Sustainable energy production from geo-reservoirs requires proper understanding of the circulation of the fluid, which constitutes the energy carrier. In geothermal reservoirs and underground thermal energy storages (UTES), the fluid circulates within the matrix (e.g. hydrothermal systems, aquifer thermal energy storage – ATES) and/or within faults and fracture networks (e.g. enhanced geothermal systems – EGS). The fluid circulation, which is induced by the exploitation, can lead to changes of the reservoir properties over time and space and thus offer ways to monitor it.
To predict the long-term behaviour of geo-reservoirs, thermo-hydro-mechanical modelling is performed and seeks to quantify the changes in space and time of parameters of most interest such as temperature, pressure, stress and deformation. In parallel, reservoir monitoring is required to validate the developed model, eventually calibrate it and refine it, and possibly mitigate unexpected behaviour. The relationship between the observations and the modelled changes is, however, often ubiquitous, which challenges the interpretation of the observations in regard of the physical processes in play within the reservoir and more specifically the fluid circulation.
This session focuses on the fluid circulation in geothermal reservoirs and underground thermal energy storages. It aims at discussing various aspects related to the numerical modelling of fluid circulation in matrix or fractured driven geo-reservoirs AND the geophysical monitoring approaches to implement in order to assess the prognoses. Hence, contributions covering the following aspects are more than welcome:
- Numerical modelling of the changes of the reservoir properties and how these changes can be detected, observed and quantified by geophysical monitoring.
- How does the fluid circulation affect the rock properties and which parameters are the most affected? Which rock physics model should be applied under which condition?
- Field scale experiments (km-scale) and large laboratory experiments (m-scale) investigating and demonstrating the link between fluid circulation and geophysical observations.
- How to determine the effective extent of an underground storage and detect possible leakage from geophysical monitoring?
- Which non-invasive geophysical techniques can track deep fluid circulation and determine the fluid path in the underground?