Thermodynamic analysis of heat transfer in a wellbore combining compressed air energy storage

Compressed air energy storage (CAES) is a potential energy storage technology. The gas phase and short cycle period are two key factors affecting heat transfer loss in the wellbore of CAES. A semi-analytical solution was developed by using the convolution method considering gas movement in this study to describe the transient behavior of heat transfer with a short cycle period. The comparative analysis of the presented solution with two published solutions showed that the solution matched well with the previous solutions under steady state. Parametric studies were carried out to investigate the impact of injection rate, overall heat transfer coefficient and thermal diffusivity of the formation on heat loss in the wellbore. The results indicated that a low overall heat transfer coefficient and thermal diffusivity of the formation with an appropriate injection rate can efficiently reduce the heat loss. A hypothetical case study with a short cycle period of injection and production was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the developed solution in CAES. The results suggest that the semi-analytical solution is applicable for heat transfer in the wellbore of CAES.