A 3D thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling model for enhanced geothermal systems

Abstract

Abstract Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) is currently the most efficient method to mine heat from hot dry rock (HDR) reservoirs. The coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) effect therein is of critical importance to predict the long-term performance of EGS. A novel 3D THM coupling model integrating displacement discontinuity method (DDM), finite volume method (FVM) and finite element method (FEM) is developed in this study to aid such prediction. The present model is first validated against analytical solutions, and then applied to a penny shape EGS to simulate a 30-year prolonged injection. The simulation results reveal that EGS maintains high productivity during the early injection stage but once thermal drawdown takes place, the EGS productivity degrades rapidly. The fracture aperture model employed in the present study is capable of simulating hydraulic fractures in which the fluid pressure is large enough to overcome the normal stress exerted to the fracture faces and thus jack the fracture open. In contrast, most early studies adopted a compressive aperture model, where a substantial part of the normal stress is borne by fracture gouge/roughness. The strength of DDM\xa0+\xa0FVM\xa0+\xa0FEM scheme lies in the efficiency and versatility of simulating fractures. Our study indicates that the DDM\xa0+\xa0FVM\xa0+\xa0FEM scheme has high potential to serve as a competent alternative to performing the THM coupling simulation in EGS.