Forced Convection Heat Transfer in Unconventional Geothermal Systems: Numerical Investigation of Complex Flow Processes near Magmatic Chambers

Recent research into frontier Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) has highlighted the need to better understand the associated heat exchange and fluid dynamics to converge between unconventional well designs and the definition of where their performance would be best. Whilst convection and mixing within magma chambers and hydrothermal circulation in natural groundwater systems have been extensively investigated, there is limited understanding of the heat transfer from magma to water, the behaviour of supercritical/superheated fluids and the convective forces triggered by stimulation and artificial injection near magmatic chambers. Convective heat transport is further modified by multiphase flow phenomena induced by phase change.
Beginning with the fundamental differences between conduction- vs. convention-dominated geothermal systems, this PhD research will focus on the steady-state and transient heat transfer processes and fluid dynamics associated with free and forced convection near magmatic chambers.
Different scenarios will be defined considering the various deep geothermal solutions that have already been implemented or proposed in the literature. Numerical tools will be used to reproduce the settings from different volcano sites, where relevant parameters will be extracted from the literature available in the public domain.
The outcome of this PhD will contribute to re-evaluating the geothermal resource base worldwide and aims to improve the current understanding of heat transfer from magma to water under a combination of free and forced convection