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Thermal, mechanical and chemical influences on the performance of optical fibres for distributed temperature sensing in a hot geothermal well

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Abstract

Structural well-bore integrity is an important issue for sustainable provision of geothermal energy. Raman scattering based fibre optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) can help to monitor the status of a well and therefore help to optimize expensive work-over activities. This study reports on the installation of a fibre-optic cable in the cemented annulus behind the anchor casing in the high temperature geothermal well HE-53, Hellisheiði geothermal field, SW Iceland. Although the cable has been damaged during the installation, temperature data could be acquired during the entire length of installation down to 261.3 m. Temperature measurements were performed during the installation in spring 2009, during the onset of a flow test in summer 2009 and after a 8.5 month shut-in period in summer 2010. During the flow test, maximum temperatures of 230 °C were measured after 2 weeks fluid production. Using optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR), attenuation measurements at 850 and 1,300 nm enabled to identify mechanical, thermal, and chemical degradation along the optical fibre. The observed degradation led to erroneous temperature readings and limits, due to the optical budget of the DTS system, the accessible length of the fibre. The characteristics and the influence of the different degradation mechanisms on the accuracy of the DTS measurements are discussed and recommendations for an optimized installation are given.

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Notes

  1. For the second logging campaign, the beginning of the DTS logging is used as reference time; h DTS

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Acknowledgments

This work was performed within the framework of the HITI project (http://www.hiti-fp6.eu/), funded by the European Commission in the 6th Framework Programme, Proposal/Contract no.: 019913 and the GeoEn (Phase 2) project and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, 03G0767A). The authors would like to thank J. Schrötter, C. Cunow and M. Poser for their help during planning, installation and data acquisition as well as nkt cables GmbH for the cooperation in developing of a new cable design and providing a cable. Furthermore, the authors are grateful to Sigvaldi Thordarson and the staff from ISOR (Iceland GeoSurvey) for the coordination of the field work and the support during the measurement campaigns, Reykjavik Energy for providing a well for installation as well as Mannvit and Iceland Drilling for the support during installation and measurements.

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  1. Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473, Potsdam, Germany

    Thomas Reinsch & Jan Henninges

  2. Heat Research and Development, Varmalausnir, Akureyri, Iceland

    Ragnar Ásmundsson

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  1. Thomas Reinsch
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Correspondence to Thomas Reinsch.

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Reinsch, T., Henninges, J. & Ásmundsson, R. Thermal, mechanical and chemical influences on the performance of optical fibres for distributed temperature sensing in a hot geothermal well. Environ Earth Sci 70, 3465–3480 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2248-8

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