Abstract
One of the most important topics of this century is the production and conservation of renewable and sustainable energy since the reserve of the fossil fuels in our planet is going to be exhausted in not so far future. Owing to growing demands for sustainable energy the Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) system has become a popular technology in last few decades for long term storing of excess thermal energy for future use. The present study is concerned about developing a coupled thermo-hydrogeological numerical model for such an ATES system consisting of a confined porous aquifer underlain and overlain by impermeable rock media with different thermo-hydrogeological properties, where hot water is injected through injection well into the porous medium which is at subsurface temperature. First the numerical model is developed for an ATES system with single production well and multiple injection wells and then for an ATES system with multiple production wells and a single injection well, as both the scenario occur in field. A simplified version of the model has been validated using an analytical model developed by the authors here. The main motive of the study is to model the thermal fronts which are generated in the aquifer due to hot water injection. Modeling the movement of the thermal front is important in designing an injection-production well scheme to avoid thermal breakthrough which happens when the thermal front generated at the injection well reaches the production well affecting the production temperature and efficiency of an ATES system.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | Proceedings of 9th International Symposium on Lowland Technology |
| Place of Publication | Japan |
| Publisher | International Association of Lowland Technology |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2014 |