On the heat transfer coefficient between rock fracture walls and flowing fluid

Two analytical solutions are derived to model the heated flow-through experiments for granite fractures in the literature. The first model, which assumes an identical/continuous temperature between the bulk fluid and fracture surfaces, represents an upper bound solution of water temperature in rock fractures. The second model including the empirical parameter of heat transfer coefficient is used to calculate the average heat transfer coefficient based on the available experimental data. The obtained heat transfer coefficients are smaller than that from the thermal boundary layer theory for flat plates, but larger than the previous estimates. A power function is fitted to describe the relation between heat transfer coefficient and flow velocity. Both models show that water temperature increases non-linearly along fracture plane.