Skip to main navigation Skip to search Skip to main content

Integral equation solution of heat extraction-induced thermal stress in enhanced geothermal reservoirs

  • A. Ghassemi
  • , S. Tarasovs
  • , A. H.D. Cheng*
  • *Corresponding author for this work
  • University of North Dakota
  • University of Mississippi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

78 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

During fluid injection in enhanced geothermal systems, thermo-mechanical processes can play an important role. In fact, the phenomena of reservoir seismicity and the variation of injectivity with respect to injection water temperature can be attributed to the induced thermal stresses. In this paper, a three-dimensional integral equation formulation is presented for calculating thermally induced stresses associated with the cooling of a fracture in geothermal reservoir. By utilizing Green's function in the integral equation, the three-dimensional heat flow and stresses in the reservoir are modelled without discretizing the reservoir. The formulation is implemented in a computer program for the solution of injection into an infinite fracture as well as for the injection/extraction in an arbitrarily shaped fracture.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)829-844
Number of pages16
JournalInternational Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics
Volume29
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jul 2005
Externally publishedYes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
    SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Keywords

  • Enhanced geothermal system
  • Geothermal reservoir
  • Green's function
  • Hot dry rock
  • Integral equation method
  • Thermal stress

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Integral equation solution of heat extraction-induced thermal stress in enhanced geothermal reservoirs'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this