Thermoelastic properties of the Rotokawa Andesite: A geothermal reservoir constraint

• Thermoelastic properties of a significant geothermal reservoir rock are presented.
• Thermal expansion is investigated using heating rates of 2, 5 and 20 °C/min.
• Thermomechanical and thermochemical data are presented from 20–900 °C.
• 500 °C is the threshold for thermochemical breakdown of Rotokawa Andesite.
• Results are incorporated into a one dimensional thermal stress model.

Knowledge of the thermal properties of geothermal reservoir rocks is essential to constraining important engineering concerns such as wellbore stability, reservoir forecasting and stimulation procedures. The thermo-mechanical evolution of geological material is also important to assess when considering natural processes such as magmatic dyke propagation, contact metamorphism and magma/lava emplacement and cooling effects. To better constrain these properties in the geothermal reservoir, thermal measurements were carried out on core samples from production wells drilled in the Rotokawa Andesite geothermal reservoir, located in the Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand. Linear thermal expansion testing, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry were used, employing experimental heating rates of 2, 5 and 20 °C/min. Thermal property analyses can elucidate whether thermal expansion values measured under varied heating (and cooling) rates are rate dependent and if thermo-chemical reactions influence the resultant expansivity. Measured thermal expansion coefficients of the Rotokawa Andesite are shown not to be heating rate dependent. We have also found that significant thermochemical reactions occur during heating above 500 °C resulting in non-reversible changes to the thermomechanical properties. The combined thermogravimetric, calorimetric and thermomechanical analysis allows insight to the reactions occurring and how the thermomechanical properties are affected at high temperature. We incorporated results of tensile strength testing on the Rotokawa Andesite to apply our thermal property measurements to a one-dimensional thermal stress model. The developed model provides a failure criterion for the Rotokawa Andesite under thermal stress. The importance of this study is to further understand the critical heating and cooling rates at which thermal stress may cause cracking within the Rotokawa reservoir. Thermal cracking in the reservoir can be beneficial in reservoir stimulation procedures, but also poses potential risk to wellbore stability, so constraining the conditions at which this can occur can be beneficial to resource utilization.