ARMA 18–148

Experimental Study of Hydraulic Fracturing in Enhanced Geothermal

System
Zhou, Z., Jin, Y.
State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China
Zeng, Y.
Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Beijing, China
Youn, D.
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

Copyright 2018 ARMA, American Rock Mechanics Association

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 52nd US Rock Mechanics / Geomechanics Symposium held in Seattle, Washington, USA, 17–20
June 2018. This paper was selected for presentation at the symposium by an ARMA Technical Program Committee based on a technical and critical
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ABSTRACT: The enhanced geothermal system is applied to develop the hot dry rock geothermal resource. The hot dry rock is dry
and impermeable rock, like granite, in the depth of 3000~6000 meters; and its temperature is as high as 200 ℃. The energy of the
hot dry rock is extracted to generate geothermal electricity. The extraction is through the technology of the enhanced geothermal
system. In the enhanced geothermal system, two wells, the injection well and production well, are built to create a circulation loop
to cycle fluid. The geothermal energy between two wells is extracted by the circulating fluid in fractures. Those fractures are created
through hydraulic fracturing treatment. Hence, hydraulic fracturing is the key technology to achieve geothermal energy in the
enhanced geothermal system. In this paper, the hydraulic fracturing in enhanced geothermal system was studied in the laboratory
through high temperature true-triaxial hydraulic fracturing test system. The test system could provide 30 MPa in-situ stress, 100 MPa
injection pressure, and up to 250℃ at temperature to simulate the actual reservoir condition. The granite outcrops were selected from
the hot dry rock geothermal field in China. In addition, based on experimental data, a thermal-hydraulic-mechanical coupling model
was developed to simulate fracture propagation in the high temperature hot dry rock geothermal reservoir.

initiation and propagation of hydraulic fractures could be

1. INTRODUCTION
Recently, the geothermal energy from hot day rock
formation is very attractive. The hot dry rock is dry and
impermeable rock on earth with the depth of 3000~6000
meters; and its temperature is as high as 200℃. Actually,
this green resource can be found everywhere beneath the
earth’s surface so that the potential production is
ubiquitous and huge.
The hot dry rock geothermal energy is developed through
enhanced geothermal system (EGS). This system is asked
to drill injection wells and production wells, and to
connect these wells by hydraulic fractures. This
connection is the most important to establish EGS
because the cycle fluid should flow cross through the
hydraulic fractures to be circulated between those wells
and extract hot dry rock geothermal energy. Therefore,
the hydraulic fracturing work should be carefully
designed to guarantee the effective and stable fractures
can last the whole lifespan of the EGS.
However, few previous works studied hydraulic
fracturing in EGS. The most studies of the hydraulic
fracturing have been done in oil and gas industry. The
simulated in the true-triaxial hydraulic fracturing test
system (Zoback et al., 1977; Ishida et al., 1997; Bohloli
and Pater, 2006; Zhou et al., 2008; Zhou et al., 2010;
Reinicke et al., 2010; Hou et al., 2016 and 2017; Tian et
al., 2016). Those experimental works contributed
significantly to the application of hydraulic fracturing in
the oil and gas formation. The same experimental
conclusion, however, was difficult to apply in the EGS.
This was because that the reservoir condition in the hot
dry rock geothermal formation was different from other
formations. The first difference was that the lithology of
the hot dry rock was igneous rock, like granite, which was
much harder than other rocks. The second was the high
temperature (about 200 ℃ or higher). These differences
resulted in an unexpected initiation and propagation of
hydraulic fractures in the hot dry rock geothermal
formation. Therefore, it is necessary to study hydraulic
fracturing in the EGS.
Frash et al.(2014) preliminarily investigated the hydraulic
fracturing in the EGS. But his equipment only provided
180 ℃ that was not as high as EGS formation temperature.
In this paper, the study was introduced based on the
experimental works in an advanced designed true-triaxial The XRD test indicated that the quartz was the main
hydraulic fracturing test system which could simulate the mineral composition in the sample. The content of the
actual formation temperature and pressure in hot dry rock quartz in the sample was estimated about 6%~25%. Some
geothermal formation. In addition, a thermal-hydraulic- of the samples had dolomite whose content could be as
mechanical (T-H-M) coupling model was developed to high as 53%. Clay minerals, calcite, and feldspar were
simulate fracture propagation in the high temperature hot also found in some parts of the sample. According to the
dry rock geothermal reservoir. test, there were two kinds of rock types in the EGS. One
was marble that had high calcite and dolomite content.
Another one was granite which had high quartz and
2. CORE SAMPLE
plagioclase content. The result of the XRD test is
The core sample in this experimental study was outcrop indicated in Table 1.
from the first EGS in China. Two wells were drilled in the Table 1. Sample XRD test data (%)
basin for the development of the hot dry rock geothermal
formation. The hydraulic fracturing work in one of the
Quartz Dolomite K-feldspar Plagioclase
wells was designing. The experimental work which was
introduced in this paper provided data for the design. 1 25.2 0.0 0.0 35.4
2 15.8 22.9 0.0 34.5
The outcrop was selected from the same bedrock with the
3 6.0 53.1 3.0 2.2
hot dry rock geothermal formation (see Fig. 1).
4 3.2 38.7 2.0 2.6

Calcite Hornblende Pyroxene Clay

1 0.0 22.0 17.3 0.0

2 0.0 14.2 0.0 12.6
3 34.8 0.0 0.9 0.0
4 0.0 0.0 0.0 53.5

Fig.1. The outcrop in the field.
Then, the outcrop was cut to be the cubic sample with 300
mm by 300 mm by 300 mm (see Fig. 2).
Fig. 2. The granite sample for the experiment.
3. EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENT
A true-triaxial hydraulic fracturing test system was
specially designed to simulate the high temperature
reservoir condition in the hot dry rock geothermal
formation. This system possesses three main apparatuses,
including heating true-triaxial assembly, in-situ stress
servo control, and power system (see Fig. 3).
3.1. Heating True-Triaxial Assembly
The true-triaxial assembly is applied for the cubic core
sample with the size of 300 mm by 300 mm by 300 mm.
During the experiment, the assembly is sealed; and there
is a steel tubing to connect inside and outside. This tubing
is inserted into the pre-drilled wellbore at the middle of
the upper surface of the sample. Later, through the tubing,
the temperature of the sample can be measured, and the
fracturing fluid can be injected.
The heating element contains the electrical heating rods,
thermal insulation panels, temperature sensors, and
thermoregulator.
On each external surface of the sample, except the bottom
surface, three 2000 W electrical heating rods are mounted
to provide heating capacity (see Fig. 4).
Behind the heating rods, it is the thermal insulation panels
to isolate heating zone. The thick of the thermal insulation
panels are calculated to ensure the heating zone can keep
Fig. 3. High temperature true-triaxial hydraulic fracturing test system.
Fig. 4. Electrical heating rods to simulate high temperature
reservoir.
constant temperature up to 250 ℃ (about 20 ℃ ambient
temperature).
The thermoregulator and six temperature sensors are used
to control heating. The sensors are mounted at each
surface and in the wellbore of the sample. Thus, the
thermoregulator can collect the real-time temperature data
at the external edge and the center to decide when to start,
stop, or adjust heating for the anticipated temperature. In
addition, the thermoregulator can provide different
temperatures at each sample surface to simulate thermal
anisotropy.
3.2. In-Situ Stress Servo Control
Fig. 5. Structure of the true-triaxial assembly at one side.
The pressured pistons are connected to servo control to
provide the vertical stress, maximum horizontal stress,
and minimum horizontal stress, respectively. The
simulated in-situ stress can reach as high as 30 MPa (see
Fig. 5).
3.3. Power System
The power system includes pumps and servo
supercharger. It provides power for pistons and fluid
injecting. The injecting pressure is up to 100 MPa. The
servo supercharger controls the injection and in-situ
stresses. The injection can be set to have constant or
variable flow velocities.
4. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
The typical experiment steps were used to simulate
hydraulic fracturing in the EGS.
a. The core sample was cut to cubic shape of 300 mm
by 300 mm by 300 mm. Then, at the center of the
upper surface, a wellbore was drilled; and a steel
 tubing was glued in the wellbore. The inside tubing The matrix of the rock sample No. 1 was too hard. In
diameter was 6 mm. There was 10 mm open hole addition, there was not any natural fracture observed in
section at the bottom of the wellbore. the sample. When doing the hydraulic fracturing
experiment, the injecting pressure reached to higher than
b. When the core sample was loaded into the true-
70 MPa, but the hydraulic fracture was still failed to be
triaxial assembly, in-situ stress in three directions
created. The experiment had to stop because of the safety
was set to simulate stress condition of the reservoir.
requirement. According to the figure, around 200 seconds,
c. Before the hydraulic fracturing simulation, the true- the fracturing fluid was fully filled in the wellbore; and
triaxial assembly was heated to the reservoir the wellhead pressure started to increase. The pressure
temperature. The heating rate was controlled to continued to increase but could not break the rock sample.
slower than 10 ℃ per day to prevent extra thermal The experiment was ceased at 10000 seconds.
induced fractures.
Figure 7 showed the pumping time and wellhead pressure
d. When the temperature at the edge and the center of of the rock sample No. 2.
the core sample all reached the expected temperature,
the experiment could start.
e. During the experiment, the heating was continued to
keep the system temperature stable.
f. After the experiment, the cooling rate was also slow
to ensure there was not any thermal induced damage
on the core sample.

5. EXPERIMENTAL DISCUSSION
There were three hot dry rock samples which were
finished in the experiment. The experimental temperature
was set to 200 ℃ which was closed to the reservoir
temperature. The vertical stress was 18 MPa. The
horizontal stresses were 15 MPa and 7 MPa as the
maximum and minimum horizontal stresses, respectively.
These stresses were determined based on the ratio of the Fig. 7. Wellhead pressure for rock sample No. 2.
reservoir in-situ stresses. The experimental fluid was slick
water that was planned to use in the hydraulic fracturing In the rock sample No. 2, the fracture pressure was
work of the hot dry rock geothermal formation. The approximated 21 MPa which was much smaller than that
viscosity of the fluid was tested to be 1 mPa•s. The of the rock sample No. 1. The reason was that there were
pumping rate was as high as 30 ml/min to prevent fluid natural fractures that impacted the fracturing. Those
evaporation because the injection fluid was room nature fractures were observed in the sample before the
temperature while the sample was about 200 ℃. experiment (see Figure 8). Then, when the hydraulic
fracture propagated, the impact was still existed from
For the rock sample No.1, the figure of the pumping time
natural fractures. The wellhead pressure was not smooth
and wellhead pressure is in Figure 6.
which indicated that the hydraulic fracture connected
natural fractures and propagated along with the natural
fractures.

Fig. 6. Wellhead pressure for rock sample No. 1. Fig. 8. Observed nature fractures on rock sample No. 2.
The last sample was rock sample No. 3. The experimental The governing equations of the numerical model
result was in Figure 9. consisted of three parts: linear momentum balance
equation of saturated porous media, fluid mass
conservation equation for injected fluid, and energy
conservation equation for heat conduction of the porous
media and fluid.
The linear momentum balance of saturated porous media
is first defined by assuming that the fluid acceleration
with regard to the solid is negligible. The fluid transport
is governed by the Darcy law. The heat transfer formation
is defined using the energy conservation equation for each
phase. After integrating and applying the divergence
theorem, the governing equations were given as in Eq. (1)
- Eq. (3).

∫ 𝛿𝑢𝜌𝑢 ̈𝑑𝛺 + ∫(∇𝛿𝑢)𝑇 𝜎𝑑Ω = ∫ 𝛿𝑢𝜌𝑏𝑑Ω + ∫ 𝛿𝑢𝑡̅𝑑Γ

Fig. 9. Wellhead pressure for rock sample No. 3. Ω Ω Ω Γ

(1)
According to the wellhead pressure, the sample was
broken when the pressure was about 38 MPa. That ∫ 𝛿𝑝𝛼∇ ∙ 𝑣𝑠 𝑑𝛺 + ∫ ∇𝛿𝑝𝑘𝑓 ∇𝑝𝑑Ω
fracture pressure was also smaller than that of the rock
Ω Ω
sample No. 1. It indicated that natural fractures affected 𝛼−𝑛 𝑛
fracture initiation in the rock sample No. 3. During the + ∫ 𝛿𝑝 ( + ) 𝑝̇ 𝑑Ω − ∫ 𝛿𝑝𝛽𝑇̇𝑑Ω
𝐾𝑠 𝐾𝑓
experiment, the pumping rate was higher than the Ω Ω
experiment in the rock sample No. 2. It found more
= ∫ 𝛿𝑝(𝑤𝑛Γ )𝑑Γ − ∫ 𝛿𝑝∇𝑇 𝑘𝑓 (𝜌𝑓 𝑏)𝑑Ω (2)
natural fractures were connected by the hydraulic fracture.
The wellhead pressure was highly variable when the Γ Ω

fracture propagated.
∫ 𝛿𝑇(𝑝𝑐)𝑎𝑣𝑔 𝑇̇𝑑𝛺 + ∫ δT{𝑝𝑓 𝑐𝑓 [𝑘𝑓 (−∇𝑝 + 𝜌𝑏)]}∇𝑇𝑑Ω
Ω Ω
6. NUMERICAL SIMULATION
+ ∫ ∇𝛿𝑇𝜅∇𝑇𝑑Ω = ∫ 𝛿𝑇(𝑞′′)𝑑Γ (3)
A numerical simulation model was developed to analyze Ω Γ
fracture propagation based on experiment result. This
where 𝑢̈ is the acceleration of saturated media; b is the
model was a two-dimensional T-H-M coupling model
gravitational acceleration; 𝜌 is the density of saturated
discretized by the extended finite element method
media; T is temperature; p is fluid pressure; 𝛼 is the Biot
(XFEM). This model considered thermal conductivity,
coefficient related to the bulk modulus of porous media
fluid flow, and rock mechanics so that it could simulate
each physical process of the T-H-M influenced by other and the solid skeleton; 𝑘𝑓 is the intrinsic permeability of
two processes during a fracture propagates. The boundary the media; 𝑝𝑓 is the fluid density which is a function of
condition of the model is described in Figure 10. pressure and temperature; n is the porosity; 𝐾𝑠 and 𝐾𝑓 are
the bulk modulus of the solid and fluid phases,
Fluid flux, qp respectively; 𝛽 is the thermal expansion coefficient of the
Fluid pressure, p
bulk; c is the heat capacity; 𝜅 is the heat conductivity.
Γqp Γp
The extended finite element method (XFEM) is applied to
nd the governing equations to approximate the solutions in
Γ Thermal flux, qt terms of the displacement, fluid pressure, and temperature.
Γqt
ΓU The example of the simulation is in Figure 11, and the
Deformation, U coupled numerical model will be applied to validate data
Ω ΓT from the aforementioned laboratory experiments and to
Γσ
Temperature, T study different cases which are technically hard to be
analyzed by the experiment. This model will be finished
Stress, σ soon.

Fig. 10. Boundary condition of the model (Khoei et al, 2012).

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research is supported by Science Foundation of
China University of Petroleum, Beijing (Grant No.
2462016YJRC017), and by Introducing International
Talents of Discipline to Chinese Universities (111 Plan) -
Fundamental Research on Deep Geothermal Resources
(B17045)

REFERENCES
Fig. 11. T-H-M coupling model example.
7. CONCLUSION
This paper presented the experiment work of the
hydraulic fracturing for the first EGS in China. There are
some conclusions:
a. The advanced true-triaxial hydraulic fracturing test
system was a powerful tool to study hydraulic
fracturing in the hot dry rock geothermal formation.
This system can provide high temperature (about
250 ℃) reservoir condition and simulate the real
hydraulic fracturing procedure of the field.
b. The matrix of hot dry rock sample was difficult to
break. Hence, it should avoid matrix area when doing
the hydraulic fracturing.
c. Natural fractures were significant factor to influence
fracture initiation and propagation. The fracture
pressure could dramatic decrease because of the
impact from the natural fractures.
d. With the faster pump rate, the hydraulic fracture
could connect more natural fractures. The hydraulic
fracture propagated along with the natural fractures.
e. A numerical simulation model was developed to
analyze fracture propagation. This model coupled
thermal conductivity, fluid flow, and rock mechanics.
It discretized by the extended finite element method.
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