Deep Direct-Use Feasibility Study Numerical Modeling and Uncertainty Analysis using iTOUGH2 for West Virginia University

To reduce the geothermal exploration risk, a feasibility study is performed for a deep direct-use system proposed at the West Virginia University (WVU) Morgantown campus. This study applies numerical simulations to investigate reservoir impedance and thermal production. Because of the great depth of the geothermal reservoir, few data are available to characterize reservoir features and properties. As a result, the study focuses on the following three aspects: 1. model choice for predicting reservoir impedance and thermal breakthrough: after investigating three potential models (one single permeability model and two dual permeability models) for flow through fractured rock, it is decided to use single permeability model for further analysis; 2. well placement (horizontal vs. vertical) options: horizontal well placement seems to be more robust to heterogeneity and the impedance is more acceptable; 3. Prediction uncertainty: the most influential parameters are identified using a First-Order-Second-Moment uncertainty propagation analysis, and the uncertain range of the model predictions is estimated by performing a Monte Carlo simulation. Heterogeneity has a large impact on the perdition, therefore, is considered in the predictive model and uncertainty analysis. The numerical model results and uncertainty analysis are used for economic analysis. The dataset submitted here support the described study. Manuscript is submitted to Geothermics, will be linked once paper is accepted.

Data and Resources

Field Value
DOI 10.15121/1597110
accessLevel public
bureauCode {019:20}
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dataQuality true
identifier https://data.openei.org/submissions/3839
issued 2019-12-20T07:00:00Z
landingPage https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/1197
license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
modified 2022-01-14T17:07:05Z
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programCode {019:006}
projectLead Arlene Anderson
projectNumber EE0008105
projectTitle Feasibility of Deep Direct Use Geothermal on the West Virginia University Campus-Morgantown, WV
publisher West Virginia University
resource-type Dataset
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Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • analysis
  • ckan
  • ddu
  • deep-direct-use
  • direct-use
  • economic
  • economic-analysis
  • exploration-risk
  • feasibility
  • first-order-second-moment-uncertainty-propagation-analysis
  • flow
  • flow-model
  • fracture
  • geo
  • geoss
  • geothermal
  • geothermal-exploration-risk
  • geothermics
  • itough2
  • lbnl
  • matrix
  • modeling
  • monte-carlo
  • morgantown
  • national
  • north-america
  • numerical-modeling
  • paper
  • permeability
  • permeability-models
  • reservoir-flow-model
  • reservoir-impedance
  • resource-potential
  • simulation
  • thermal-breakthrough
  • thermal-production
  • tuscarora
  • tuscarora-sandstone
  • uncertainty
  • uncertainty-analysis
  • united-states
  • west-virginia-university
  • wvu
isopen True
license_id cc-by
license_title Creative Commons Attribution
license_url http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by
maintainer Nagasree Garapati
maintainer_email nagasree.garapati@mail.wvu.edu
metadata_created 2025-11-22T13:32:32.675834
metadata_modified 2025-11-22T13:32:32.675839
notes To reduce the geothermal exploration risk, a feasibility study is performed for a deep direct-use system proposed at the West Virginia University (WVU) Morgantown campus. This study applies numerical simulations to investigate reservoir impedance and thermal production. Because of the great depth of the geothermal reservoir, few data are available to characterize reservoir features and properties. As a result, the study focuses on the following three aspects: 1. model choice for predicting reservoir impedance and thermal breakthrough: after investigating three potential models (one single permeability model and two dual permeability models) for flow through fractured rock, it is decided to use single permeability model for further analysis; 2. well placement (horizontal vs. vertical) options: horizontal well placement seems to be more robust to heterogeneity and the impedance is more acceptable; 3. Prediction uncertainty: the most influential parameters are identified using a First-Order-Second-Moment uncertainty propagation analysis, and the uncertain range of the model predictions is estimated by performing a Monte Carlo simulation. Heterogeneity has a large impact on the perdition, therefore, is considered in the predictive model and uncertainty analysis. The numerical model results and uncertainty analysis are used for economic analysis. The dataset submitted here support the described study. Manuscript is submitted to Geothermics, will be linked once paper is accepted.
num_resources 13
num_tags 45
title Deep Direct-Use Feasibility Study Numerical Modeling and Uncertainty Analysis using iTOUGH2 for West Virginia University