Analysis of the Effects of Heterogeneity on Heat Extraction in an Egs Represented with the Continuum Fracture Model

The major purpose of this work was to estimate the impacts of heterogeneous conditions on the heat extraction from EGS. These impacts were estimated based on a comparison of the heterogeneous reservoir responses with the response of an equivalent isotropic homogeneous reservoir. Multiple representations of a heterogeneous reservoir were considered in this analysis. The heterogeneity is a result of different fracture orientation, spacing, aperture, and length. These fracture properties were defined based on an extensive literature review and translated into the stochastic permeability fields using Fractured Continuum Model (FCM) approach. The effects of heterogeneity were quantified for a typical granite rock reservoir and for some limiting conditions leading to minimum and maximum heat extraction. The particle tracking analysis was conducted for the two representative cases to define the major factors affecting heat extraction.