Closing the loop between in-situ stress complexity and EGS fracture complexity

Technical Report · Wed Aug 23 04:00:00 EDT 2023

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1999723· OSTI ID:1999723

Cusini, Matteo ^[1]; Bunger, Andrew ^[2]

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1. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
2. Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

The goal of the project is to employ a combination of high-fidelity simulations and true-triaxial block fracturing tests at high temperature to explore the intricate relationship between in-situ stress and hydraulic fracture patterns and better characterize the in-situ stress at Utah FORGE. Laboratory experiments are used to validate numerical models and better understand the impact of various parameters (e.g., temperature, well orientation, stress, etc) on the hydraulic fracture nucleation process in EGS. The project will have a significant impact as it will (1) improve the characterization of the in-situ stress field at FORGE; (2) demonstrate how high-fidelity modeling tools can be employed to analyze data for EGS; (3) provide a unique set of high-temperature hydraulic fracturing experimental results for EGS to help identifying the most important components for in-situ stress estimation and to validate the current in-situ stress estimation theory and establish a strong foundation for proposing a new one; (4) provide a validated set of numerical tools in an open source simulation framework (GEOS) that can be used to model EGS.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC52-07NA27344
• OSTI ID: 1999723
• Report Number(s): LLNL--TR-853570; 1081493
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

15 GEOTHERMAL ENERGY
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