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. Geothermal energy is an important and sustainableresource that has more potential than is currently utilized. Whether or nota deep geothermal resource can be exploited, mostly depends on, besidestemperature, the utilizable reservoir volume over time, which in turnlargely depends on petrophysical parameters. We show, using over 1000 ( n=1027 ) 4-D finite-element models of a simplegeothermal doublet, that the lifetime of a reservoir is a complex functionof its geological parameters, their heterogeneity, and the backgroundhydraulic gradient (BHG). In our models, we test the effects of porosity,permeability, and BHG in an isotropic medium. Furthermore, we simulate theeffect of permeability contrast and anisotropy induced by layering,fractures, and a fault. We quantify the lifetime of the reservoir bymeasuring the time to thermal breakthrough, i.e. how many years pass beforethe temperature of the produced fluid falls below the 100  ∘ Cthreshold. The results of our sensitivity study attest to the positiveeffect of high porosity; however, high permeability and BHG can combine tooutperform the former. Particular configurations of all the parameters cancause either early thermal breakthrough or extreme longevity of thereservoir. For example, the presence of high-permeability fractures, e.g.in a fault damage zone, can provide initially high yields, but it channelsfluid flow and therefore dramatically restricts the exploitable reservoirvolume. We demonstrate that the magnitude and orientation of the BHG,provided permeability is sufficiently high, are the prime parameters thataffect the lifetime of a reservoir. Our numerical experiments show also thatBHGs (low and high) can be outperformed by comparatively small variations inpermeability contrast (10 3 ) and fracture-induced permeabilityanisotropy (10 1 ) that thus strongly affect the performance ofgeothermal reservoirs.

solid earth

A numerical sensitivity study of how permeability, porosity, geological structure, and hydraulic gradient control the lifetime of a geothermal reservoir