Thermo-Poroelastic Analysis of Induced Seismicity at the Basel Enhanced Geothermal System

Sandro Andrés, David Santillán, Juan Carlos Mosquera and Luis Cueto-Felgueroso
Additional contact information
Sandro Andrés: Department of Civil Engineering: Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
David Santillán: Department of Civil Engineering: Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Juan Carlos Mosquera: Department of Continuum Mechanics and Theory of Structures, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
Luis Cueto-Felgueroso: Department of Civil Engineering: Hydraulics, Energy and Environment, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 24, 1-18

Abstract: Geothermal energy has emerged as an alternative to ensure a green energy supply while tackling climate change. Geothermal systems extract the heat stored in the Earth’s crust by warming up water, but the low rock permeability at exploitation depths may require the hydraulic stimulation of the rock fracture network. Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) employ techniques such as hydro-shearing and hydro-fracturing for that purpose, but their use promotes anthropogenic earthquakes induced by the injection or extraction of fluids. This work addresses this problem through developing a computational 3D model to explore fault reactivation and evaluating the potential for earthquake triggering at preexisting geological faults. These are included in the model as frictional contacts that allow the relative displacement between both of its sides, governed by rate-and-state friction laws and fully coupled with thermo-hydro-mechanical equations. We apply our methodology to the Basel project, employing the on-site parameters and conditions. Our results demonstrate that earthquakes which occurred in December 2006 in Basel (Switzerland) are compatible with the geomechanical and frictional consequences of the hydraulic stimulation of the rock mass. The application of our model also shows that it can be useful for predicting fault reactivation and engineering injection protocols for managing the safe and sustainable operation of EGS.

Keywords: geothermal energy; induced seismicity; fault; Basel; poroelasticity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/6904/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/24/6904/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:24:p:6904-:d:294184

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().