Analysis Based on Integrated Conservation Law for Discontinuous Rock

Coupled Analysis of Stress, Heat Transfer and Groundwater Flow

Abstract

The precise evaluation of heat transfer and, groundwater migration in fractured rocks is the key problem for the geological disposal of nuclear waste, energy extraction from hot dry rocks and underground storage of LPG. The stress state affect the heat transfer and groundwater migration due to the opening or closing of fractures in rock mass.
The numerical method for coupled analysis of stress-heat-water-fractures is to be developed for the estimation of heat transfer and groundwater flow in the earth' crust.
The Rigid-Body-Spring Model (RBSM) has been recently developed to simulate effectively the deformation and fracturing of jointed rock mass. The direct discretization through the conservation law is proposed for the numerical analysis of heat transfer and water flow coupled with the analysis of stress propagation in the jointed rock mass by the RBSM. The RBSM can be considered as a discrete model to fulfill the conservation law in the stress analysis.
The numerical simulation of heat and fluid migration coupled with fracture propagation was applied for the performance assessment of underground oil and LPG storage.