IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i16p4717-d607850.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Simulating Plasma Formation in Pores under Short Electric Pulses for Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD)

Author

Listed:
  • Mohamed Ezzat

    (Geothermal Energy and Geofluids Group, Institute of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Daniel Vogler

    (Geothermal Energy and Geofluids Group, Institute of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland)

  • Martin O. Saar

    (Geothermal Energy and Geofluids Group, Institute of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
    Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA)

  • Benjamin M. Adams

    (Geothermal Energy and Geofluids Group, Institute of Geophysics, Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD) is a contact-less drilling technique, where an electric discharge across a rock sample causes the rock to fracture. Experimental results have shown PPGD drilling operations are successful if certain electrode spacings, pulse voltages, and pulse rise times are given. However, the underlying physics of the electric breakdown within the rock, which cause damage in the process, are still poorly understood. This study presents a novel methodology to numerically study plasma generation for electric pulses between 200 and 500 kV in rock pores with a width between 10 and 100 μm. We further investigate whether the pressure increase, induced by the plasma generation, is sufficient to cause rock fracturing, which is indicative of the onset of drilling success. We find that rock fracturing occurs in simulations with a 100 μm pore size and an imposed pulse voltage of approximately 400 kV. Furthermore, pulses with voltages lower than 400 kV induce damage near the electrodes, which expands from pulse to pulse, and eventually, rock fracturing occurs. Additionally, we find that the likelihood for fracturing increases with increasing pore voltage drop, which increases with pore size, electric pulse voltage, and rock effective relative permittivity while being inversely proportional to the rock porosity and pulse rise time.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohamed Ezzat & Daniel Vogler & Martin O. Saar & Benjamin M. Adams, 2021. "Simulating Plasma Formation in Pores under Short Electric Pulses for Plasma Pulse Geo Drilling (PPGD)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:16:p:4717-:d:607850
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/16/4717/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/16/4717/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Changping Li & Longchen Duan & Songcheng Tan & Victor Chikhotkin & Wenpeng Fu, 2019. "Damage Model and Numerical Experiment of High-Voltage Electro Pulse Boring in Granite," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Kant, Michael A. & Rossi, Edoardo & Duss, Jonas & Amann, Florian & Saar, Martin O. & Rudolf von Rohr, Philipp, 2018. "Demonstration of thermal borehole enlargement to facilitate controlled reservoir engineering for deep geothermal, oil or gas systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1501-1509.
    3. Emad A. Al-Khdheeawi & Doaa Saleh Mahdi, 2019. "Apparent Viscosity Prediction of Water-Based Muds Using Empirical Correlation and an Artificial Neural Network," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-10, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Romanov, D. & Leiss, B., 2022. "Geothermal energy at different depths for district heating and cooling of existing and future building stock," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    2. Ioan Sarbu & Matei Mirza & Daniel Muntean, 2022. "Integration of Renewable Energy Sources into Low-Temperature District Heating Systems: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-28, September.
    3. Malek, Adam E. & Adams, Benjamin M. & Rossi, Edoardo & Schiegg, Hans O. & Saar, Martin O., 2022. "Techno-economic analysis of Advanced Geothermal Systems (AGS)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 186(C), pages 927-943.

    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. Zhixiang Cai & Hui Zhang & Kerou Liu & Yufei Chen & Qing Yu, 2020. "Experimental Investigation and Mechanism Analysis on Rock Damage by High Voltage Spark Discharge in Water: Effect of Electrical Conductivity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-16, October.
    2. Guo, Yide & Dyskin, Arcady & Pasternak, Elena, 2024. "Thermal spallation of dry rocks induced by flame parallel or normal to layering: Effect of anisotropy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    3. Salaheldin Elkatatny, 2019. "Real-Time Prediction of the Rheological Properties of Water-Based Drill-In Fluid Using Artificial Neural Networks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-18, September.
    4. Changping Li & Xiaohui Wang & Longchen Duan & Bo Lei, 2022. "Study on a Discharge Circuit Prediction Model of High-Voltage Electro-Pulse Boring Based on Bayesian Fusion," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-12, May.
    5. Jinyu Feng & Tie Yan & Yang Cao & Shihui Sun, 2022. "Ultrasonic-Assisted Rock-Breaking Technology and Oil and Gas Drilling Applications: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-18, November.
    6. Pan, Shu-Yuan & Gao, Mengyao & Shah, Kinjal J. & Zheng, Jianming & Pei, Si-Lu & Chiang, Pen-Chi, 2019. "Establishment of enhanced geothermal energy utilization plans: Barriers and strategies," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 19-32.
    7. Chen, Jingping & Feng, Shaohang, 2020. "Evaluating a large geothermal absorber’s energy extraction and storage performance in a common geological condition," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    8. Li, Sanbai & Feng, Xia-Ting & Zhang, Dongxiao & Tang, Huiying, 2019. "Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical analysis of stimulation and production for fractured geothermal reservoirs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 40-59.
    9. Wang, Zhipeng & Ning, Zhengfu & Guo, Wenting & Zhan, Jie & Zhang, Yuanxin, 2024. "Study of fracture monitoring and heat extraction evaluation in geothermal reservoir modified by abandoned well pattern: Numerical models and case studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 296(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:14:y:2021:i:16:p:4717-:d:607850. 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.