Experimental Investigation of Heat Transfer by Water Flowing Through Rough Fractures

Abstract

Having an accurate understanding of the flow and heat transfer characteristics of water flowing through fractures with different fracture geometry is important for building an accurate heat transfer model of enhanced geothermal systems. This paper presents experimental investigation of convective heat transfer of water in five artificial rough and tortuous fractures with different geometry that were created using the 3D printing method. The effects of volumetric flow rate, and the fracture roughness on the heat transfer characteristics were studied. The results showed that the fracture geometry significantly influences the heat transfer characteristics of water flowing through rocks.