Numerical investigation of heat transfer performance of water flowing through a reservoir with two intersecting fractures

Yueqiang Ma, Yanjun Zhang, Zhongjun Hu, Ziwang Yu, Ling Zhou and Yibin Huang

Renewable Energy, 2020, vol. 153, issue C, 93-107

Abstract: Understanding the water flow and heat transfer process in rock fractures is crucial for the development and utilization of geothermal reservoirs. This study develops a numerical model of a granite reservoir with two intersecting fractures to evaluate the heat production performance. Then, the evolution of the distribution of the rock and fluid temperatures is investigated. In addition, the effect of the injection temperature, heat transfer coefficient and injection flow velocity on the heat transfer characteristics are analyzed. Additionally, in order to study heat transfer performance with different fracture distributions, four cases of intersecting fractures with different angles are designed. The results indicate that, at different locations along the direction of seepage, the water temperature changes with time follow different rules. The results also show that, when the distribution of fractures is more uniform in the reservoir, the heat extraction rate of flowing water from the surrounding reservoir is faster. These results provided theoretical basis for geothermal system location selection, optimal selection of the reservoir stimulation scheme and reservoir thermal output prediction.

Keywords: Enhanced geothermal system; Heat transfer; Intersecting fractures; Parameters analysis; Fracture distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120301634
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:153:y:2020:i:c:p:93-107

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.01.141

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().