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Anisotropy in the Ironton and Galesville Sandstones Near a Thermal‐Energy‐Storage Well, St. Paul, Minnesota
Author(s) -
Miller R. T.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
groundwater
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.84
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1745-6584
pISSN - 0017-467X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6584.1984.tb01421.x
Subject(s) - aquifer , anisotropy , hydraulic conductivity , hydrogeology , geology , specific storage , aquifer properties , aquifer test , thermal energy storage , soil science , hydrology (agriculture) , mineralogy , geotechnical engineering , groundwater , thermodynamics , soil water , physics , optics , groundwater recharge
The U.S. Geological Survey is studying the potential for storage of heated water in a sandstone aquifer in St. Paul, Minnesota. The efficiency of the aquifer to store thermal energy is related, in part, to the hydrogeologic characteristics of the aquifer. The movement of heat away from the injection well is directly related to the anisotropy. Aquifer tests were conducted to determine the anisotropy near the heated‐water injection well. The maximum and minimum values of transmissivity along the principal directions of the hydraulic conductivity tensors of the Ironton and Galesville Sandstones in St. Paul, Minnesota are approximately 1,090 and 480 feet squared per day. The storage coefficient is 4.5 × 10 −5 . These values represent the average of four determinations of nonsteady flow to a well in an idealized infinite anisotropic aquifer. Analysis of the values of transmissivity and storage coefficient for hypothetical changes in location of two of the monitoring wells where depth‐deviation surveys were not available indicates that computed transmissivities vary less than 5 percent and storage coefficients vary less than ±6 percent.