Development of Models to Simulate Tracer Behavior in Enhanced Geothermal Systems

Williams, Mark D. ; Vermeul, Vincent R. ; Reimus, P. W. ; Newell, D. ; Watson, Tom B.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (U.S.)

关键词: Heat Transfer;    Saturation;    Testing;    Surface Area;    Geothermal Energy;   

DOI  :  10.2172/992377
RP-ID  :  PNNL-19523
RP-ID  :  AC05-76RL01830
RP-ID  :  992377

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

A recent report found that power and heat produced from engineered (or enhanced) geothermal systems (EGSs) could have a major impact on the United States while incurring minimal environmental impacts. EGS resources differ from high-grade hydrothermal resources in that they lack sufficient temperature distributions, permeability/porosity, fluid saturation, or recharge of reservoir fluids. Therefore, quantitative characterization of temperature distributions and the surface area available for heat transfer in EGS is necessary for commercial development of geothermal energy. The goal of this project is to provide integrated tracer and tracer interpretation tools to facilitate this characterization. Modeling capabilities are being developed as part of this project to support laboratory and field testing to characterize engineered geothermal systems in single- and multi-well tests using tracers. The objective of this report is to describe the simulation plan and the status of model development for simulating tracer tests for characterizing EGS.