Overview
Contact: Veerle Cnudde and Tom Bultreys
- Geothermal energy involves extracting heat from the deep subsurface for heating or electricity.
- Deep, less permeable reservoirs are targeted, relying on water circulation in fractures and faults.
Fluid transport in fractures
- A complex interplay between the geometrical and chemical heterogeneity of the fracture wall rock, and the coupling of fluid flow and effective stress.
- Fracture properties, such as surface roughness and aperture (void space) distribution, impact the flow of one or more fluids.
FIGURE: Fracture aperture distribution in a 3D-printed fracture under confinement.
See also: https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028671
Impact of re-injection of geothermal fluids on fluid flow properties and mechanical stability
- Quantify the long-term changes in fluid flow regime and mechanical stability due to the injection of under- and supersaturated fluids into fractured and faulted analogues of dense limestone reservoirs.
- Experiments are performed under in-situ reservoir conditions, using a state-of-the-art miniature triaxial device, which can be visualized using X-ray tomography.