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Frone, Zachary

Publications and source records attributed to Frone, Zachary.

An Update on the Geothermal Data Repository's Data Standards and Pipelines: Geospatial Data and Distributed Acoustic Sensing Data

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) team has implemented data standards and automated data pipelines for the following data types: 1) drilling data, 2) geospatial datasets, and 3) DAS data. An additional data pipeline is proposed for stimulation data. These data standards and pipelines are intended to improve the real-world applicability of geothermal machine learning outputs through improving the quality of data. More specifically, through standardizing high-value datasets, the GDR is reducing project-specific data curation requirements, allowing more time to be spent on actual research. By automating this process, the burden of standardization is taken off of the user, overall increasing the availability of standardized data. This paper provides an update on the GDR's transition toward data standardization through automated data pipelines and calls for feedback from the community on how we can improve this process.

cloud-optimized↗

An Update on the Geothermal Data Repository's Data Standards and Pipelines: Geospatial Data and Distributed Acoustic Sensing Data: Preprint

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) team has implemented data standards and automated data pipelines for the following data types: 1) drilling data, 2) geospatial datasets, and 3) DAS data. An additional data pipeline is proposed for stimulation data. These data standards and pipelines are intended to improve the real-world applicability of geothermal machine learning outputs through improving the quality of data. More specifically, through standardizing high-value datasets, the GDR is reducing project-specific data curation requirements, allowing more time to be spent on actual research. By automating this process, the burden of standardization is taken off of the user, overall increasing the availability of standardized data. This paper provides an update on the GDR's transition toward data standardization through automated data pipelines and calls for feedback from the community on how we can improve this process.

cloud-optimized↗

An Update on the Geothermal Data Repository's Data Standards and Pipelines: Geospatial Data and Distributed Acoustic Sensing Data

The Department of Energy's (DOE) Geothermal Data Repository (GDR) team has implemented or is currently implementing data standards and automated data pipelines for the following geothermal data types: 1) drilling data, 2) geospatial datasets, and 3) Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) data. These data standards and pipelines are intended to improve the real-world applicability of geothermal machine learning outputs through improving the quality of data. More specifically, through standardizing high-value datasets, the GDR is reducing project-specific data curation requirements, allowing more time to be spent on actual research. By automating this process, the burden of standardization is taken off of the user, overall increasing the availability of standardized data. This paper provides an update on the GDR's transition toward data standardization through automated data pipelines and calls for feedback from the community on how the GDR team can improve this process.

cloud-optimized↗

Modeling heat transport processes in enhanced geothermal systems: Validation study from EGS Collab Experiment 1

Heat recovery from enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is a complex process involving heat transport in both fracture networks and rock formations. A comprehensive understanding of and the ability to model the underlying heat transport mechanisms is important for the success of EGS but remains challenging in practice due to the generally insufficient characterization of EGS reservoirs. In the present study, we analyze an extensively monitored intermediate-scale EGS field experiment performed in a well-characterized testbed. The high-resolution, high-quality measurements from the field experiment enable the development of a high-fidelity model incorporating a well-constrained fracture network. Based on the field experiment, we investigate the complex heat transport processes in an EGS-relevant environment and validate the capability of a numerical approach in simulating these inherently coupled heat transport processes. A series of numerical simulations were performed to study the effects of different heat transport mechanisms, including thermal convection with fracture flow, thermal conduction in rock formations, and the Joule-Thomson effect. The agreement of thermal responses between field measurements and simulation results indicates that our numerical approach can appropriately model the heat transport processes pertaining to heat recovery from EGS reservoirs.

Wu, Hui↗

Geothermal Energy R&D: An Overview of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office

Geothermal energy can provide answers to many of America’s essential energy questions. The United States has tremendous geothermal resources, as illustrated by the results of the DOE GeoVision analysis, but technical and non-technical barriers have historically stood in the way of widespread deployment of geothermal energy. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Geothermal Technologies Office within the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has invested more than $470 million in research and development (R&D) since 2015 to meet its three strategic goals: (1) unlock the potential of enhanced geothermal systems, (2) advance technologies to increase geothermal energy on the U.S. electricity grid, and (3) support R&D to expand geothermal energy opportunities throughout the United States. Here, we describe many of those R&D initiatives and outlines future directions in geothermal research.

energy storage systems↗

Three Dimensional Thermal Model of Newberry Volcano, Oregon

Final results of a 3D finite difference thermal model of Newberry Volcano, Oregon. Model data are formatted as a text file with four data columns (X, Y, Z, T). X and Y coordinates are in UTM (NAD83 Zone 10N), Z is elevation from mean sea level (meters), T is temperature in deg C. Model is 40km X 40km X 12.5 km, grid node spacing is 100m in X, Y, and Z directions. A symmetric cylinder shaped magmatic heat source centered on the present day caldera is the modeled heat source. The center of the modeled body is a -1700 m (elevation) and is 600m thick with a radius of 8700m. This is the best fit results from 2D modeling of the west flank of the volcano. The model accounts for temperature dependent thermal properties and latent heat of crystallization. For additional details, assumptions made, data used, and a discussion of the validity of the model see Frone, 2015 (Link below).

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Temperature-At-Depth Maps For the Conterminous US and Geothermal Resource Estimates

A third generation geothermal resource assessment has recently been completed for the conterminous US based on a revised heat flow map using over 35,000 data sites. Improvements include: nearly doubling the number of data points used in the analysis, more detailed thermal conductivity models for temperature-at-depth and heat flow calculations, and addition of a significant number of calibration wells as checks on the bottom hole temperature (BHT) correction. The results increase the accuracy of temperature-at-depth models for the conterminous US. These temperature models are the key input required for evaluating the non-conventional geothermal resources on a regional to sub-regional basis. The new resource assessment was prepared according to a proposed global protocol for estimating Enhanced/ Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) resource potential. A comparison of the new assessment approach with previous studies is provided, along with a discussion of the differences associated with the revised approach.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗

Google.org US Resource Project Update

The results from a new geothermal resource assessment of the United States, including for the first time detailed data for much of the eastern US, are summarized along with the techniques used to accomplish the assessment. Bottom hole temperature (BHT) data were incorporated in the eastern US, where conventional heat flow data is sparse, using BHT corrections and calculated conductivities from a regional lithology model; comparing results to overlapping conventional heat flow and BHT data for error calibration. A total of 5,000 points are now available in the northeast as opposed to the 1,000 used to produce the 2004 Geothermal Map of North America. Where neither heat flow or BHT data were not available, geophysical data (regional gravity and magnetics) were used as an ancillary predictor to the process for areas with sedimentary cover. The effectiveness of that process is demonstrated. This study uses the new heat flow data to improve the calculated heat in place to 10 km for the US. Based the preliminary results from this wok, the Appalachian Basin may contain some of the most favorable potential targets for EGS geothermal exploration in the eastern 1/3 of the United States and especially in eastern West Virginia, where temperatures of at least 150°C are predicted at a depth of 4.5 km in localized areas.

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY↗