Geothermal Reservoir Engineering

Book excerpt: Geothermal Reservoir Engineering offers a comprehensive account of geothermal reservoir engineering and a guide to the state-of-the-art technology, with emphasis on practicality. Topics covered include well completion and warm-up, flow testing, and field monitoring and management. A case study of a geothermal well in New Zealand is also presented. Comprised of 10 chapters, this book opens with an overview of geothermal reservoirs and the development of geothermal reservoir engineering as a discipline. The following chapters focus on conceptual models of geothermal fields; simple models that illustrate some of the processes taking place in geothermal reservoirs under exploitation; measurements in a well from spudding-in up to first discharge; and flow measurement. The next chapter provides a case history of one well in the Broadlands Geothermal Field in New Zealand, with particular reference to its drilling, measurement, discharge, and data analysis/interpretation. The changes that have occurred in exploited geothermal fields are also reviewed. The final chapter considers three major problems of geothermal reservoir engineering: rapid entry of external cooler water, or return of reinjected water, in fractured reservoirs; the effects of exploitation on natural discharges; and subsidence. This monograph serves as both a text for students and a manual for working professionals in the field of geothermal reservoir engineering. It will also be of interest to engineers and scientists of other disciplines.