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Thermal Drawdown-Induced Flow Channeling in Fractured Geothermal Reservoirs

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Abstract

We investigate the flow-channeling phenomenon caused by thermal drawdown in fractured geothermal reservoirs. A discrete fracture network-based, fully coupled thermal–hydrological–mechanical simulator is used to study the interactions between fluid flow, temperature change, and the associated rock deformation. The responses of a number of randomly generated 2D fracture networks that represent a variety of reservoir characteristics are simulated with various injection-production well distances. We find that flow channeling, namely flow concentration in cooled zones, is the inevitable fate of all the scenarios evaluated. We also identify a secondary geomechanical mechanism caused by the anisotropy in thermal stress that counteracts the primary mechanism of flow channeling. This new mechanism tends, to some extent, to result in a more diffuse flow distribution, although it is generally not strong enough to completely reverse flow channeling. We find that fracture intensity substantially affects the overall hydraulic impedance of the reservoir but increasing fracture intensity generally does not improve heat production performance. Increasing the injection-production well separation appears to be an effective means to prolong the production life of a reservoir.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Geothermal Technologies Office of the US Department of Energy for support of this work. Additional support was provided by the LLNL LDRD project “Creating Optimal Fracture Networks” (#11-SI-006). An anonymous editor of the journal provided valuable advice that substantially improved the quality of this paper, for which the authors are especially grateful. This work was performed under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. This paper is LLNL report LLNL-JRNL-644453.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmospheric, Earth, and Energy Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 94550, USA

    Pengcheng Fu, Yue Hao, Stuart D. C. Walsh & Charles R. Carrigan

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  1. Pengcheng Fu
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  2. Yue Hao
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  3. Stuart D. C. Walsh
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  4. Charles R. Carrigan
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Correspondence to Pengcheng Fu.

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Fu, P., Hao, Y., Walsh, S.D.C. et al. Thermal Drawdown-Induced Flow Channeling in Fractured Geothermal Reservoirs. Rock Mech Rock Eng 49, 1001–1024 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-015-0776-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-015-0776-0

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