| Title | Proposed Reliability Code for Heat Flow Sites |
|---|---|
| Authors | Richards, Maria; Blackwell, David; Williams, Mitchell; Frone, Zachary; Dingwall, Ryan; Batir, Joseph; Chickering, Cathy |
| Year | 2012 |
| Conference | Geothermal Resources Council Transactions |
| Keywords | Heat flow; thermal conductivity; quality; reliability; bottomhole temperature; well logging |
| Abstract | Heat flow is one of the primary variables used to assess the geothermal resource of a region or a site specific project. Various standards for quality codes used since the 1970s, primarily focused on conventional heat flow sites with equilibrium temperature logs, thermal conductivity measurements from samples in or near the well, and appropriate data corrections. Bottom-hole temperature data from oil/gas wells have been in existence for decades, but are rapidly increasing in use for geothermal resource assessments. Today’s geothermal maps produced by various groups, such as the SMU Geothermal Laboratory, have more sites from oil/gas wells than from traditional heat flow sites. New standards for a quality/reliability code are proposed incorporating the past systems with increased parameter definition. These standards for use in the new National Geothermal Data System will be capable of being applied consistently to both traditional and bottom-hole temperature sites. A method encompassing weighted values for each of the primary parameters used to determine heat flow are concatenated to rank the site reliability using an automated tool. The proposed new reliability tool allows the user to compare heat flows from different data types and calculation methods to determine data reliability for each heat flow site with a consistent system. |