Integration of 3D Geological Modeling and Geothermal Field Analysis for the Evaluation of Geothermal Reserves in the Northwest of Beijing Plain, China

Abstract

With the increasing demand for energy and the growing concern for atmospheric pollution in Beijing, China, the exploitation and utilization of geothermal resources are becoming more desirable. The study combined three-dimensional geological modeling with geothermal field analysis to make clear the potential and distribution of geothermal resources in the northwest of the Beijing plain, which could provide a scientific basis for rational utilization in the study area. Based on the analysis of the geological data and geothermal conditions, we created a 3D geological model of the study area, and then added isothermal surfaces into the model and analyzed the heat flow to enhance the understanding of the present geothermal field. After that, the volumes of different temperature intervals of heat reservoirs were calculated accurately and automatically by the integration of the model and the isothermal surfaces. Finally, the geothermal reserves were calculated by the improved volumetric method, and the distribution of resources was analyzed comprehensively. The results showed that, in the study area, the heat flow values ranged from 49 to 99 mW m−2, and the average elevations of 25 °C, 40 °C, and 60 °C isothermal surfaces were at −415 m, −1282 m, and −2613 m, respectively. The geothermal reserves were 5.42 × 1019 J and the volume of the heat reservoir was 4.88 × 1011 m3. The geothermal resources of the study area had good potential and could support local green development.

Assessing the Geothermal Resource Potential of an Active Oil Field by Integrating a 3D Geological Model With the Hydro-Thermal Coupled Simulation

“…Calcagno et al (2014) presented an integrated 3D method to estimate the geothermal potential, by taking into account the coherent and well-constraint interpretation of the geological structure. Zhu et al (2020) created a 3D geological model and then interpolated isothermal surfaces into the model. Finally, the geothermal resource potential can be calculated by the integration of the geological model and the isothermal surfaces.…”

Generating 3D Geothermal Maps in Catalonia, Spain Using a Hybrid Adaptive Multitask Deep Learning Procedure

“…This is the reason why the geoengineering characteristics depend on the scale of the project are often approximated with different techniques and computer modelling approaches [14][15][16][17]. Producing 3D conceptual shallow geothermal potentials [18,19], utilizing GIS [20][21][22], spatial data analysis [23][24][25], applying numerical technique [26][27][28][29], integrated of different geophysical prospecting techniques such as magnetotelluric [30][31][32][33][34], gravity [33,35], seismic [31,33], and electrical resistivity [31,36,37], as well as evident geological characteristics [38,39] are some of the carried efforts in Spain, Chile, Pakistan, Iran, India, Nigeria, Indonesia, Denmark, China, Thailand, Italy, Taiwan, Finland and Japan. However, simulating the geothermal resources using numerical techniques due to complexity of the model preparation (natural state properties of the rocks and geothermal system), description of the realistic problem and evaluation of the results as well as inability in providing any insight into generalizations is a very time-consuming task that demands extensive experience.…”

“…However, following the European initiatives, based on the 2011-2020 renewable energy plan, Spain is also working on promising geothermal areas for both power production and direct applications [75]. Due to the lack of worldwide characterized information of subsurface geothermal hotspots [8], developing the modelling techniques for evaluation, and utilizing these resources critically should be considered as one of the most prolific tasks for contributing to the global sustainability [18,[76][77][78]. Moreover, the information of subsurface soils often is acquired from the vertical sparse exploratory boreholes in which laterally spatial distribution of predicted parameter is a difficult task [46,47,49].…”

3DHIP-Calculator—A New Tool to Stochastically Assess Deep Geothermal Potential Using the Heat-In-Place Method from Voxel-Based 3D Geological Models

“…For this reason, approaches based on GIS (Geographic Information System) coupled with 3D subsurface models are promising, because they explicitly allow the application of the volumetric method using 3D voxel models as inputs. Several authors have used 3D geological models to calculate the volume of a reservoir to subsequently apply the HIP volumetric method in a deterministic way by assigning values to parameters of each unit to estimate, quantify, and map a first estimation of the geothermal reserve [28,29].…”