Nonlinear Effects in Water‐Vapor Extraction from a Geothermal Reservoir

Abstract

The flow of a water–vapor mixture with phase transitions in a geothermal reservoir is considered. The equations were solved using a similarity approach. Linearized equations were considered analytically, and the full nonlinear equations were investigated numerically. It was found that for flows with large gradients of temperature and pressure, the water‐saturation function can change nonmonotonically and have a minimum value at some distance from the extraction point. It was shown that if the liquid phase contains dissolved salt then the vaporization process can lead to precipitation of the latter in this low‐saturation zone. In the plane of the main parameters, the critical diagram, which distinguishes different regimes of salt precipitation, is constructed.