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Mass and Heat Transport in Geothermal Systems
Conveners: Karsten Pruess and Marcelo Lippmann, Earth Sciences Division, LBNL
Numerical simulation of fluid and heat flow in geothermal systems has seen continuous improvements since its beginnings in the 1970s. Complex three-dimensional models with thousands to tens of thousands of grid blocks are now routinely used by researchers and industry professionals. Although geothermal reservoir simulation has matured in some respects, major developments are continuing, often through cross-fertilization with other fields such as nuclear waste isolation, contaminant hydrology, and geologic storage of carbon. Active current developments include (1) methods for treating chemically and mechanically coupled processes, (2) techniques for automatic model calibration (history matching), (3) use of geophysical data for model building and testing, and (4) harnessing the power of PC clusters and multiple-processor hardware. This session aims to enhance the practical utility and reliability of geothermal reservoir simulation by strengthening the dialogue between practitioners and developers of numerical simulation tools.
