Characterization of flow and transport in a fracture network at the EGS Collab field experiment through stochastic modeling of tracer recovery

JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY

卷:593

Article

Wu, Hui¹  Fu, Pengcheng¹  Morris, Joseph P.¹  Mattson, Earl D.^2,3  Neupane, Ghanashyam²  Smith, Megan M.¹  Hawkins, Adam J.^4,5  Zhang, Yuran⁴  Kneafsey, Timothy⁶ 

[1] Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab, Atmospher Earth & Energy Div, Livermore, CA 94550 USA

[2] Idaho Natl Lab, Energy Recovery & Sustainabil Dept, Idaho Falls, ID USA

[3] Mattson Hydrol LLC, Victor, ID USA

[4] Stanford Univ, Dept Energy Resources Engn, Stanford, CA 94305 USA

[5] Stanford Univ, TomKat Ctr Sustainable Energy, Stanford, CA 94305 USA

[6] Lawrence Berkeley Natl Lab, Div Earth & Environm Sci, Berkeley, CA USA

关键词: Fractured reservoirs;    Characterization;    Enhanced geothermal system;    Tracer testing;    Stochastic modeling;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.125888

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Energy extraction from subsurface reservoirs is important for addressing the increasing energy demand and environmental concerns such as global warming. However, the characterization of subsurface reservoirs, particularly reservoirs dominated by fracture networks remains a challenge due to the lack of means to directly observe subsurface processes. This study explores the feasibility and efficacy of characterizing fracture flow and transport processes in an enhanced geothermal system (EGS) testbed through stochastic tracer modeling. There are two enabling factors that allow application of stochastic modeling to characterize a subsurface reservoir. First, an abundance of geological and geophysical measurements enables the development of a high-fidelity and well-constrained fracture network model. Second, high-performance computing (HPC) allows running massive realizations efficiently. Six conservative tracer tests were stochastically modeled and produced satisfactory realizations that successfully reproduce field tracer recovery data from each tracer test. The evolution of flow and transport processes in the fracture network was then analyzed from these satisfactory realizations. The present study demonstrates that stochastic tracer modeling on a high-fidelity fracture network model is feasible and can provide important insights regarding flow and transport characteristics in subsurface fractured reservoirs.

【 授权许可】

Free