Modeling of Distributed Strain Sensing (DSS) in Utah FORGE Stimulations

Abstract

It is planned to install distributed strain sensing (DSS) fiber optics in the production well of Utah FORGE EGS. It is important to know the possible strain patterns that the DFNs in the three stimulation zones would provide. In this study a fracture simulator which uses a coupled displacement discontinuity method with a finite element method for fluid flow was used to identify the strain patterns which are caused by several fracture orientations. These scenarios include single planar fracture and multiple planer fractures. Further we also used this method to identify the possible strain signatures of the DFN present in the stimulation zones 1-3 of Utah FORGE (EGS). The resulting strain signatures will be used to identify the possible hydraulic fractures in zones 2 and 3 of FORGE and to distinguish between the strain signatures provided by DFN and hydraulic fractures.