Funding entity Universidad Politécnica de Madrid
This project focuses on studying the thermal response of geothermal heat exchangers based on boreholes with oblique or curved drilling.
The main motivation for this analysis is to enhance the feasibility of shallow geothermal energy projects when using buried heat exchanger configurations that include oblique or curved drilling.
This approach not only allows for a reduction of borehole length by 30% compared to conventional boreholes, as reported in some studies, but also helps decrease the surface footprint of the geothermal installation and increases the amount of accessible land per unit of surface area.
While this option is highly attractive, it also entails higher drilling costs. Therefore, conducting a rigorous comparison between both configurations is crucial to determine the project's economic feasibility.
This comparison involves performing detailed numerical comparisons among all configurations of interest, managing the large computational domains required, and ensuring high mesh precision around the slender geothermal boreholes.
Layman's summary: A geothermal heat exchanger is typically composed of straight boreholes through which a fluid circulates, exchanging heat with the ground. Studies estimate that using curved drilling can reduce well length by around 30%, leading to savings in materials and costs. However, drilling costs per meter are higher with curved drilling. This project conducts a numerical comparison between the configurations of interest to assess the feasibility of curved drilling.
Techniques employed: Scale analysis. Numerical analysis and modeling.
GEOCURVED
