Heat Extraction in Geothermal Systems with Variable Thermo-Poroelastic Fracture Apertures

Abstract

The fracture network largely determines the efficiency of heat extraction from fractured geothermal reservoirs. Fracture openings are influenced by thermo-poroelastic stresses during cold fluid flow, with the interplay between fracture length and fracture opening regulating heat transfer. The lack of field data concerning fluctuating fracture openings underscores the necessity for computational models. This work emphasizes the impact of such gaps in the literature. Factors such as temperature, pressure, stress, thermal breakthrough time, and cumulative energy are evaluated to analyze the system’s behavior. A sensitivity analysis is employed to ascertain the significance of stress on fracture opening, compared with thermo-hydraulic behavior. The results show that stress field alterations, due to intersections with minor fractures, can cause up to a 15% variation in the largest fracture’s opening. The impact of thermoelastic stress outweighs the impact of poroelastic stress approximately threefold. Such stress-induced variations in fracture openings can lead to an up to 30% increase in cumulative heat extraction, while the drop in production temperature is limited to around 50%.

Quantifying Fracture Dynamics in Clean Energy: A Novel Fractal Perspective

“…Factors such as the geological-hydrological conditions of the geothermal reservoir, the depth of geothermal extraction, and parameters of the injection and production wells significantly influence the efficiency of heat extraction. Additionally, the multiphysical field coupling effects in geothermal reservoirs, such as reservoir stress and deformation, porosity, stratum depth, temperature, and the fracturing behavior of geothermal strata [4][5][6], also significantly impact the efficiency of geothermal extraction.…”