Impact of local thermal non-equilibrium on temporal thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in low permeable porous media

Abstract

The thermo-hydraulic-mechanical (THM) response of low permeable media is of crucial significance in thermal fracturing for production of unconventional shale oil, enhanced geothermal systems, and waste disposal. During such processes, pore pressures and stresses change in a spatiotemporal manner due to hydraulic and thermal loadings. From the viewpoint of the energy balance equation, the available theoretical studies can be classified as local thermal equilibrium (LTE), and local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) models. LTE models consider identical temperature for different phase of the porous system. LTNE models allow different temperature variations in solid and fluid phases of a porous medium. Current LTNE studies are weakly-coupled – not incorporating thermo-osmosis. This paper presents novel coupled LTNE thermo-poroelastic solutions in a transversely isotropic saturated porous medium, incorporating thermo- osmosis effect. Solutions are obtained for permeable and impermeable boundaries. Thermo-osmosis is found to have a very different effect in case of LTNE versus LTE, resulting in a fundamentally different THM response. LTNE effect analysis reveals different THM responses under different heat transfer properties at the solid-fluid interface in low permeable strata.