Investigation on Heat Transfer Properties of Supercritical Water in a Rock Fracture for Enhanced Geothermal Systems

Author(s):  
Yuanyuan He ◽  
Bing Bai ◽  
Xiaochun Li
Author(s):  
Dustin Crandall ◽  
Goodarz Ahmadi ◽  
Grant Bromhal

Fractures in rocks enable the motion of fluids through the large, hot geologic formations of geothermal reservoirs. The heat transfer from the surrounding rock mass to the fluid flowing through a fracture depends on the geometry of the fracture, the fluid/solid properties, and the flow rate through the fracture. A numerical study was conducted to evaluate the changes in heat transfer to the fluid flowing through a rock fracture with changes in the flow rate. The aperture distribution of the rock fracture, originally created within Berea sandstone and imaged using a CT-scanner, is well described by a Gaussian distribution and has a mean aperture of approximately 0.6 mm. Water was used as the working fluid, enabling an evaluation of the efficiency of heat flux to the fluid along the flow path of a hot dry geothermal system. As the flow through the fracture was increased to a Reynolds number greater than 2300 the effect of channeling through large aperture regions within the fracture were observed to become increasingly important. For the fastest flows modeled the heat flux to the working fluids was reduced due to a shorter residence time of the fluid in the fracture. Understanding what conditions can maximize the amount of energy obtained from fractures within a hot dry geologic field can improve the operation and long-term viability of enhanced geothermal systems.


2019 ◽  
Vol 135 ◽  
pp. 846-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yibin Huang ◽  
Yanjun Zhang ◽  
Ziwang Yu ◽  
Yueqiang Ma ◽  
Chi Zhang

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 6904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandro Andrés ◽  
David Santillán ◽  
Juan Carlos Mosquera ◽  
Luis Cueto-Felgueroso

Geothermal energy has emerged as an alternative to ensure a green energy supply while tackling climate change. Geothermal systems extract the heat stored in the Earth’s crust by warming up water, but the low rock permeability at exploitation depths may require the hydraulic stimulation of the rock fracture network. Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) employ techniques such as hydro-shearing and hydro-fracturing for that purpose, but their use promotes anthropogenic earthquakes induced by the injection or extraction of fluids. This work addresses this problem through developing a computational 3D model to explore fault reactivation and evaluating the potential for earthquake triggering at preexisting geological faults. These are included in the model as frictional contacts that allow the relative displacement between both of its sides, governed by rate-and-state friction laws and fully coupled with thermo-hydro-mechanical equations. We apply our methodology to the Basel project, employing the on-site parameters and conditions. Our results demonstrate that earthquakes which occurred in December 2006 in Basel (Switzerland) are compatible with the geomechanical and frictional consequences of the hydraulic stimulation of the rock mass. The application of our model also shows that it can be useful for predicting fault reactivation and engineering injection protocols for managing the safe and sustainable operation of EGS.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuedu chen

<p>Numerous intersected rock fractures constitute the fracture network in enhanced geothermal systems. The complicated convective heat transfer behavior in intersected fractures is critical to the heat recovery in fractured geothermal reservoirs. A series of three-dimensional intersected fracture models are constructed to perform the flow-through heat transfer simulations. The geometries effects of dead-end fractures on the heat transfer are evaluated in terms of intersected angles, apertures, lengths, and the connectivity. The results indicate that annular streamlines appear in the rough dead-end fracture and cause an ellipsoidal distribution of the cold front. Compared to the steady flow in plate dead-end fractures, the fluid flow formed in the rough dead-end fracture enhances the heat transfer. Both the outlet water temperature T<sub>out</sub> and heat production Q present the largest when the intersected angle is 90°. A larger intersected angle and longer length extension of the intersected dead-end fracture, raising T<sub>out</sub> and Q, are beneficial to the heat production, while increasing the aperture is ineffective. Solely increasing numbers of dead-end fractures poses a little increase on T<sub>out</sub> and Q. More significant heat extraction is obtained through connecting these dead-end fractures with the main flow fracture forming the flow network.</p>


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