Publications

Fracture and flow designs for the collab/SIGMA-V project

Knox, Hunter A.; Fu, P.; Morris, J.P.; Guglielmi, Y.; Vermeul, V.R.; Ajo-Franklin, J.; Strickland, C.E.; Johnson, Timothy; Herrick, Courtney G.; Lee, Moo Y.; Bauer, S.J.; Baumgartner, T.; Blankenship, D.; Bonneville, A.; Boyd, L.; Brown, S.T.; Burghardt, J.A.; Carroll, S.A.; Chen, T.; Condon, C.; Cook, P.J.; Dobson, P.F.; Doe, T.; Doughty, C.A.; Elsworth, D.; Frash, L.P.; Frone, Z.; Ghassemi, A.; Gudmundsdottir, H.; Guthrie, G.; Haimson, B.; Heise, J.; Horn, M.; Horne, R.N.; Hu, M.; Huang, H.; Huang, L.; Johnson, T.C.; Johnston, B.; Karra, S.; Kim, K.; King, D.K.; Kneafsey, T.; Kumar, D.; Li, K.; Maceira, M.; Makedonska, N.; Marone, C.; Mattson, E.; McClure, M.W.; McLennan, J.; McLing, T.; Mellors, R.J.; Metcalfe, E.; Miskimins, J.; Nakagawa, S.; Neupane, G.; Newman, G.; Nieto, A.; Oldenburg, C.M.; Pawar, R.; Petrov, P.; Pietzyk, B.; Podgorney, R.; Polsky, Y.; Porse, S.; Roggenthen, B.; Rutqvist, J.; Santos-Villalobos, H.; Schwering, P.; Sesetty, V.; Singh, A.; Smith, M.M.; Snyder, N.; Sone, H.; Sonnenthal, E.L.; Spycher, N.; Su, J.; Suzuki, A.; Ulrich, C.; Valladao, C.A.; Vandermeer, W.; Vardiman, D.; Wagoner, J.L.; Wang, H.F.; Weers, J.; White, J.; White, M.D.; Winterfeld, P.; Wu, Y.S.; Wu, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Zhang, Y.Q.; Zhou, J.; Zhou, Q.; Zoback, M.D.

The first experiment of the Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) Collab (a.k.a Stimulation Investigations for Geothermal Modeling Analysis and Validation (SIGMA-V)) project is designed to comprehensively monitor a series of hydraulic fracture stimulations and subsequent flow tests. This experiment is planned for the 4850 Level in the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), located at the former Homestake Gold Mine, in Lead, South Dakota. The target host rock for these stimulations and flow tests is a phyllite schist known as the Poorman formation. This paper discusses at a high level the engineering design for the stimulation and fracture monitoring system, the considerations for the test bed construction, and the preliminary stimulation modeling. Furthermore, this paper will highlight the intricate ways that predictive modeling can be used for testbed and stimulation design. This project is funded by the United States Department of Energy, Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO).