"Womp Womp! Your browser does not support canvas :'("

Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling

Publicly accessible License 

Wells for Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) typically occur in conditions presenting significant challenges for conventional rotary and percussive drilling technologies: granitic rocks that reduce drilling speeds and cause substantial equipment wear. Thermal spallation drilling, in which rock is fragmented by high temperature rather than mechanical means, offers a potential solution to these problems. However, much of the knowledge surrounding this drilling technique is empirical - based on laboratory experiments that may or may not represent field conditions. This paper outlines a new numerical modeling effort investigating the grain-scale processes governing thermal spallation drilling. Several factors affect spall production at the mesoscale, including grain size and size distribution, surface temperatures and material heterogeneity. To investigate the relative influence of these factors, we have conducted a series of simulations using GEODYN - a parallel Eulerian solid and fluid dynamics code. In this paper, we describe a two-dimensional model used to simulate the grain-scale processes and present preliminary results from this modeling effort.

Citation Formats

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (2011). Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling [data set]. Retrieved from https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/174.
Export Citation to RIS
Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, and Roberts, Jeffery J. Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling. United States: N.p., 24 Aug, 2011. Web. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/174.
Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, & Roberts, Jeffery J. Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling. United States. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/174
Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, and Roberts, Jeffery J. 2011. "Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling". United States. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/174.
@div{oedi_3022, title = {Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling}, author = {Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, and Roberts, Jeffery J.}, abstractNote = {Wells for Engineered Geothermal Systems (EGS) typically occur in conditions presenting significant challenges for conventional rotary and percussive drilling technologies: granitic rocks that reduce drilling speeds and cause substantial equipment wear. Thermal spallation drilling, in which rock is fragmented by high temperature rather than mechanical means, offers a potential solution to these problems. However, much of the knowledge surrounding this drilling technique is empirical - based on laboratory experiments that may or may not represent field conditions. This paper outlines a new numerical modeling effort investigating the grain-scale processes governing thermal spallation drilling. Several factors affect spall production at the mesoscale, including grain size and size distribution, surface temperatures and material heterogeneity. To investigate the relative influence of these factors, we have conducted a series of simulations using GEODYN - a parallel Eulerian solid and fluid dynamics code. In this paper, we describe a two-dimensional model used to simulate the grain-scale processes and present preliminary results from this modeling effort.}, doi = {}, url = {https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/174}, journal = {}, number = , volume = , place = {United States}, year = {2011}, month = {08}}

Details

Data from Aug 24, 2011

Last updated May 23, 2017

Submitted Feb 13, 2013

Organization

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Contact

Stuart D.C. Walsh

Authors

Stuart D.C. Walsh

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Ilya Lomov

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Jeffery J. Roberts

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Research Areas

DOE Project Details

Project Name Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling

Project Lead Greg Stillman

Project Number LLNL FY11 AOP2

Share

Submission Downloads