Geophysical Methods for Monitoring Temperature Changes in Shallow Low Enthalpy Geothermal Systems

Thomas Hermans, Frédéric Nguyen, Tanguy Robert and Andre Revil
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Thomas Hermans: Applied Geophysics, University of Liege, Chemin des Chevreuils 1, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Frédéric Nguyen: Applied Geophysics, University of Liege, Chemin des Chevreuils 1, 4000 Liege, Belgium
Tanguy Robert: Department, AQUALE SPRL, Rue Montellier 22, 5380 Noville-les-Bois, Belgium
Andre Revil: Department of Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA

Energies, 2014, vol. 7, issue 8, 1-36

Abstract: Low enthalpy geothermal systems exploited with ground source heat pumps or groundwater heat pumps present many advantages within the context of sustainable energy use. Designing, monitoring and controlling such systems requires the measurement of spatially distributed temperature fields and the knowledge of the parameters governing groundwater flow (permeability and specific storage) and heat transport (thermal conductivity and volumetric thermal capacity). Such data are often scarce or not available. In recent years, the ability of electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), self-potential method (SP) and distributed temperature sensing (DTS) to monitor spatially and temporally temperature changes in the subsurface has been investigated. We review the recent advances in using these three methods for this type of shallow applications. A special focus is made regarding the petrophysical relationships and on underlying assumptions generally needed for a quantitative interpretation of these geophysical data. We show that those geophysical methods are mature to be used within the context of temperature monitoring and that a combination of them may be the best choice regarding control and validation issues.

Keywords: electrical resistivity tomography; self-potential method; distributed temperature sensing; temperature monitoring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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