Determination of the applicability of the distributed optical-fiber temperature sensing technique for geothermal energy production within the DAP - Delft Geothermal Project

Determination of the applicability of the distributed optical-fiber temperature sensing technique for geothermal energy production within the DAP - Delft Geothermal Project

Van Beuningen, F.W.G.M.

Wolf, K.H.A.A. (mentor)
Saeid, S. (mentor)

Civil Engineering and Geosciences

Applied Earth Sciences

Section applied geophysics and petrophysics

2011-09-10

Geothermal energy production is an interesting alternative for the fossil energy production being depleted, being, a sustainable method with a lot of potential in the Netherlands and abroad. One of the main initiators of geothermal energy production in the Netherlands is the Delft Geothermal Project (DAP). Furthermore DAP supports the realization of geothermal projects with technical advice and research, mostly done by students of the TU Delft. This report is one example of this effort. The Distributed Fiber-Optic Temperature-Sensing (DTS) technique represents a new physical approach for temperature measurements in the geosciences and environmental sciences. It is based on optical time-domain reflectometry (OTDR). DTS is a promising new technology, continuously measuring the temperature profile along the whole length of the glass fiber in the borehole. Profiling the whole well is an improvement compared with the conventional methods, because it is also showing temperature losses within the well. Knowing more about these losses within the system is essential to design strategies to increase the cost effectiveness. To add a different view on the use of the DTS technique in geothermal doublets an experiment is executed as well. This experiment will show the ease and dexterity of the use of optic fibres and will teach us more about the hardware and additional software used. The results of the experiment can be shown to DAP for their decision on the application of the measuring system in their future projects.

Distributed Fiber-Optic Temperature Sensing technique
geothermal energy production
heat transfer in geothermal wells
Delft Geothermal Project

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:5de06ff0-cc3b-4b7c-af21-bf4f4d0e0383

Student theses

bachelor thesis

(c) 2011 Van Beuningen, F.W.G.M.