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Evaluation of heat extraction effect of a geothermal reservoir with parallel fractures

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Abstract

Understanding the effects of fracture-related characteristic parameters on heat extraction performance is important to the development of geothermal reservoirs. A numerical model with parallel fractures was established to study the effects of fracture aperture, fracture dip angle, fracture interval, and fracture number on the heat extraction performance. The results showed that the heat of rock near the water inlet and the fractures are preferentially extracted. The evolution of outlet water temperature can be divided into stable and descending stages. It is also found that the fracture aperture is not the bigger the better, which needs to be set properly. Increasing fracture dip angle can slightly enhance heat extraction performance. Furthermore, the heat production effect is the best when the fracture interval is set as 1/n reservoir thickness. Increasing the fracture number can improve the heat extraction performance, but excessive fractures can be counterproductive and worsen the heat extraction performance of a single fracture. These results have guiding significance for the fracturing operation in the geothermal reservoir, such as fracture aperture design and multi-stage fracturing spacing setting.

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Funding

This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52174004 and 51804318), and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Founded Project (no. 2019M650963).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Key Laboratory of Waterjet Theory and New Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Feng Liu, Yi Hu, Yong Kang, Xiaochuan Wang, Hao Chen & Haizeng Pan

  2. School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Feng Liu, Yong Kang, Xiaochuan Wang, Hao Chen & Haizeng Pan

  3. Institute of Technological Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Yi Hu

Authors
  1. Feng Liu
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  2. Yi Hu
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  3. Yong Kang
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  4. Xiaochuan Wang
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  5. Hao Chen
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  6. Haizeng Pan
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Correspondence to Yi Hu.

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Responsible Editor: Santanu Banerjee

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Liu, F., Hu, Y., Kang, Y. et al. Evaluation of heat extraction effect of a geothermal reservoir with parallel fractures. Arab J Geosci 15, 1222 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-10491-x

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