IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v11y2018i1p168-d126296.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Laboratory Investigation of Flow Paths in 3D Self-Affine Fractures with Lattice Boltzmann Simulations

Author

Listed:
  • Jiawei Li

    (School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia)

  • Claudia Cherubini

    (School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia
    Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, via Saragat, 1-44122 Ferrara, Italy)

  • Sergio Andres Galindo Torres

    (School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia
    Department of Civil Engineering and Industrial Design, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK)

  • Zi Li

    (School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia)

  • Nicola Pastore

    (DICATECh—Politecnico di Bari, via E. Orabona, 70125 Bari, Italy)

  • Ling Li

    (School of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Brisbane 4072, Australia)

Abstract

In this study, laboratory experiments and simulations have been conducted to investigate single water phase flow through self-affine rough fractures. It is the first time that 3D printing technology is proposed for the application of generating self-affine rough fractures. The experimental setup was designed to measure the water volume by dividing the discharging surface into five sections with equal distances under constant injection flow rates. Water flow through self-affine rough fractures was simulated numerically by using the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). An agreement between the experimental data and the numerical simulation results was achieved. The fractal dimension is positively correlated to fracture surface roughness and the fracture inclination represents the gravity force acting on the water flow. The influences of fracture inclinations, fractal dimensions, and mismatch wavelengths were studied and analyzed, with an emphasis on flow paths through a self-affine rough fracture. Different values of fractal dimensions, fracture inclinations, and mismatch wavelengths result in small changes of flow rates from five sections of discharging surface. However, the section of discharging surface with the largest flow rate remains constant. In addition, it is found that the gravity force can affect flow paths. Combined with the experimental data, the simulation results are used to explain the preferential flow paths through fracture rough surfaces from a new perspective. The results may enhance our understanding of fluid flow through fractures and provide a solid background for further research in the areas of energy exploration and production.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiawei Li & Claudia Cherubini & Sergio Andres Galindo Torres & Zi Li & Nicola Pastore & Ling Li, 2018. "Laboratory Investigation of Flow Paths in 3D Self-Affine Fractures with Lattice Boltzmann Simulations," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-21, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:168-:d:126296
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/1/168/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/1/168/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joshua J. Martin & Brad E. Fiore & Randall M. Erb, 2015. "Designing bioinspired composite reinforcement architectures via 3D magnetic printing," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 6(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Sun, Zhi-xue & Zhang, Xu & Xu, Yi & Yao, Jun & Wang, Hao-xuan & Lv, Shuhuan & Sun, Zhi-lei & Huang, Yong & Cai, Ming-yu & Huang, Xiaoxue, 2017. "Numerical simulation of the heat extraction in EGS with thermal-hydraulic-mechanical coupling method based on discrete fractures model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 20-33.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shi, Yu & Song, Xianzhi & Shen, Zhonghou & Wang, Gaosheng & Li, Xiaojiang & Zheng, Rui & Geng, Lidong & Li, Jiacheng & Zhang, Shikun, 2018. "Numerical investigation on heat extraction performance of a CO2 enhanced geothermal system with multilateral wells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 38-51.
    2. Hu, Xincheng & Banks, Jonathan & Guo, Yunting & Liu, Wei Victor, 2022. "Utilizing geothermal energy from enhanced geothermal systems as a heat source for oil sands separation: A numerical evaluation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    3. Zhang, Bo & Guo, Tiankui & Qu, Zhanqing & Wang, Jiwei & Chen, Ming & Liu, Xiaoqiang, 2023. "Numerical simulation of fracture propagation and production performance in a fractured geothermal reservoir using a 2D FEM-based THMD coupling model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    4. He, Renhui & Rong, Guan & Tan, Jie & Phoon, Kok-Kwang & Quan, Junsong, 2022. "Numerical evaluation of heat extraction performance in enhanced geothermal system considering rough-walled fractures," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 524-544.
    5. Liao, Jianxing & Hu, Ke & Mehmood, Faisal & Xu, Bin & Teng, Yuhang & Wang, Hong & Hou, Zhengmeng & Xie, Yachen, 2023. "Embedded discrete fracture network method for numerical estimation of long-term performance of CO2-EGS under THM coupled framework," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    6. Zhao, Peng & Liu, Jun & Elsworth, Derek, 2023. "Numerical study on a multifracture enhanced geothermal system considering matrix permeability enhancement induced by thermal unloading," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 33-44.
    7. Zhang, Tao & Li, Yiteng & Chen, Yin & Feng, Xiaoyu & Zhu, Xingyu & Chen, Zhangxing & Yao, Jun & Zheng, Yongchun & Cai, Jianchao & Song, Hongqing & Sun, Shuyu, 2021. "Review on space energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    8. Zhang, Wei & Wang, Chunguang & Guo, Tiankui & He, Jiayuan & Zhang, Le & Chen, Shaojie & Qu, Zhanqing, 2021. "Study on the cracking mechanism of hydraulic and supercritical CO2 fracturing in hot dry rock under thermal stress," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C).
    9. Wei Wang & Shu Jian Chen & Weiqiang Chen & Wenhui Duan & Jia Zie Lai & Kwesi Sagoe-Crentsil, 2022. "Damage-tolerant material design motif derived from asymmetrical rotation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    10. Mahmoodpour, Saeed & Singh, Mrityunjay & Turan, Aysegul & Bär, Kristian & Sass, Ingo, 2022. "Simulations and global sensitivity analysis of the thermo-hydraulic-mechanical processes in a fractured geothermal reservoir," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    11. Song, Xianzhi & Shi, Yu & Li, Gensheng & Shen, Zhonghou & Hu, Xiaodong & Lyu, Zehao & Zheng, Rui & Wang, Gaosheng, 2018. "Numerical analysis of the heat production performance of a closed loop geothermal system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 365-378.
    12. Han, Songcai & Cheng, Yuanfang & Gao, Qi & Yan, Chuanliang & Zhang, Jincheng, 2020. "Numerical study on heat extraction performance of multistage fracturing Enhanced Geothermal System," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 1214-1226.
    13. Han, Bowen & Wang, Shuhong & Zhang, Ze & Wang, Ye, 2024. "Numerical simulation of geothermal reservoir thermal recovery of heterogeneous discrete fracture network-rock matrix system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    14. Chen, Yun & Ma, Guowei & Wang, Huidong & Li, Tuo & Wang, Yang & Sun, Zizheng, 2020. "Optimizing heat mining strategies in a fractured geothermal reservoir considering fracture deformation effects," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 326-337.
    15. Xue, Yi & Liu, Shuai & Chai, Junrui & Liu, Jia & Ranjith, P.G. & Cai, Chengzheng & Gao, Feng & Bai, Xue, 2023. "Effect of water-cooling shock on fracture initiation and morphology of high-temperature granite: Application of hydraulic fracturing to enhanced geothermal systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 337(C).
    16. Ma, Yuanyuan & Li, Shibin & Zhang, Ligang & Liu, Songze & Liu, Zhaoyi & Li, Hao & Shi, Erxiu & Liu, Xuemei & Liu, Hongliang, 2020. "Analysis on the heat extraction performance of multi-well injection enhanced geothermal system based on leaf-like bifurcated fracture networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    17. Ma, Yuanyuan & Li, Shibin & Zhang, Ligang & Liu, Songze & Wang, Ming, 2023. "Heat extraction performance evaluation of U-shaped well geothermal production system under different well-layout parameters and engineering schemes," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 473-484.
    18. Xiang Gao & Tailu Li & Yao Zhang & Xiangfei Kong & Nan Meng, 2022. "A Review of Simulation Models of Heat Extraction for a Geothermal Reservoir in an Enhanced Geothermal System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-23, September.
    19. Wang, Yang & Li, Tuo & Chen, Yun & Ma, Guowei, 2019. "Numerical analysis of heat mining and geological carbon sequestration in supercritical CO2 circulating enhanced geothermal systems inlayed with complex discrete fracture networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 92-108.
    20. Ma, Yuanyuan & Li, Shibin & Zhang, Ligang & Liu, Songze & Liu, Zhaoyi & Li, Hao & Shi, Erxiu, 2020. "Study on the effect of well layout schemes and fracture parameters on the heat extraction performance of enhanced geothermal system in fractured reservoir," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:1:p:168-:d:126296. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.