fluid. What is the name of this type
of permeability?
A: Effective permeability

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76E Q: What is the term for the ratio of the resistivity of a rock filled with water to the resistivity of
that water?
A: Formation factor

77E Q: Contact angle is used to measure the wettability, the solid is called water-wet if the contact
angle is below ___ and is oil-wet if the contact angle is more than ___
A: 90, 90

78E Q: What is Kro and how is it defined?

A: Oil relative permeability. Kro = Koil/k

79E Q: What is the term for a formation with constant permeability and no high or low 'streaks'?
A: Homogeneous

80E Q: What is the term for a gas that is a vapor in the reservoir and has no liquid dropout because
separator conditions are still in the vapor region of the phase diagram?
A: Dry gas

81E Q: Real gases have a factor that is used to relate the gas to ideal conditions, what is the name
of this factor?
A: Gas deviation, or 'z' factor

82E Q: If the contact angle between oil and water of a liquid on a core sample is less than 90°, what
is the wetting phase?
A: Water

83E Q: What is the term for the equilibrium point between the sublimation line, the melting point
line, and the vapor pressure line?
A: The triple point

84E Q: The motion of atoms and molecules in fluids due to the temperature of a fluid appears to be
random but is described by the relationships derived by the man for which this motion is named.
What is the name of this motion?
A: Brownian motion

85E Q: What is the linear flow form of Darcy's Law?

A: q=ka(p1-p2)/µL

86E Q: What is the conversion factor to obtain field units for Darcy's Law?
A: 1.127 x 10-3

87E Q: Name at least four assumptions of Darcy's Law.

A: Laminar flow, viscous flow, incompressible flow, steady state, homogeneous formation,
100% saturation with flowing fluid phase.

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 88E Q: What does the term "dead oil" describe"
A: Oil with no dissolved gas

89E Q: What are three types of non-newtonian fluids?

A: Psuedoplastic (shear thinning), dilatant (shear thickening), and Bingham plastic fluids

90E Q: What is the term for the effect of gas slippage at low pressure and is the cause for
overestimation of absolute permeability in a gas saturated core?
A: Klinkenberg effect or slippage effect

91E Q: What process is used to determine the pore size distribution in a formation sample?
A: Inject the sample with mercury then plot a graph of capillary pressure vs. water saturation

92E Q: What is indicated by low pore entry pressure?

A: The formation has large pores since low pressure is needed for a fluid to enter the formation

93E Q: What does the term, Bg, represent?

A: Gas formation volume factor

94E Q: What symbol is used to represent solution gas-oil ratio?

A: Rs

95E Q: What is the absorption of fluids into the pores of a rock?

A: Imbibition

96E Q: This fraction of the pore space occupied by water when the hydrocarbon content is at its
maximum. This level of water can only be reduced by flow of a very dry gas that evaporates
the water.
A: Irreducible water saturation

97E Q: What is the term used to describe a high quality low sulfur oil?
A: Sweet

98E Q: What is the equation for the Traction Vector?

A: Stress tensor times unit normal vector

99E Q: What gives the state of stress at any point?

A: Stress Tensor

100E Q: Three mutually perpendicular normal stresses in a coordinate system where all shear
stresses vanish defines what?
A: The Principal Stress

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101E Q: What constant is used to directly relate strain and stress?
A: Young's Modulus or Elastic Modulus or Tension Modulus

102E Q: What is a mathematical description of continuous physical phenomenon in which a

dependent variable is a function of more than one independent variable?
A: Partial Differential Equation

103E Q: This numerical model requires only discretization of the boundary?

A: Boundary Element Method

104E Q: This numerical model has a solution procedure based on numerical approximation of the
governing equations.
A: Finite Difference Method

105E Q: This numerical model has a solution procedure that exploits approximations to the
connectivity of the elements and to the continuity of stress and displacements between the
elements
A: Finite Element Method

106E Q: Name two methods to obtain Ku+f=0 from an approximate solution.

A: Galerkin, Variational Principles (Raleigh-Ritz)

107E Q: What substitutions are made for the method of weighted residuals?
A: u=ΣNaua and v=Σwbδub.

108E Q: What substitution is made in Galerkin's Method?

A: wb = Nb

109E Q: Integral statement of a PDE multiplied by a weighting function and equated to 0.

A: Weak Form

110E Q: A PDE that describes a physical process and has BC's that are essential and/or natural.
A: Strong Form

111E Q: As opposed to the standard discrete system, the more general Finite Element method
utilizes what?
A: Approximations

112E Q: Euler's Equations are equivalent to what?

A: The strong form.

113E Q: What is a graph which plots the percentage (by volume) of a given grade of crude which
boils off as a function of temperature?
A: Distillation curve

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114E Q: In the petroleum coking process, what is the length of time it takes to heat the coke drum
sufficiently to safely introduce hot hydrocarbons, transform the raw material into solid
petroleum coke, and remove or cut the solid coke from the drum before repeating the process?

A: Drum cycle

115E Q: Refineries with cracking units are commonly referred to as what?

A: High-Conversion.

116E Q: Saturated hydrocarbons, with a general formula CnH2n+2 are known as what?
A: Paraffins or alkanes

117E Q: What are the three subgroups of hydrocarbons?

A: Parraffins/alkanes, naphthenes/cycloalkanes, and aromatic compounds

118E Q: Gas hydrates are compounds of frozen water that contain gas molecules. What is the term
for the molecules themselves?
A: Clathrates

119E Q: A mixture of hydrocarbons that existed in the liquid phase in natural underground reservoirs
and remain liquid at atmospheric pressure after passing through surface separating facilities is
known as what?
A: Crude oil

120E Q: In the study of petroleum fluids, which bonds are we most concerned with, covalent or ionic?
A: Covalent

121E Q: What is regarded as the normal valence angle of carbon?

A: 109.5 degrees

122E Q: Which hydrocarbon group is considered the most stable?

A: Alkanes

123E Q: What type of compound is benzene?

A: An aromatic hydrocarbon

124E Q: This compound forms the largest group of nonhydrocarbons in petroleum.

A: Sulfur compounds

125E Q: What point on a phase diagram represents the pressure and temperature at which solid,
liquid, and gas coexist under equilibrium conditions?
A: The triple point, equilibrium point

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126E Q: Why are alkanes the main constituents of petroleum gas, as opposed to other
hydrocarbons?

A: Because they are the simplest molecules, making them the most stable

127E Q: The major difference between the Bingham model and Newtonian fluids is?
A: Bingham model has a yield point

128E Q: What is the term for probability of loss or failure?

A: Risk

129E Q: On a phase diagram, this is defined as the maximum temperature above which liquid cannot
be formed regardless of pressure.
A: Cricondentherm

130E Q: What is the maximum pressure above which gas cannot be formed regardless of
temperature.
A: Cricondenbar

131E Q: This is the pressure corresponding to the maximum temperature above which liquid cannot
be formed regardless of pressure.
A: Cricondentherm pressure

132E Q: This is the temperature which relates to the maximum pressure above which gas cannot be
formed regardless of temperature.
A: Cricondenbar temperature

133E Q: What precipitate is formed when hydrofluoric acid reacts with calcium carbonate?
A: Calcium Fluoride (CaF2)

134E Q: What percentage of a barrel of crude oil is typically converted to gasoline?

A: 45-47%

135E Q: Petroleum fluids can be characterized by their distillation temperature. Rank the following
from highest to lowest distillation temperature: Diesel, Gasoline, Jet Fuel, Naptha.
A: High to low: Diesel, Jet Fuel, Naptha, Gasoline

136E Q: Name four assumptions of Darcy's Law.

A: Laminar flow, viscous flow, incompressible flow, steady state, homogeneous formation,
100% saturation with flowing fluid phase.

137E Q: A change in the volume, pressure, or temperature of a gas, occurring without a gain or loss
of heat.
A: Adiabatic Change

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138E Q: What are two assumptions made for an ideal gas?
A: Perfectly elastic collisions (no lost energy), gas molecule size is insignificant, no attractive
or repulsive forces between molecules.

139E Q: How many US gallons are in one oil barrel?

A: 42

140E Q: This system is used to control the increase in the amplitude of an electrical signal from the
original input to the amplified output. This is commonly used in seismic processing to improve
visibility of late-arriving events. What is the name of this system?
A: Automatic Gain Control

141E Q: What is the term used to describe Calories per gram of BTU per pound produced by burning
fuels?
A: Thermal value

142E Q: What is the chemical process of changing clay or other minerals to make them meet specific
performance levels?
A: Beneficiation

143E Q: What type of fluid has a linear shear stress?

A: Bingham Plastic

144E Q: This is another word for geophone.

A: Jug

145E Q: This is a lump of non-dispersed polymer.

A: Microgel (also called fisheyes)

146E Q: Name the sources of horizontal stresses

A: Poisson's Ratio Effect and Tectonic Stresses

147E Q: What API instrument is used to measure liquid specific gravity? What is the equation to
determine API gravity from specific gravity?
A: Hydrometer. API = (141.5/specific gravity) - 131.5

148E Q: This is defined as the ratio of the density of a gas to the density of dry air when both are
measured at the same temperature and pressure.
A: Specific Gravity

149E Q: The constant b in van der Waals equation of state is a correction for what?
A: Volume occupied by the molecules of the gas

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150E Q: This is the fractional change of volume as pressure is changed at constant temperature for
a gas.
A: Coefficient of isothermal compressibility

151E Q: What is the oilfield unit for dynamic viscosity?

A: Centipoise

152E Q: What is the reciprocal of viscosity?

A: Fluidity

153E Q: This type of oil contains fewer heavy molecules and more intermediates than black oils
A: Volatile oil

154E Q: This type of diagram (formed from equilateral triangles) is used for three-component
mixtures and must be plotted in such a way that the compositions of all three components can
be displayed.
A: Ternary diagram

155E Q: This point is the upper limit of the vapor-pressure line.

A: Critical Point

156E Q: When a gas or liquid flows across a sand face, through a choke, or any device that
introduces a pressure drop, the temperature will decrease. What causes this?
A: Joule-Thomson Effect

157E Q: What is the term used to describe the lowest temperature at which an oil will pour or flow
under certain prescribed conditions.
A: Pour Point

158E Q: What instrument is used to determine liquid specific gravity?

A: Hydrometer

159E Q: This is a cyclic compound associated with asphaltenes that helps keep asphaltene platelets
in suspension.
A: Maltene

160E Q: What is the ratio between fluid inertial forces and fluid gravitational forces?
A: Froude Number

161E Q: Which law states that all pure gases have the same z factor at the same values of reduced
pressure and reduced temperature?
A: Law of Corresponding States

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162E Q: What is a naturally occurring mixture of short chain hydrocarbons with a minor amount of
inorganic compounds?
A: Natural Gas

163E Q: What is the principle component of Natural Gas?

A: Methane

164E Q: What type of gas is adsorbed onto coal surfaces?

A: Coal Bed methane

165E Q: What is the difference in pressure between two phases in equilibrium at the same depth
called?
A: Capillary Pressure

166E Q: This graph can be used to indicate whether a formation is homogenous or heterogeneous.
A: Capillary Pressure vs Water Saturation

167E Q: Why does oil viscosity decrease with decreasing pressure above bubble point?
A: The oil molecules are not forced as close together as they are at higher pressures.

168E Q: Relative permeability is controlled by what factors?

A: Pore Geometry, Wettability, Fluid Distribution, and Saturations/Saturation History.

169E Q: What is the reduction in an ability of a fluid to flow in the presence of two or more immiscible
fluids called?
A: Relative Permeability Effect

170E Q: On a gas-oil relative permeability curve at what point will gas relative permeability begin to
increase above 0?
A: Critical Gas Saturation

171E Q: What is a measurement of the ability of a fluid to coat a rock of mineral surface?
A: Wettability

172E Q: Name the four types of Aliphatics?

A: Alkanes, Alkenes, Alkynes, and Cyclic Aliphatics

173E Q: What is the process classed that involves large amounts of hydrogen being added to coal
under high temperatures and pressures under the presence of a catalyst to create synthetic
fuels?
A: Hydrogenation

174E Q: What is hydrogenation?

A: The process of extracting liquid from coal.

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175E Q: Concerning geostatistical or other statistical analysis, what relationship do standard
deviation and variance have?
A: SD = sqrt(variance) or Variance = SD^2

176E Q: While hydrocarbons by definition are compounds containing only hydrogen and carbon,
motor fuels consist of saturated hydrocarbons, also known as alkanes. What is the lightest
straight chain alkane that exists as a liquid at standard conditions?
A: Pentane

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