GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-22DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103346
Honghao Yuan , Qiang Sun , Jianjun Hu , Jishi Geng , Yuliang Zhang , Jikun Wang , Mingbo Chi , Ersheng Zha
{"title":"Characterization of real-time thermal response during rupture of hot dry rock under the shock of liquid Nitrogen circulation","authors":"Honghao Yuan , Qiang Sun , Jianjun Hu , Jishi Geng , Yuliang Zhang , Jikun Wang , Mingbo Chi , Ersheng Zha","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103346","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103346","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Circulating liquid nitrogen (LN<sub>2</sub>) fracturing technology significantly enhances the remodeling performance of geothermal reservoirs in hot dry rock (HDR). This study examines the real-time thermal response characteristics of hot dry rock subjected to thermal shock from the LN<sub>2</sub> cycle. The dynamic evolution and real-time rupture behavior of internal cracks in HDR under LN<sub>2</sub> cycle impacts at varying heating temperatures are captured using acoustic emission technology. The damage mechanism and crack development process of HDR under the LN<sub>2</sub> cycle shock are discussed. Findings indicate that during the early stage of LN<sub>2</sub> cooling, the extreme temperature differential between the HDR surface and liquid nitrogen induces a sharp increase in thermal stress, resulting in notable damage effects, peak acoustic emission energy counts occur. In the middle and late stages of cooling, acoustic emission activity is minimal at heating temperatures of 200 °C and 300 °C, while at 400 °C, high acoustic emission energy is observed. 300 °C-400 °C is the temperature threshold interval for significant changes in damage characteristics of HDR under heating- LN<sub>2</sub> rapid cooling conditions. Additionally, the cumulative energy of the total number of cycles at 300 °C is 46.2 % higher than at 200 °C, and at 400 °C, it is 186.9 % and 96.2 % higher compared to 200 °C and 300 °C, respectively. The degree of damage to HDR escalates with increasing heating temperature and cycle number. The LN<sub>2</sub> cooling process primarily manifests as shear damage, with small amount of tensile damage occurring at higher heating temperatures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103346"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143856108","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-21DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103347
Nyora Donald Kobare , Koki Kashiwaya , Katsuaki Koike , Albano Mahecha
{"title":"Circulation process of geothermal fluids and potential assessment of geothermal resources in the Songwe half-graben and Kiejo-Mbaka prospects in southwestern Tanzania: Insight from hydrochemistry and stable isotopes","authors":"Nyora Donald Kobare , Koki Kashiwaya , Katsuaki Koike , Albano Mahecha","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103347","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103347","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Songwe and Kiejo-Mbaka geothermal prospects in Tanzania's East African Rift System are anticipated to be harnessed for geothermal power generation by 2030. This study examines the geothermal fluids' origin, evolution, and natural geothermal potential through geochemical analyses of stable isotopes, major ions, trace solutes, and fluid–mineral equilibria. Analysis samples were taken from hot, warm and cold springs, rivers, and rainwater from the prospects. The predominant Na and K in the samples suggest advanced chemical reactions composed primarily of ion exchange and calcite dissolution in the geothermal system. Four reservoirs, Songwe-Rambo and Kaguri (Songwe) and Ilwalilo and Kilambo (Kiejo-Mbaka), are identified as fluid upflow zones of geothermal systems. Mineral equilibria modeling reveals two key features: saturation with carbonate minerals like aragonite, dolomite, and calcite, linked to travertine development near discharge zones, and silica saturation, primarily quartz and chalcedony, across varying temperatures, suggesting potential silica deposits. Estimated reservoir temperatures range from 90 to 135 °C (Songwe) to 100–145 °C (Kiejo-Mbaka), based on geothermometry methods. Given flow rates of 0.05–10 L/s and temperature differences of 20.8–145 °C, the geothermal power potential is assessed at 4 MW<sub>th</sub> for Songwe and 5 MW<sub>th</sub> for Kiejo-Mbaka. The primary source of geothermal fluids is meteoric water, recharged at about 2100 m above sea level, which infiltrates to an average depth of ca. 2000 m, driven by heat sources, before re-emerging at the surface. A conceptual model of the geothermal system over these prospects is developed, enhancing the groundwork for evaluating geothermal resources and planning future exploratory drilling.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103347"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143851872","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-19DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103348
Tao Huang , Xianwei Dai , Qingyou Liu , Haiyan Zhu
{"title":"Thermo-coupled FSI analysis of high-temperature heterogeneity rocks subjected to jet impingement","authors":"Tao Huang , Xianwei Dai , Qingyou Liu , Haiyan Zhu","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103348","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103348","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Jet impingement is an efficient rock breaking method in the development of geological resources. In high-temperature formations, thermal stress induced by the temperature difference interacts with fluid pressure and impact forces, thus further enhancing the efficiency of rock failure. Meanwhile, the inherent heterogeneity of rocks influences stress distribution and failure characteristics of rocks as well. To elucidate this intricate process, a multi-physics coupling model is developed in the present study, in which the finite-discrete-element method (FDEM) and Weibull distribution are employed to describe the mechanical response and heterogeneity of rocks. The evolution of temperature, stress, and crack propagation are computed to reveal rock failure mechanisms under different formation conditions and jet parameters. The findings indicate that increasing jet pressure markedly increases jet velocity, improves heat transfer efficiency, and changes the transition from heat conduction to convective heat transfer. Thereby, greater thermal stress is induced, which is accompanied by the application of increased jet pressure on the rock surface. The combined effects of these two factors result in an initial decrease followed by a subsequent increase in crack length. Although rock temperature has fewer effects on jet velocity, the heat transfer efficiency also increases at elevated temperatures resulting from the variation of temperature differences. Correspondingly, thermal stress and crack length rise continually. Moreover, heightened heterogeneity exacerbates rock damage. In this research, thermal stress exerts pronounced effects on crack length once rock temperature exceeds 200 °C on the whole. However, the heightened rock heterogeneity can lower the critical temperature threshold for the propagation of cracks. The results of this investigation provide an in-depth insight into the rock failure mechanism influenced by multi-physics coupling.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103348"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143850679","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-18DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103332
Zaobao Liu , Yu Sun , Yun Jia , Hanbing Bian , Zhan Yu
{"title":"Experimental investigation of mechanical behavior and thermal damage of hot dry rock exposing to different cooling conditions","authors":"Zaobao Liu , Yu Sun , Yun Jia , Hanbing Bian , Zhan Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103332","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103332","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The exploration of underground geothermal energy requires investigating the cooling effects on the mechanical behaviors and damage mechanisms of high-temperature granite due to injection-production activities. The present work focuses on the influence of preheating and subsequent cooling treatments on the thermal damage of mechanical behavior/properties of a fine-grained granite, with special attention to the cooling method. The studied granite, drilled from a depth of 2000 m in Sichuan Province, China, was heated from room temperature to 800 °C and cooled by air and water cooling methods. It is observed that the cooling method has an important impact on the mechanical and damage behavior of the studied granite once the pre-heating temperature exceeds 500 °C. The dramatic transition of crack threshold is also observed as a function of temperature and cooling rate. Moreover, the experimental analysis exhibits that thermal conductivity is capable of providing a satisfactory estimation of thermal damage level of granite, compared to P-wave velocity. Finally, the influence of crystal particle sizes on the thermal damage of granite is also performed. Compared to fine-grained (FG) and medium-grained (MG) granites, one observes that during the heating phase, the most important thermal damage is observed in coarse-grained (CG) granites while CG granites are less influenced by the cooling methods. The obtained experimental results and analysis can help understand the mechanical and failure behavior of granite exposed to different cooling regimes encountered in deep geothermal projects.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103332"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143843359","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-15DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103343
A. Holmes, C. Millar, M.F. Lightstone
{"title":"An analysis of the accuracy and computational efficiency of the use of one-dimensional fluid models in borehole heat exchangers","authors":"A. Holmes, C. Millar, M.F. Lightstone","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103343","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103343","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper compares the accuracy of a one-dimensional fluid model to that of a fully three-dimensional model for the simulation of a thermal response test performed on a single borehole heat exchanger. The simplification of the fluid domain within the one-dimensional model allows for reduced computational time while still maintaining an accurate prediction of transient fluid temperature. The model uses a simplified one-dimensional fluid model while solving the full three-dimensional transient heat conduction equations in the borehole heat exchanger and surrounding ground. A symmetry plane is implemented to further reduce the computational effort, and the model and equation adjustments necessary to merge the use of symmetry planes and 1D linear elements along the central plane without loss of model accuracy is explained in detail. The proposed model is compared to a full CFD model and validated using experimental data for a constant heat rate test, commonly known as a thermal response test, to ensure no accuracy is lost due to model adjustments. Additionally, the computation times are compared for each case to quantify the time savings that result from model implementation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103343"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143828962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-14DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103342
Yanguang Liu , Yingnan Zhang , Xin Wang , Kai Bian , Haiyan Lei
{"title":"The characterization of fractures and analysis of hydraulic properties in granite-type hot dry rock reservoirs","authors":"Yanguang Liu , Yingnan Zhang , Xin Wang , Kai Bian , Haiyan Lei","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103342","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103342","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Hot dry rock (HDR), a widely distributed geothermal resource, holds significant development potential. The geometric characteristics and distribution of the fracture system within the reservoir are crucial, as they directly influence the flow paths and storage capacity of underground fluids. This study establishes a predictive framework for granite-type hot dry rock (HDR) reservoirs in China's Gonghe Basin by integrating field data, stochastic discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling, and geomechanical upscaling. Natural fractures, characterized via imaging logging, cores, and outcrops, exhibit three dominant orientations (NW, NNW, NE) and a power law size distribution. Monte Carlo simulations translated 1D fracture density (P10) into volumetric constraints (P32), enabling 3D DFN construction. Oda-based upscaling revealed permeability anisotropy, with maximum values of 0.268 mD (x-direction), 0.277 mD (y-direction), and 0.135 mD (z-direction), governed by low-dip NE/NW fractures, alongside reduced Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and localized stress perturbations in fracture-rich zones. Simulated in-situ stresses aligned with field measurements, validating the model. The workflow bridges multi-scale data gaps, offering critical insights for optimizing hydraulic fracturing in low-permeability HDR systems.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103342"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143828961","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-14DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103339
John O'Sullivan , Michael Gravatt , Jeremy Riffault , Theo Renaud , Michael O'Sullivan , Nataly Castillo Ruiz , Bridget Ayling , Warren Mannington
{"title":"An updated model of Ohaaki geothermal field, New Zealand","authors":"John O'Sullivan , Michael Gravatt , Jeremy Riffault , Theo Renaud , Michael O'Sullivan , Nataly Castillo Ruiz , Bridget Ayling , Warren Mannington","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103339","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103339","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The University of Auckland has been collaborating with Contact Energy Limited (and its predecessors) for many years on computer modelling of the Ohaaki Geothermal Field. This paper describes the latest model that has been developed over the last 4 years. It is based on an updated digital conceptual model that is used, with our modelling framework, to set up a reservoir model that can be run in either AUTOUGH2 (our version of the well-known simulator TOUGH2) or in Waiwera, our own highly parallelized simulator.</div><div>The new digital conceptual model gives an improved representation of the geological formations, the faults and the alteration zone and the corresponding numerical model gives an improved match to most of the data. The new model produces much better results for temperature decline and pressure decline followed by pressure recovery in the deep wells, such as BR59, BR60 and BR61, on the West Bank of the Waikato River.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103339"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143825762","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-12DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103340
William Kibikas , Tatiana Pyatina , Thomas Dewers , Stephen Bauer , Toshifumi Sugama , Meng Meng
{"title":"Thermal shock resistance of lightweight cements developed for geothermal conditions","authors":"William Kibikas , Tatiana Pyatina , Thomas Dewers , Stephen Bauer , Toshifumi Sugama , Meng Meng","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103340","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103340","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cements are a critical component in well construction, as they act to prevent well fluid and gas escape, prevent corrosion of the casing, and strengthen the wellbore to prevent deformation. Under the high temperature/pressure conditions common in geothermal systems, the injection of cold water for energy production is expected to induce cyclic damage to the borehole cement through the rapid temperature fluctuations. These “thermal shocks” are expected to cause casing shrinkage, annulus formation, and cement tensile stresses. To understand the effect of cold water injection on the wellbore environment, a set of rock-cement-steel samples were created to simulate the structure of a geothermal well. Lightweight thermally-insulating cement blends were tested under thermal shock conditions in this study. In each test, the samples were pressurized to an effective pressure of ∼3.5 MPa and placed at high temperatures. Thermal shocks were performed by injecting cold water (∼10-15 °C) through the samples at a constant rate while keeping the samples at high temperatures until the sample temperature stopped decreasing and deformation ceased. Eight thermal shock tests were conducted with each sample – two at 100 °C and six at 200 °C. Post-tests analysis was then conducted by cutting open each sample to examine the damage in each component of the simulated wellbore. Experimental results suggest that all samples experienced similar degrees of axial and lateral contraction during cold water injection, but for the most part this contraction is recoverable when injection halts. Post-test analysis revealed that fly ash cenosphere pre-treatment had the best effect on improving thermal shock resistance in the cement blends. Thermomechanical modeling of likely stress paths experienced by the cements during heating/cooling cycles shows that elasto-plastic cement constitutive behavior results in most plastic strain occurring during the initial heating steps, with mostly elastic strain occurring during the thermal shock cycles. This agrees with experimental evidence, suggesting that cement damage from shocking occurs via other mechanisms such as chemical alteration, corrosion, and fatigue.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103340"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143823648","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Geothermal detection study using remote sensing data by combining machine learning and deep learning: A case study of Huanggang City","authors":"Haixia Feng, Qingwu Hu, Pengcheng Zhao, Mingyao Ai, Shaohua Wang, Daoyuan Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103338","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103338","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Energy science has significantly advanced societal progress, and the use of renewable energy has become a universal consensus. Among these, geothermal energy offers the advantages of being green, environmentally friendly, efficient, stable, and highly utilized. However, detecting geothermal resources involves significant uncertainty. Remote sensing (RS) data and artificial intelligence (AI) have shown immense potential in overcoming these challenges. To achieve geothermal detection, this study designs a geothermal detection method based on RS and AI, taking into account various RS-related geothermal factors, including land surface temperature, magnetic anomaly, gravity anomaly, distance to faults and rivers, nighttime light, land use type, landform, lithology, and more. The detection process is divided into two stages: coarse detection using machine learning (ML) methods such as the Information Model (IM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Logistic Regression (LR), One-Class Support Vector Machine (OCSVM), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Random Forest (RF). Then, the coarse geothermal detection results are combined with fine-grained detection using a Multi-channel U-shaped Deep Learning Network (MUnet) to achieve high-quality detection. Taking Huanggang City as the research area, the results demonstrate that (1) RS-related geothermal factors significantly influence geothermal distribution, with their nonlinear relationships effectively identified and quantified through feature weight analysis in ML models. The RF model exhibits the best performance in coarse detection by highlighting these key factors, but its Area Ratio of Geothermal Units (GDA) remains high at 24.43 %, classifying 4262 km² of the study area as geothermal units, leading to a substantial false positive rate. (2) The fine-grained detection model MUnet excels by capturing the local spatial effects of RS-related geothermal factors, achieving an F1 score of 90.91 % and dramatically reducing the GDA to 2.82 %, which underscores its exceptional sensitivity in identifying geothermal regions. Through a structured process of feature extraction and progressive decoding from multi-channel inputs, MUnet generates highly precise detection results. (3) The combined RF-MUnet method further enhances detection precision by integrating the strengths of both models, enabling localized learning of RS-related geothermal factors’ effects on geothermal distribution. It surpasses standalone RF and MUnet models, achieving an F1 score of 92.47 % and a GDA of 1.94 %. This indicates that RF-MUnet can provide comprehensive and reliable geothermal detection results, enabling large-scale geothermal resource exploration with high economic efficiency and assisting in subsequent more precise geochemical and geophysical measurements.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103338"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143820776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
GeothermicsPub Date : 2025-04-10DOI: 10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103308
Norifumi Todaka , Nicolas Spycher , Michael B. Kowalsky , Stefan Finsterle , Shohta Shimizu , Takuya Sakai , Shigetaka Nakanishi
{"title":"Thermal-Hydrological-Geochemical modeling of the distribution of acidic fluids at the Onikobe geothermal field, Japan","authors":"Norifumi Todaka , Nicolas Spycher , Michael B. Kowalsky , Stefan Finsterle , Shohta Shimizu , Takuya Sakai , Shigetaka Nakanishi","doi":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103308","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.geothermics.2025.103308","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Geothermal development has not been a priority in acidic fluid areas to date. In recent years, Japan's deregulation has allowed wells to be drilled near young volcanoes in national parks where geothermal development investigations have not previously been conducted, and acidic fluids are now being developed in some areas. More areas with acidic fluids are expected to be discovered in the future. Our goal is to predict the chemical characteristics and distribution of acidic fluids prior to well drilling to maximize the use of available acidic fluids (pH 3∼5) so that the exploitable areas of geothermal resources can be expanded. Predicting acidic fluid production is important to plan and implement corrosion mitigation measures to minimize detrimental corrosive effects on wells and surface facilities. In this paper, the Onikobe geothermal field is used as a model field, and a conceptual model of this geothermal system with acidic fluids is developed. Natural-state coupled thermal-hydrological-geochemical (THC) simulations were performed to estimate the acidic fluid distribution zone and to evaluate the validity of the conceptual model. Multiple iterations between TH (thermal-hydrological, both natural-state and exploitation phases) and THC simulations were performed using iTOUGH2 and TOUGHREACT until reasonable pressures, temperatures, enthalpies, and chemical species concentrations could be obtained. The pH of the acidic fluid zone at the Onikobe field remains stable at about pH 3.5, with the acidic fluid understood to extend consistently with the spatial distribution of pyrophyllite.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55095,"journal":{"name":"Geothermics","volume":"130 ","pages":"Article 103308"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5,"publicationDate":"2025-04-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143807514","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}