Cellular Automata (CA) for Simulations of Complex Geothermal Reservoirs

The exploitation of geothermal power is a renewable energy source with great potential in future. But the exploration and development of deep geothermal energy is connected with high cost and risk. These require a reliable functionality of geological heat exchanger. However the geothermal reservoirs are really complicated as phenomena and concrete downhole data are not completely discovered at present. In order to simulate them, complex modelings combined with different time scale are necessary. Recently, the cellular automata (CA) method is being developed and widely used for solving many complex problems in different fields. Here we introduced CA method combined with Navier-Stoke equation and heat transfer; the domains of reservoirs are initially discretized into many lattice cells. The different cell type and their physical properties (e.g. water cell, porous cell, etc.) are introduced. Thermodynamically correct computation and computing fluid flow in different formations are performed. The paper will give some computational results, showing the efficiency and accuracy of this method, in order to complete the phenomena of complex geothermal problem. (© 2011 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)