TY - GEN
T1 - Numerical Simulation of Stimulations at the Utah FORGE Site Using the Designed Pumping Schedules
AU - Xing, Pengju
AU - Damjanac, Branko
AU - Radakovic-Guzina, Zorica
AU - Torres, Maurilio
AU - Finnila, Aleta
AU - Podgorney, Robert
AU - Moore, Joseph
AU - McLennan, John
N1 - Funding Information:
This research made use of the resources of the High Performance Computing Center at Idaho National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Nuclear Science User Facilities under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517.
Funding Information:
Funding for this work was provided by the U.S. DOE under grant DE-EE0007080 “Enhanced Geothermal System Concept Testing and Development at the Milford City, Utah FORGE Site.” We thank the many stakeholders who are supporting this project, including Smithfield, Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, and Beaver County, as well as the Utah Governor’s Office of Energy Development.
Funding Information:
This work was provided by the U.S. DOE under grant DE-EE0007080 “Enhanced Geothermal System Concept Testing and Development at the Milford City, Utah FORGE Site.” We thank the many stakeholders who are supporting this project, including Smithfield, Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, and Beaver County, as well as the Utah Governor's Office of Energy Development. This research made use of the resources of the High Performance Computing Center at Idaho National Laboratory, which is supported by the Office of Nuclear Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy and the Nuclear Science User Facilities under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Geothermal Resources Council. All rights reserved.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - At the Utah FORGE site, hydraulic stimulation will be carried out in three zones near the toe of injection well 16A(78)-32 before drilling the production well - to create interconnecting pathways. The planned three stages have different pumping schedules (maximum pumping rate of 50 bpm) and working fluids (slickwater or viscosified fluid). A numerical study incorporating uncertainties in the in-situ conditions was performed to simulate the planned hydraulic stimulations. These simulations were conducted using a lattice-based code, XSiteTM. The injection times and rates in the simulations follow the designed pumping schedules. Uncertainties of the discrete fracture network (DFN) model, including different geometrical realizations and strengths, were evaluated. From the simulation results, the heights of open fractures, presumed to reflect the inter-well connectivity, were predicted to be from 20 to 160 m depending on the DFN properties and the treating fluid viscosity. The lateral extent of slipping fractures, which represents the possible interaction between different stages, ranges from 10 to 80 m. The simulated cases with weak and frictional DFNs display a larger area of connected flow paths. Simulations with strong (high cohesion and tensile strength) DFNs display larger heights of open fractures but smaller lateral extents of the fractures that experience slip.
AB - At the Utah FORGE site, hydraulic stimulation will be carried out in three zones near the toe of injection well 16A(78)-32 before drilling the production well - to create interconnecting pathways. The planned three stages have different pumping schedules (maximum pumping rate of 50 bpm) and working fluids (slickwater or viscosified fluid). A numerical study incorporating uncertainties in the in-situ conditions was performed to simulate the planned hydraulic stimulations. These simulations were conducted using a lattice-based code, XSiteTM. The injection times and rates in the simulations follow the designed pumping schedules. Uncertainties of the discrete fracture network (DFN) model, including different geometrical realizations and strengths, were evaluated. From the simulation results, the heights of open fractures, presumed to reflect the inter-well connectivity, were predicted to be from 20 to 160 m depending on the DFN properties and the treating fluid viscosity. The lateral extent of slipping fractures, which represents the possible interaction between different stages, ranges from 10 to 80 m. The simulated cases with weak and frictional DFNs display a larger area of connected flow paths. Simulations with strong (high cohesion and tensile strength) DFNs display larger heights of open fractures but smaller lateral extents of the fractures that experience slip.
KW - Enhanced Geothermal System
KW - Hydraulic stimulation
KW - Numerical simulation
KW - Utah FORGE
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85158102198
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85158102198
SN - 9781713871040
T3 - Transactions - Geothermal Resources Council
SP - 618
EP - 628
BT - Using the Earth to Save the Earth - 2022 Geothermal Rising Conference
PB - Geothermal Resources Council
T2 - 2022 Geothermal Rising Conference: Using the Earth to Save the Earth, GRC 2022
Y2 - 28 August 2022 through 31 August 2022
ER -