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Doe, Thomas

Publications and source records attributed to Doe, Thomas.

9 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

The EGS Collab Project – Summaries of Experiments 2 and 3: Experiments at 1.25 km depth at the Sanford Underground Research Facility

The EGS Collab project performed well-monitored rock stimulation and flow tests at the 10-m scale in an underground research laboratory to inform challenges in implementing enhanced geothermal system (EGS) technology. This project, supported by the US Department of Energy, gathered data and observations from the field tests and compared these to simulation results to understand processes and to build confidence in numerical modeling of the processes.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Using in-situ strain measurements to evaluate the accuracy of stress estimation procedures from fracture injection/shut-in tests

Fracture injection/shut-in tests are commonly used to measure the state of stress. Injection creates a hydraulic fracture (or in some cases, opens a preexisting fracture), and then the pressure after shut-in is monitored to identify fracture closure. Different interpretation procedures have been proposed for estimating closure, and the procedures sometimes yield significantly different results. In this study, direct, in-situ strain measurements are used to observe fracture reopening and closure. The tests were performed as part of the EGS Collab project, a mesoscale project performed at 1.25 and 1.5 km depth at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. The tests were instrumented with the SIMFIP tool, a double-packer probe with a high-resolution three-dimensional borehole displacement sensor. The measurements provide a direct observation of the fracture closure signature, enabling a high-fidelity estimate of the fracture closure stress (ie, the normal stress on the fracture). In two of the four tests, injection created an opening mode fracture, and so the closure stress can be interpreted as the minimum principal stress. In the other two tests, injection probably opened preexisting natural fractures, and so the closure stress can be interpreted as the normal stress on the fractures. The strain measurements are compared against different proposed methods for estimating closure stress from pressure transients. The shut-in transients are analyzed with two techniques that are widely used in the field of petroleum engineering – the ‘tangent’ method and the ‘compliance’ method. In three of the four tests, the tangent method significantly underestimates the closure stress. The compliance method is reasonably accurate in all four tests. Closure stress is also interpreted using two other commonly-used methods – ‘first deviation from linearity’ and the method of Hayashi and Haimson. In comparison with the SIMFIP data, these methods tend to overestimate the closure stress, evidently because they identify closure from early-time transient effects, such as near-wellbore tortuosity. In two of the tests, microseismic imaging provides an independent estimate of the size of the fracture created by injection. When combined with a simple mass balance calculation, the SIMFIP stress measurements yield predictions of fracture size that are reasonably consistent with the estimates from microseismic. In conclusion, the calculations imply an apparent fracture toughness 2-3x higher than typical laboratory-derived values.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2022

The EGS Collab Project – Stimulations at Two Depths

The EGS Collab project, supported by the US Department of Energy, is performing intensively monitored rock stimulation and flow tests at the 10-m scale in an underground research laboratory to address challenges in implementing enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). Data and observations from the field tests are compared to simulations to understand processes and build confidence in numerical modeling of the processes. We have completed Experiment 1 (of 3), which examined hydraulic fracturing in a well-characterized underground fractured phyllite test bed at a depth of approximately 1.5 km at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota. Testbed characterization included fracture mapping, borehole acoustic and optical televiewers, full waveform sonic, conductivity, resistivity, temperature, campaign p- and s-wave investigations and electrical resistance tomography. Borehole geophysical techniques including passive seismic, continuous active source seismic monitoring, electrical resistance tomography, fiber-based distributed strain, distributed temperature, and distributed acoustic monitoring, were used to carefully monitor stimulation events and flow tests. More than a dozen stimulations and nearly one year of flow tests were performed. Quality data and detailed observations were collected and analyzed during stimulation and water flow tests using ambient temperature and chilled water. We achieved adaptive control of the tests using real-time monitoring and rapid dissemination of data and near-real-time simulation. More detailed numerical simulation was performed to answer key experimental design questions, forecast fracture propagation trajectories and extents, and analyze and evaluate results. Data are freely available from the Geothermal Data Repository. Experiment 2 examines the potential for hydraulic shearing in amphibolite at a depth of about 1.25 km at SURF. This site has a different set of stress and fracture conditions than Experiment 1. The Experiment 2 testbed consists of nine subhorizontal boreholes configured in two fans of two boreholes which surround the testbed and contain grouted-in electrical resistance tomography, seismic sensors, active seismic sources and distributed fiber sensors. A “five-spot” set of test wells that extends from a custom mined alcove includes an injection well and four production/monitoring wells. The testbed was characterized geophysically and hydrologically, and three stimulations have been performed using the Step-Rate Injection Method for Fracture In-Situ Properties (SIMFIP) tool to measure strains, and a new strain quantifying tool (downhole robotic strain analysis tool -DORSA) was deployed in a monitoring hole during stimulation. Real-time data were broadcast during stimulations to allow real-time response to arising issues.

EGS Collab, Enhanced Geothermal Systems, EGS, fiel↗
DOE OSTI2021

Performance Evaluation of Engineered Geothermal Systems Using Discrete Fracture Network Simulations

Electrical power production from geothermal energy has a solid record of success for permeable reservoirs such as The Geysers in northern California and geothermal systems in Iceland and New Zealand, among other places. Such permeable reservoirs, however, represent only a small fraction of the available heat energy in the earth’s shallow crust. Most of the available energy resides in rocks with insufficient permeability and storage to produce commercial volumes of heated fluids.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

The EGS Collab Project: Learnings from Experiment 1

The primary objective of the EGS Collab Project sponsored by DOE is to increase the understanding needed to efficiently implement enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). One goal of the EGS Collab project is to create a collaborative research environment in which to study stimulation of crystalline rock at the 10 meter scale. Key to this effort is the collection of high quality data to allow comparison to numerical coupled process models in an effort to build confidence in the codes and modeling techniques used. In response to this, the EGS Collab team has created an underground test bed at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead SD at a depth of approximately 1.5 km to examine hydraulic fracturing (Experiment 1). We are currently designing a second test bed aimed at investigating shear stimulation (Experiment 2). At the Experiment 1 location, we have characterized our host rock using laboratory testing and numerous field-based geophysical and geological techniques, and created a well-instrumented test bed to allow us to carefully monitor stimulation events and flow tests. In addition to the installed geophysical sensors, we have used tracer tests, differences in the ambient microbial communities at flow collection locations, and cold water injection to inform us about dynamic flow pathways. In Experiment 1, we have hydraulically stimulated the host rock in a number times at several locations in one well, creating new fractures that connect to existing fractures between the injection and production boreholes. We have performed long-term ambient and chilled water injection tests as an analog to EGS, and have monitored system changes resulting from these water injections through geophysical monitoring, flow and pressure measurements, tracer tests, and microbiology. Here, we summarize the tests performed, issues identified including poroelastic and thermoelastic effects, Joule-Thomson effects, restarting effects, indications of flow channeling, and the primary learnings from Experiment 1.

Enhanced Geothermal Systems, EGS Collab, stimulati↗