Numerical Simulation on Heat Transfer Characteristics of Water Flowing through the Fracture of High-Temperature Rock

Abstract

Deep geothermal resources are becoming an increasingly important energy source worldwide. To achieve the optimal efficiency of this resource, the heat transfer characteristics between flowing water and rock need to be further studied. Using the stereotopometric scanning system 3D CaMega, the fracture geometry data of five cuboid granite rocks were obtained to determine the effects of fracture roughness on the heat transferability of rock. A 3-D model was built based upon the scanned geometry data to assess the effects of rock temperature, water velocity, and roughness, and aperture size of fracture surface on the heat transfer coefficient. The simulation tests show that water velocity has the most noticeable effect, followed by aperture size and rock roughness. On the other hand, the initial rock temperature has the least influence. A new heat transfer coefficient was proposed considering aperture size, water flow velocity, and rock fracture roughness. The calculated values of Reynolds, Prandtl, and Nusselt numbers obtained using this coefficient are in good agreement with the numerical simulation results. This study provides a reference for enhancing the heat transfer coefficient to benefit the exploitation of heat energy of hot dry rock.