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DOE OSTI · 3395442

Role of Fluid and Temperature in Fracture Mechanics and Coupled THMC Processes for Enhanced Geothermal Systems

Pyrak-Nolte, Laura [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)]·Bobet, Antonio [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)]·Yoon, Hongkyu [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:000000016719280X)·Choens, Robert Charles [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000254978624)·Elbanna, Ahmed [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)]·Rudnicki, John [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)]·Lee, Jonghyun [Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)]
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Abstract

The ability to sustain high energy extraction efficiency from Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) is affected by the ability to measure, characterize, and predict the effect of different perturbations that arise from fluid injection rates, fluid temperature, and shut-in conditions on existing and stimulated fracture systems throughout a subsurface reservoir’s lifecycle. The difficulty arises from limited knowledge of the interaction of fluid and temperature driven fractures with frictional interfaces that govern local deformation and frictional behavior in the surrounding rock. Thermo-poro-mechanical coupled processes tend to dominate this interaction and strongly affect the permeability and local stress distributions that impact efficiency and prevent optimal stimulation conditions over multi-decadal time frames.

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BibTeXRIS

Pyrak-Nolte, Laura [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)], Bobet, Antonio [Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States)], Yoon, Hongkyu [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:000000016719280X), Choens, Robert Charles [Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)] (ORCID:0000000254978624), Elbanna, Ahmed [Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)], Rudnicki, John [Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)], Lee, Jonghyun [Univ. of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI (United States)]. 2026-04-01. Role of Fluid and Temperature in Fracture Mechanics and Coupled THMC Processes for Enhanced Geothermal Systems. https://doi.org/10.2172/3395442

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