Impact of Groundwater Flow and Energy Load on Multiple Borehole Heat Exchangers

The effect of array configuration, that is, number, layout, and spacing, on the performance of multiple borehole heat exchangers (BHEs) is generally known under the assumption of fully conductive transport. The effect of groundwater flow on BHE performance is also well established, but most commonly for single BHEs. In multiple‐BHE systems the effect of groundwater advection can be more complicated due to the induced thermal interference between the boreholes. To ascertain the influence of groundwater flow and borehole arrangement, this study investigates single‐ and multi‐BHE systems of various configurations. Moreover, the influence of energy load balance is also examined. The results from corresponding cases with and without groundwater flow as well as balanced and unbalanced energy loads are cross‐compared. The groundwater flux value, 10^?7 m/s, is chosen based on the findings of previous studies on groundwater flow interaction with BHEs and thermal response tests. It is observed that multi‐BHE systems with balanced loads are less sensitive to array configuration attributes and groundwater flow, in the long‐term. Conversely, multi‐BHE systems with unbalanced loads are influenced by borehole array configuration as well as groundwater flow; these effects become more pronounced with time, unlike when the load is balanced. Groundwater flow has more influence on stabilizing loop temperatures, compared to array characteristics. Although borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) systems have a balanced energy load function, preliminary investigation on their efficiency shows a negative impact by groundwater which is due to their dependency on high temperature gradients between the boreholes and surroundings.     

Scale‐dependent Poiseuille flow alternatively explains enhanced dispersion in geothermal environments

Fluid flow exerts a critical impact on the convection of thermal energy in geological media, whereas heat transport in turn affects fluid properties, including fluid dynamic viscosity and density. The interplay of flow and heat transport also affects solute transport. To unravel these complex coupled flow, heat, and solute transport processes, here, we present a theory for the idealized scale‐dependent Poiseuille flow model considering a constant temperature gradient (?T) along a single fracture, where fluid dynamic viscosity connects with temperature via an exponential function. The idealized scale‐dependent model is validated based on the solutions from direct numerical simulations. We find that the hydraulic conductivity (K) of the Poiseuille flow either increases or decreases with scales depending on ?T > 0°C/m or ?T < 0°C/m, respectively. Indeed, the degree of changes in K depends on the magnitude of ?T and fracture length. The scale‐dependent model provides an alternative explanation for the well‐known scale‐dependent transport problem, for example, the dispersion coefficient increases with travel distance when ?T > 0°C/m according to the Taylor dispersion theory, because K (or equivalently flux through fractures) scales with fracture length. The proposed theory unravels intertwined interactions between flow and transport processes, which might shed light on understanding many practical geophysical problems, for example, geothermal energy exploration.     

Heat extraction from hot,dry, crustal rock

Natural heat stored in the earth's interior represents an essentially inexhaustible energy supply which, at usefully high temperatures, is accessible at practical drilling depths from almost anywhere on the earth's land surface. The problems of extracting and using this heat are those of engineering and economics, and can be expected to vary with the local geology and value of thermal energy. The first major experimental system designed to investigate these problems in one common type of geologic environment has recently been completed in the crystalline rock underlying the Jemez Plateau of northern New Mexico. It consists principally of two boreholes connected at a depth of about 2.7 km by a system of hydraulic fractures produced in granitic rock at a temperature of approximately 185°C. Cool water injected through one hole is heated as it flows through the fractures, and is recovered through the second hole as pressurized, superheated water. In a surface heat-exchange system now being completed, this heat will be extracted and the cool water reinjected to maintain a continuous, closed, pressurized-water energy-extraction loop.     

Origin of natural sulphur-bearing immiscible inclusions and H2S in oolite gas reservoir, Eastern Sichuan

Based on results of microscopic observation and laser Raman analysis about fluid inclusions, multiple special forms of immiscible inclusions that contain sulphur, liquid hydrocarbon, bitumen, etc. were discovered in samples collected from the H₂S gas reservoir-containing carbonates in the Lower Triassic Feixianguan Formation in the Jinzhu-Luojia area, Kai County, Sichuan Province. Based on the lithology and burial history of the strata involved as well as measurement results of homogenization temperature of fluid inclusions, bitumen reflectivity, etc., it is concluded that the H₂S in the gas reservoir resulted from the thermal reaction between hydrocarbons in reservoir and CaSO₄ in the gypsum-bearing dolostone section at the high temperature (140°C–17°C) oil-cracked gas formation stage in Late Cretaceous. Thereafter, research on a great number of immiscible inclusions in the reservoir reveals that elemental sulphur resulted from oxidation of part of the earlier-formed H₂S and further reaction between sulphates, hydrocarbons and H₂S in geological fluids in H₂S-bearing gas reservoir at a temperature of 86°C–89°C and a pressure of 340×10⁵Pa and during the regional uplift stage as characterized by temperature decrease and pressure decrease in Tertiary. Meanwhile, gypsum, anhydrite and calcite formed at this stage would trap particles like elemental sulphur and result in a variety of special forms of immiscible inclusions, and these inclusions would contain information concerning the complexity of the fluids in the reservoir and the origin of H₂S and natural sulphur in the gas reservoir.     

An experimental evaluation of ice cover effects on the dynamic behaviour of a concrete gravity dam

An extensive forced‐vibration testing programme has been carried out on an 84‐m concrete gravity dam located in northeastern Québec, Canada. The dam was subjected to a harmonic load on the crest in summer and severe winter conditions with temperatures ranging from ?10°C to ?15°C and a 1.0–1.5m ice cover. Acceleration and hydrodynamic frequency responses were obtained in different locations on the dam and in the reservoir. The main objective of the repeated tests was to investigate the effects of the ice cover on the dynamic behaviour of the dam–reservoir–foundation system, by comparing summer and winter results. Modifications in damping and resonance frequencies were observed, as well as an additional resonance that was attributed to an interaction of the dam with the ice cover. These findings provided a reliable and unique database for the investigations of dam–reservoir–foundation interaction and, in particular, the ice‐cover effects for dams located in northern regions. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Measurements of thermal conductivity and specific heat in volcanogenic rocks

A laboratory installation has been developed together with a technique for determining thermo-physical properties (thermal conductivity and specific heat) in cylindrical rock specimens. The technique is based on iTOUGH2-EOS3 inversion modeling using temperature measurements inside specimens as a result of their short-term heating and subsequent return to the initial temperature. We estimated the thermal conductivity and specific heat for a collection of volcanogenic petrotypes that reflect the rocks that compose the Rogozhnikovskii volcanogenic oil reservoir (29 specimens). The average thermal conductivity of the dry rocks is 1.47 W/m °C and the average specific heat is 754 kJ/kg °C; the reproducibility of this estimation is 2.2% for thermal conductivity and 0.7% for specific heat.     

1,4‐Dioxane Soil Remediation Using Enhanced Soil Vapor Extraction: I. Field Demonstration

1,4‐Dioxane is totally miscible in water, sequestering in vadose pore water that can serve as a source of long‐term groundwater contamination. Although some 1,4‐dioxane is removed by conventional soil vapor extraction (SVE), remediation is typically inefficient. SVE efficiency is hindered by low Henry’s Law constants at ambient temperature and redistribution to vadose pore water if SVE wells pull 1,4‐dioxane vapors across previously clean soil. It was hypothesized that heated air injection and more focused SVE extraction (“Enhanced SVE” or XSVE) could increase the efficiency of 1,4‐dioxane vadose treatment, and this new process was tested at former McClellan Air Force Base, CA. The XSVE system had four peripheral heated air injection wells surrounding a 6.1 m × 6.1 m × 9.1 m deep treatment zone with a central vapor extraction well. After 14 months of operation, soil temperatures reached as high as ~90 °C near the injection wells and the treatment zone was flushed with ~20,000 pore volumes of injected air. Post‐treatment sampling results showed reductions of ~94% in 1,4‐dioxane and ~45% in soil moisture. Given the simplicity of the remediation system components and the promising demonstration test results, XSVE has the potential to be a cost‐effective remediation option for vadose zone soil containing 1,4‐dioxane.     

REGIONAL GEOTHERMAL EXPLORATION IN EGYPT*

Although Egypt is not characterized by abundant Cenozoic igneous activity, its location in the northeastern corner of the African plate suggests that it may possess geothermal resources, especially along its eastern margin. Regional geothermal exploration has been carried out in Egypt using the thermal gradient/heat flow technique and groundwater temperature/chemistry technique. In the thermal gradient/heat flow study, existing oil-well bottom-hole temperature data as well as subsurface temperature measurements in existing boreholes were utilized before special thermal gradient holes were drilled. Groundwater temperature and chemistry data were used to extend the geographic range of the direct subsurface thermal measurements. On a very modest budget, a regional thermal high has been discovered along the eastern margin of Egypt, and a local thermal anomaly has been discovered in this zone. Published geological information suggests that the sandstones of the Nubian Formation may be a suitable reservoir for geothermal fluids. The new data indicate that temperatures of 150°C or higher may be found in this reservoir in the Gulf of Suez and Red Sea coastal zone where it lies at a depth of 4 km and deeper.     

Late‐summer thermal regime of a small proglacial lake

This study was motivated by an interest in understanding the potential effects of climate change and glacier retreat on late summer water temperatures in alpine areas. Fieldwork was carried out between July and September 2007 at Place Lake, located below Place Glacier in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Place Lake has an area of 72 000 m², a single inlet and outlet channel, and an approximate residence time of 4 days. Warming between the inlet and outlet of the lake ranged up to 3 °C and averaged 1.8 °C, which exceeds the amount of warming that occurred over the 1 km reach of Place Creek between the lake outlet and tree line. Over a 23‐day period, net radiation totalled about 210 MJ·m^–2, with sensible heat flux adding another 56 MJ m^‐2. The latent heat flux consumed about 8% of the surface heat input. The dominant heat sink was the net horizontal advection associated with lake inflow and outflow. Early in the study period, temperatures between the surface and 6‐m depth were dominantly at or above 4 °C and were generally neutral to thermally stable, whereas temperatures decreased with depth below 6 m and exhibited irregular sub‐diurnal variations. The maximum outflow temperature of almost 7 °C occurred in this period. We hypothesize that turbidity currents associated with cold, sediment‐laden glacier discharge formed an underflow and influenced temperatures in the deeper portion of the lake but did not mix with the upper layers. Later in the study period, the lake was dominantly well mixed with some near‐surface stability associated with nocturnal cooling. Further research is required to examine the combined effects of sediment concentrations and thermal processes on mixing in small proglacial lakes to make projections of the consequences of glacier retreat on alpine lake and stream temperatures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effect of heated effluents from power plants on seagrass (Thalassia) communities quantitatively comparing estuaries in the subtropics to the tropics

The need for most efficient use of energy is abruptly in conflict with the need to maintain environmental quality in terms of heated effluents released from power plants. This study synthesizes biological results found from four effluent canals from power plants releasing heat on shallow estuaries: tropics, edge of tropics and subtropics. The dominant near-shore community in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean is that of Thalassia, rich in animal and plant abundance and biomass. Summer mean temperatures in all three estuaries ranged around 30°C. Results show sustained temperatures of +5°C in summer denude the area of the Thalassia community. Temperatures +1 and +1.5°C were minimally damaging to the studied areas and can be considered rational release temperatures. Insufficient data was available at +2°C to make a statement; +4°C areas showed intense damage to the biological communities at all locations; +3°C effect varied from severe damage in the subtropics to 40% damage in the tropics. Recommended summer heated effluent release for power plants eliminating heat onto Thalassia beds would certainly nerver be greater than +3°C. A trade-off decision must be made by decision-makers as to +3 or +2°C as the upper permissable limit. Winter release of effluent temperature in areas where winter temperatures fall below 25°C could be above +3°C apparently without damage. Tropical and subtropical ecosystems are on the brink of disaster and small increments of change by man's activities can push them beyond tolerance limits. Evidently the marine tropics differ from marine temperate zones in their capacity to assimilate man's activities.     

Water temperature modelling in a controlled environment: comparative study of heat budget equations

One of the challenges when modelling a complex variable such as water temperature in rivers is that it can be difficult to determine the sources of error and to ensure that the simulations are truly representative of the reality. Therefore, a heat budget study was completed in a controlled environment, which excluded advection and bottom fluxes but enabled observation of all the other fluxes. A 21.42 m³ pool was installed and insulated to limit heat exchange through the sides and bottom. All the major energy fluxes were monitored for a 50‐day period. Different equations for individual heat budget terms were tested to determine their ability to reproduce the observations. This experiment also permitted to assess the relative importance of each component of the heat budget. Performance of each semi‐empirical equation was determined by comparing predictions and measured values. It was thus possible to choose the formulae that best represented the measured heat exchange processes, while understanding the limits of some of the semi‐empirical representations of heat exchange processes. The results highlight the importance of radiative terms into the heat budget because they controlled the major sources and sinks. The study also showed the importance of the wind function determination into the calculation of latent heat flux. The resulting water temperature model returned simulated hourly water temperature with an overall root mean square error of 0.71 °C/h and a modified Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of 0.97. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geostatistical Borehole Image‐Based Mapping of Karst‐Carbonate Aquifer Pores

Quantification of the character and spatial distribution of porosity in carbonate aquifers is important as input into computer models used in the calculation of intrinsic permeability and for next‐generation, high‐resolution groundwater flow simulations. Digital, optical, borehole‐wall image data from three closely spaced boreholes in the karst‐carbonate Biscayne aquifer in southeastern Florida are used in geostatistical experiments to assess the capabilities of various methods to create realistic two‐dimensional models of vuggy megaporosity and matrix‐porosity distribution in the limestone that composes the aquifer. When the borehole image data alone were used as the model training image, multiple‐point geostatistics failed to detect the known spatial autocorrelation of vuggy megaporosity and matrix porosity among the three boreholes, which were only 10 m apart. Variogram analysis and subsequent Gaussian simulation produced results that showed a realistic conceptualization of horizontal continuity of strata dominated by vuggy megaporosity and matrix porosity among the three boreholes.     

Controlled‐source electromagnetic monitoring of reservoir oil saturation using a novel borehole‐to‐surface configuration

To advance and optimize secondary and tertiary oil recovery techniques, it is essential to know the areal propagation and distribution of the injected fluids in the subsurface. We investigate the applicability of controlled‐source electromagnetic methods to monitor fluid movements in a German oilfield (Bockstedt, onshore Northwest Germany) as injected brines (highly saline formation water) have much lower electrical resistivity than the oil within the reservoir. The main focus of this study is on controlled‐source electromagnetic simulations to test the sensitivity of various source–receiver configurations. The background model for the simulations is based on two‐dimensional inversion of magnetotelluric data gathered across the oil field and calibrated with resistivity logs. Three‐dimensional modelling results suggest that controlled‐source electromagnetic methods are sensitive to resistivity changes at reservoir depths, but the effect is difficult to resolve with surface measurements only. Resolution increases significantly if sensors or transmitters can be placed in observation wells closer to the reservoir. In particular, observation of the vertical electric field component in shallow boreholes and/or use of source configurations consisting of combinations of vertical and horizontal dipoles are promising. Preliminary results from a borehole‐to‐surface controlled‐source electromagnetic field survey carried out in spring 2014 are in good agreement with the modelling studies.     

Evaluating the Use of In‐Well Heat Tracer Tests to Measure Borehole Flow Rates

Recent research has demonstrated the use of in‐well heat tracer tests monitored by a fiber optic distributed temperature sensing (DTS) system to characterize borehole flow conditions in open bedrock boreholes. However, the accuracy of borehole flow rates determined from in‐well heat tracer tests has not been evaluated. The purpose of the research presented here is to determine whether borehole flow rates obtained using DTS‐monitored in‐well heat tracer tests are reasonable, and to evaluate the range of flow rates measureable with this method. To accomplish this, borehole flow rates measured using in‐well heat tracer tests are compared to borehole flow rates measured in the same boreholes using an impeller or heat pulse flowmeter. A comparison of flow rates measured using in‐well heat tracer tests to flow rates measured with an impeller flowmeter under the same conditions showed good agreement. A comparison of in‐well heat tracer test flow rate measurements to previously‐collected heat pulse flowmeter measurements indicates that the heat tracer test results produced borehole flow rates and flow profiles similar to those measured with the heat pulse flowmeter. The results of this study indicate that borehole flow rates determined from DTS‐monitored in‐well heat tracer tests are reasonable estimates of actual borehole flow rates. In addition, the range of borehole flow rates measurable by in‐well heat tracer tests spans from less than 10^?1 m/min to approximately 10¹ m/min, overlapping the ranges typically measurable with an impeller flowmeter or a heat pulse flowmeter, making in‐well heat tracer testing a versatile borehole flow logging tool.     

Energy balance and evaporation loss of an irrigation reservoir equipped with a suspended cover in a semiarid climate (south‐eastern Spain)

The main objective of this study was to assess the impact of a suspended cover on the evaporation loss of an agricultural water reservoir (AWR). To this aim, a detailed data collection was carried out in a typical AWR located in south‐eastern Spain during 2 consecutive years. During the first year, the reservoir remained uncovered, while during the second year it was covered with a double black polyethylene (PE) shade cloth. On an annual scale, it was observed that the cover can provide a reduction of evaporation loss of 85%. Two approaches, energy balance and mass transfer, were used to analyse the effect of the cover on the evaporation process. Important modifications were observed on the magnitude, sign, annual trend and relative weight of the components of the energy balance. The changes were ascribed to the strong reduction of net radiation and to the substantial weight of the heat storage and sensible heat flux in the energy balance. A relevant finding was the contrast between the patterns of the annual evaporation curve for open‐water and covered conditions. The mass transfer approach allowed discriminating between the wind‐ and radiation‐shelter effects on the evaporation term. The reduction in water‐to‐air vapour deficit was the main factor explaining the high efficiency of the cover, whereas the reduction of the mass transfer coefficient was a modulating factor that accounted for the wind‐shelter effect. Overall, both approaches provided a sound basis to describe and explain the physical mechanisms underlying the high performance of the tested cover. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sublimation over seasonal snowpack at the southeastern edge of a desert in central Eurasia

The Gurbantonggut Desert, China, is an ideal site for study of sublimation from the snowpack because there are sparse vegetation and simple topography, and the wind speed is not large enough to blow snow into the atmosphere from the snowpack. Daily sublimation was measured by manual snow lysimeters at 8:00, and an automatic weather station was deployed at the top of a stout longitudinal dune chain at the southeastern edge of the desert. It is shown that on a daily scale, there was an extremely significant no‐intercept linear relationship between the measured sublimation and that calculated by the bulk aerodynamic method, although the former was only 83.8% of the latter. It is also demonstrated that ?10°C and 2 m/s were the thresholds where the sublimation varied with the air temperature and the wind speed. When these two thresholds were exceeded, the sublimation accelerated. However, the air temperature and the wind speed at 2 m above the ground averaged ?17.2°C and 1.3 m/s, respectively, and the percentages of the time when the air temperature was below ?10 °C and the wind speed was below 2 m/s were 76.9% and 85.1%, respectively. As a result, the rate of sublimation was quite low most of the time, and the thin snowpack remained in a quasi‐static state until the melt stage started. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic based control of spillway gates of dams

In this paper a new and efficient control method based on fuzzy logic is proposed for real‐time operation of spillway gates of a reservoir during any flood of any magnitude up to the probable maximum flood. Artificial neural networks are used to model the non‐linear relationship among the main variables of the reservoir under consideration. In order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method, we simulate the control system using different probable overflow hydrographs. The results of the proposed control method are compared with the results of the conventional control methods. The results obtained from the simulations indicate that the proposed method exhibits superior performance over the conventional reservoir flood operation, with much more flexible results. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On the retrieval of moment tensors from borehole data

The complete moment tensors of seismic sources in homogeneous or vertically inhomogeneous isotropic structures cannot be retrieved using receivers deployed in one vertical borehole. The complete moment tensors can be retrieved from amplitudes of P‐waves, provided that receivers are deployed in at least three boreholes. Using amplitudes of P‐ and S‐waves, two boreholes are, in principle, sufficient. Similar rules also apply to transversely isotropic media with a vertical axis of symmetry. In the case of limited observations, the inversion can be stabilized by imposing the zero‐trace constraint on the moment tensors. However, this constraint is valid only if applied to observations of shear faulting on planar faults in isotropic media, which produces double‐couple mechanisms. For shear faulting on non‐planar faults, for tensile faulting, and for shear faulting in anisotropic media, the zero‐trace constraint is no longer valid and can distort the retrieved moment tensor and bias the fault‐plane solution. Numerical modelling simulating the inversion of the double‐couple mechanism from real data reveals that the errors in the double‐couple and non‐double‐couple percentages of the moment tensors rapidly decrease with increase in the number of boreholes used. For noisy P‐ and S‐wave amplitudes with noise of 15% of the top amplitude at each channel and for a velocity model biased by 10%, the errors in the double‐couple percentage attain 25, 13 and 6% when inverting for the double‐couple mechanism from one, two and three boreholes.     

Influence of a rock glacier spring on the stream energy budget and cold‐water refuge in an alpine stream

The thermal regimes of alpine streams remain understudied and have important implications for cold‐water fish habitat, which is expected to decline due to climatic warming. Previous research has focused on the effects of distributed energy fluxes and meltwater from snowpacks and glaciers on the temperature of mountain streams. This study presents the effects of the groundwater spring discharge from an inactive rock glacier containing little ground ice on the temperature of an alpine stream. Rock glaciers are coarse blocky landforms that are ubiquitous in alpine environments and typically exhibit low groundwater discharge temperatures and resilience to climatic warming. Water temperature data indicate that the rock glacier spring cools the stream by an average of 3 °C during July and August and reduces maximum daily temperatures by an average of 5 °C during the peak temperature period of the first two weeks in August, producing a cold‐water refuge downstream of the spring. The distributed stream surface and streambed energy fluxes are calculated for the reach along the toe of the rock glacier, and solar radiation dominates the distributed stream energy budget. The lateral advective heat flux generated by the rock glacier spring is compared to the distributed energy fluxes over the study reach, and the spring advective heat flux is the dominant control on stream temperature at the reach scale. This study highlights the potential for coarse blocky landforms to generate climatically resilient cold‐water refuges in alpine streams.     

Above‐stream microclimate and stream surface energy exchanges in a wildfire‐disturbed riparian zone

Stream temperature and riparian microclimate were characterized for a 1·5 km wildfire‐disturbed reach of Fishtrap Creek, located north of Kamloops, British Columbia. A deterministic net radiation model was developed using hemispherical canopy images coupled with on‐site microclimate measurements. Modelled net radiation agreed reasonably with measured net radiation. Air temperature and humidity measured at two locations above the stream, separated by 900 m, were generally similar, whereas wind speed was poorly correlated between the two sites. Modelled net radiation varied considerably along the reach, and measurements at a single location did not provide a reliable estimate of the modelled reach average. During summer, net radiation dominated the surface heat exchanges, particularly because the sensible and latent heat fluxes were normally of opposite sign and thus tended to cancel each other. All surface heat fluxes shifted to negative values in autumn and were of similar magnitude through winter. In March, net radiation became positive, but heat gains were cancelled by sensible and latent heat fluxes, which remained negative. A modelling exercise using three canopy cover scenarios (current, simulated pre‐wildfire and simulated complete vegetation removal) showed that net radiation under the standing dead trees was double that modelled for the pre‐fire canopy cover. However, post‐disturbance standing dead trees reduce daytime net radiation reaching the stream surface by one‐third compared with complete vegetation removal. The results of this study have highlighted the need to account for reach‐scale spatial variability of energy exchange processes, especially net radiation, when modelling stream energy budgets. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.