Coupled numerical modelling

Supervisor: Emmanuel Gaucher

Person in charge: Rahim Habibi

There is a high demand for geothermal energy in Germany and Europe in general, both for heat and electricity supply. However, fluid circulation in deep geothermal reservoirs can induce seismicity and prevent from confident development and sustainable use of the resource.
My doctoral work focuses on the numerical modelling of thermal, hydraulic and geomechanical (THM) processes coupled with seismicity, in deep faulted geothermal reservoirs. Hence, spatial and temporal evolutions of the reservoir characteristics associated with geothermal fluid circulation should be modelled. The further development of an existing THM modelling tool and the implementation of new capabilities to couple it with seismic rupture modelling constitutes a major task of my work. Existing data and data acquired in the course of the project will support the numerical modelling set-up and calibration.
For the reservoir modelling part, I develop under the MOOSE framework and use mainly the Porous Flow and Tensor Mechanics modules that I extend for my purposes. For the seismic rupture dynamics, I use SeisSol in cooperation with the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich (LMU). To reach my objective, I need to couple both open-source programs to allow exchange of the respective results.
My work is part of the INSIDE project, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) and made in cooperation with Stadtwerke München (SWM) and Innovative Energie für Pullach (IEP).