Simple finite element, heat- and mass-transfer models designed to teach geothermal reservoir physics.
Models developed by Irene Wallis, Cubic Earth https://www.cubicearth.nz/
Flow State Solutions sponsored a licence of Volsung (v 1.14.0) for this project https://www.flowstatesolutions.co.nz/
Illustrates a conductive thermal gradient of 40 degC/km (model 1a)
List of rock thermal conductivities: https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1988/0441/report.pdf
All rock types have permeability of 0.001 mD (i.e., below the limit for convection).
grid 1 A 10/10 km model with with 1000 m Voronoi grid elements in the horizontal with 250 m thick blocks to 8 km depth.
A single fault with high vertical permeability within a relatively low permeability host rock. A conductive thermal gradient of XXX degC/km is implemented without additional upflow elements (i.e., there is no additional injection of heat and mass into the fault zone). Subsequently, the convection cell, both upward and downward components, form inside the fault.
model 2a single fault in one rock medium, but the fault does not go to surface
Apache 2.0
https://choosealicense.com/licenses/apache-2.0/
Models and associated teaching materials were developed by Irene Wallis. Peter Franz (Flow State Solutions) is acknowledged for providing technical support for the Volsung package. Bill Cumming (Cumming Geoscience) is acknowledged for conceptual discussions that contributed to the refinement of this teaching resource.