Tracer Test and Streamline Simulation for Geothermal Resources in Cuona of Tibet

• Main Authors: Lei Wang, Lihua Zuo, Changming Zhu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
• Series: Fluids
• Subjects: tracer test; streamline simulation; geothermal; injection well; production well
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2311-5521/5/3/128

The exploration and production of geothermal energy have been important missions for the energy contribution of the world, especially because geothermal energy is one environmentally friendly resource. The geothermal resources exist around the world but there are differences in the exploration and production procedures depending on the geophysical properties and brine temperatures in each reservoir. There are plenty of geothermal reservoirs in southwest China but the subsurface situations are so complicated that it is hard to produce the geothermal resource economically and in an environmentally friendly way. In this paper, we summarized the current situations of the geothermal exploration in Cuona and studied the impact of injection wells on the geothermal production performance. Tracer tests were performed to test the connections between three injection wells and two production wells and the streamline algorithm based on Complex Analysis Potential methods is applied to simulate the trajectories and running time of the water from the injection well. The tracer test results were analyzed to get possible interconnection relations between different wells. The most reasonable subsurface conditions including porosity and faults locations were investigated. The technique proposed here could be extended and applied for other geothermal projects in China and other countries in the world.