The doctoral research has been carried out in the context of an agreement on joint doctoral supervision between RWTH Aachen University, Germany and Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands.

Geothermal energy stands as a promising avenue for low-carbon energy production. Traditional methods involve extracting hot water into one well and the injection of cold water in another, with hydrothermal systems relying on fluid flow through either pores or natural fractures in rock. Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) are deployed in fractured/faulted rock settings where fluid flow is insufficient, necessitating enhanced permeability of fractures for improved heat transfer. Challenges persist in ensuring productivity, sustainability, and safety, with fault and fracture reactivation presenting significant concerns....

This study presents a thermo-hydro-mechanical framework to model hydrothermal systems within a simplified faulted synthetic reservoir, replicating current production scenarios in The Netherlands and Germany. The reservoir, composed of porous and permeable sandstone, and the confining layer, made of porous but less permeable shale, undergoes a process where cold water is injected and hot water is extracted. A fault, situated 750 meters from the injection well, is investigated to examine the conditions when fault slip could occur. Various fault and formation stiffnesses are modeled to assess their impact on fault stability. Our analysis reveals that stress changes induced by hydrothermal operations can lead to fault reactivation, with the stiffness contrast between the reservoir and confining layers playing a significant role in when and where fault reactivation can occur. Stiffer confining layers lead to reactivation occurring more closely associated with the passage of the cooling front. In contrast, a stiffer reservoir results in greater and more gradual stress changes, making reactivation more closely related to the total volume of cooled rock.

Cold water injection into geothermal reservoirs is a common, sometimes necessary, technique for multiple reasons including the replenishment and stimulation of the reservoirs, and the disposal of waste water. The injection of cold water results in a thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) impulse, which can cause near-wellbore cracking. A method is presented to simulate coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes, including the re-activation of existing fractures and fracturing of the rock matrix. The model is based on the finite element method, and utilises a newly developed cohesive interface element to represent discontinuities. The interface element belongs to the family of zero-thickness elements and is triple-noded. It is developed to allow the simulation of longitudinal and transversal fluid/heat flow. The cubic law is used to simulate the fracture transmissivity as a function of its aperture, while a elasto-damage law is used to characterise the mechanical response of the discontinuity. The method is successfully verified against analytical solutions for hydraulic fracturing (KGD model) and for the thermo-hydraulic response of a single fracture (Lauwerier’s problem). As numerical oscillations are observed due to the high Péclet number, an artificial diffusion is added to stabilise the numerical solution with sufficient accuracy. Qualitative validation is achieved against experimental data of cold water injection in granite samples. Fracture branching is observed in the case with large cooling shock, while a single fracture is induced in the case with smaller cooling shock, as was observed in the experiment. The validation demonstrates the capability of the proposed model to simulate fracturing processes under THM couplings.

This paper presents a combined laboratory and numerical investigation on the injection-induced permeability changes in pre-existing fractures. The analyses conducted were primarily based on the results of an innovative laboratory experiment designed to replicate the key mechanisms that occur during hydraulic stimulation of naturally fractured rocks and/or faulted zones. The experiment involved pressure-controlled fluid injection into a laboratory-scale pre-existing fracture within a granite block, which was subjected to true triaxial stress conditions. Rough and smooth fractures are investigated, and the results are discussed. Based on the experimental results, two contributing mechanisms were considered to describe the pressure-driven permeability changes in pre-existing fractures: (1) elastic opening/closure leading to a reversible permeability change, and (2) fracture sliding in shear mode, causing dilation and hence an irreversible permeability increase. With these assumptions, an aperture-dependent permeability function was adopted to couple the hydraulic flow with the mechanical deformations along the fracture. Subsequently, a 3D coupled hydro-mechanical model was developed to replicate fluid-injection tests conducted at various conditions, including different stress conditions and fracture surface roughness. The employed modeling framework effectively captured the experimental observations. Our results indicate that the maximum permeability increases twofold.

This study presents a fully coupled hydro-mechanical framework for modeling hydraulic shearing in a mesoscale reservoir located at the Grimsel Test Site, Switzerland. The experiment was conducted on a ductile–brittle fault embedded in low-permeable granite. We observe that normal fracture opening increases flow channel recoverably, while fracture sliding locks asperities leading to a non-recoverable increase in flow. To couple these processes, we use a poro-elasto-plastic constitutive framework and employ a permeability function that depends on several parameters, such as dilation angle, in-situ stresses, residual aperture and maximum aperture. Our results capture the recorded pressure responses well, and indicate that the permeability changes by one order of magnitude during the experiment.