Estimating liquid fluxes in thermally perturbed fractured rock using measured temperature profiles

SummaryA new temperature-profile method was recently developed for analyzing perturbed flow conditions in strongly heated porous media. The method uses high-resolution temperature data to estimate the magnitude of the heat-driven liquid and gas fluxes that form as a result of boiling, condensation, and recirculation of pore water. In this paper, we evaluate the applicability of this new method to the more complex flow behavior in fractured formations with porous rock matrix. In such formations, the porous but low-permeable matrix provides most of the mass and heat storage capacity, and dominates conductive heat transfer. Fractures, on the other hand, offer highly effective conduits for gas and liquid flow, thereby generating significant advective heat transfer. After establishing the accuracy of the temperature-profile method for fractured porous formations, we apply the method to analyze the perturbed flow conditions in a large-scale underground heater test conducted in unsaturated fractured porous tuff. The flux estimates for this test indicate a significant reflux of water near the heat source, on the order of a few hundred millimeter per year – much larger than the ambient percolation flux of only a few millimeter per year.