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Numerical modeling of thermal front propagation caused by fluid injection in a fractured reservoir for forecasting thermal-induced seismicity

Goldberg, Valentin ORCID iD icon; Held, Sebastian; Egert, Robert ORCID iD icon; Kohl, Thomas

Abstract (englisch):

In this work, the propagation of a thermal-hydraulic front caused by cold fluid injection is investigated, using a finite element (FE) model. The objective is to simulate the propagation of temperature changes in the subsurface and to quantify the resulting thermally induced stresses. The model is based on the setup of a geothermal powerplant in the greater Munich area. In the vicinity of the injection well of this powerplant seismic events occurred five years after commissioning. The powerplant uses the Malm aquifer as geothermal reservoir and reinjects cold fluid in the vicinity of a fault zone. In order to approach to the complex reservoirs’ hydrogeology and the fault zone characteristics, a mesh generator was created using MATLAB. The generator creates a model based on regular cube-shaped elements, which can be separately parameterized and thus grouped to geological units. Furthermore, the cube's surfaces can be integrated as discrete, two-dimensional elements, which can also be separately parameterized. Thus, a 3D model containing a 3D fault zone was created with a reservoir containing a regularly distributed 2D fracture network and wells as 1D line element. ... mehr


Zugehörige Institution(en) am KIT Institut für Angewandte Geowissenschaften (AGW)
KIT-Zentrum Klima und Umwelt (ZKU)
Publikationstyp Poster
Publikationsmonat/-jahr 10.2019
Sprache Englisch
Identifikator KITopen-ID: 1000105733
HGF-Programm 35.14.01 (POF III, LK 01) Effiziente Nutzung geothermisch. Energie
Veranstaltung 7th European Geothermal Workshop (EGW 2019), Karlsruhe, Deutschland, 09.10.2019 – 10.10.2019
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