Modeling heat extraction from hot dry rock in a multi-well system

Abstract

A mathematical model is developed for describing the heat energy extracted from a hot dry rock in a multi-well system. The solutions for the water temperature, accounting for a geothermal gradient in a geothermal reservoir, are given in the Laplace domain and computed by numerical inversion, the modified Crump method. The results show that the heat extraction effectiveness is affected significantly by the well spacing, well radius, reservoir thickness, and pumped flow rate in a multi-well system. The water temperature decreases with increasing pumping rate and increases with the well spacing, well radius, and reservoir thickness. The geothermal gradient affects only the early time heat extraction effectiveness significantly and has direct impact on the water temperature all the time if the vertical thickness of geothermal reservoir is large. The present solution is useful for designing and simulating the heat extraction project of geothermal energy exploitation in a multi-well system. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.