Fractures and caves are the main flow and storage channels for the karst geothermal reservoirs, and the water-rock reaction within them significantly affects the thermal performance. Most previous studies concentrated on the fractures, disregarding the impact of the pore water-rock reaction. The objective of this study is to explore the importance of pore water-rock reactions and identify the influence of various parameters when considering pore and fracture water-rock reactions. A 3D thermal-hydraulic-chemical coupling model considering dual media of pores and fractures was developed. The importance of pore water-rock reactions is demonstrated, and quantitatively characterize the effect of injection temperature (Tin), injection rate (Qin), injection concentration (cin), and ratio of the reaction-specific surface area between pore and fracture (Ap/Af) on the thermal performance. Results indicate that the pore water-rock reaction drastically affects the hydraulic conductivity and pressure difference, even leading to an opposite trend. The influence of water-rock reaction in pores on fracture deformation is regulated by Ap/Af, which augments with Ap/Af. The relative contribution of Ap/Af to production temperature, net thermal power, pressure difference, and hydraulic conductivity are 12.8%, 4.1%, 6.8%, and 13.7%, respectively. This study provides a significant guide for accurate production prediction and exploitation of karst-based geothermal reservoirs.@en

In the long-term mining of geothermal resources in hot dry rock (HDR), the change of thermal stress and pore pressure will increase fracture conductivity evolution, further improving production performance. The optimization and decision-making of the development scheme based on the impact of damage from fractures have yet to be reported. The damage to fractures is essential in designing and adjusting geothermal resource development schemes, particularly in selecting optimal schemes. Therefore, the production performances of HDR resources under different parameters are analyzed to establish a database. Then, minimizing flow resistance, maximizing net power, and maximizing economic benefits are set as optimization goals. Various injection-mining parameters and fracture characteristics are treated as decision variables. Multi-objective optimization and multi-attribute decision analysis is conducted to obtain optimal schemes. Finally, optimal schemes are evaluated and compared, considering damage and non-damage scenarios. Results show that the NSGA-II algorithm is more suitable for optimizing geothermal development questions. Net power and economic benefits of the optimal scheme considering damage increase by 45.84 % and 21.35 % compared to the control scheme with damage. For the non-damage scenario, the above values increased by 31.55 % and 5.15 %, respectively. Compared to not considering the damage, higher mass flow and well spacing of optimal scheme can be selected for the case when damaged. Moreover, the parametric design of the optimal scheme becomes more conservative as the production cycle increases.@en

The chemical reaction in the reservoir causes fracture deformation during the heat extraction of enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), affecting thermal performance. The reaction rate is sensitive to temperature, concentration, and reaction-specific surface area. While previous research mainly focuses on the influence of temperature and concentration on fracture deformation, conversely, the effect of fracture morphology(aperture and tortuosity) is ignored. In this study, the deformation characteristics of rough and flat fractures are compared, and the influences of aperture and tortuosity on fracture deformation are analyzed. According to the influence law, the fracture deformation relationship equation between the aperture deformation rate with tortuosity and aperture is fitted. Results show that the deformation of rough fracture is significantly higher than that of flat fracture, and the variations of fracture aperture increase with the aperture and tortuosity. Furthermore, the influence of tortuosity (the variation of aperture increased by 47.97% when the tortuosity increased from 1 to 1.5) is greater than the aperture (that increased by 4.8% when the aperture increased from 0.2 to 1). The rate of aperture change is a logarithmic function of tortuosity and a power function of the aperture. These results provide significant references for the study of EGS, subsurface karst et al.@en

The fractures are the main flow and heat transfer channel for fluids in deep high-temperature enhanced geothermal systems (EGS). The deformation of the fracture controlled by reactive flow is a common phenomenon during geothermal development, which might lead to a reduction in the system's thermal performance and operating life. While most previous research focuses on the influence of fracture deformation on system heat extraction performance, conversely the fracture deformation mechanism caused by the reactive flow is ignored. In this paper, a coupled thermal-hydraulic-chemical-deformation (THCD) model is established to investigate the fracture deformation mechanism. The deformation behavior of quartz and anorthite is compared, and the Damkohler number (Da) is adopted to explore the reaction mechanism. Meanwhile, the influence mechanism of concentration and temperature on fracture deformation is also analyzed. Results show that the Da at the fracture surface is 10−12 -10−8, which means that the deformation of the fracture is controlled by the reaction rate. Compared with the concentration, the influence of temperature on fracture deformation is complex, and there is an inflection point. The inflection point is governed by the mineral reaction kinetics. These results provide significant references for the efficient heat extraction of the EGS.@en