SPE 2413: GEOTHERMAL

ENERGY SYSTEMS
 Earth’s thermal structure

Geotherm
• temperature as a function of depth in the earth

Internal heat sources and transfer mechanisms

• sources: mostly radioactive decay
• transfer: conduction, convection/advection

Adiabatic gradient
• the temperature gradient due to isentropic decompression
• can be determined if thermodynamic properties are known
• generally characterized by a potential temperature

Thermal boundary layers

• temperature gradients in a region between non-mixing layers
• the lithosphere, transition zone, and CMB are examples
Note: this curve is made up. We don’t know the geotherm that well.
We have seen how seismology, etc. enables us to
determine density, seismic velocity etc. as a function of
depth in the Earth.
Observation also tells us that the Earth is active
- volcanoes, earthquakes, mountain belts and
magnetic fields

These must be due to an

internal energy or heat source
volcanoes

What is the thermal structure of the Earth?

Temperature is the most poorly constrained planetary parameter.

It cannot be directly obtained from seismology - need to carry out

other studies, e.g. heat-flow, etc.

We know - Earth has a hot interior

Where does Earth's heat energy come from
Radiogenic heat

Four radioactive isotopes are

responsible for the majority of
radiogenic heat because of
their enrichment relative to
other radioactive isotopes:
uranium-238 (238U),
uranium-235 (235U),
thorium-232 (232Th),and
potassium-40 (40K)

The evolution of Earth's radiogenic heat flow

over time
An estimate
of the geotherm:

temperature
increases with
depth in the
Earth
 MODES OF HEAT TRANSFER

•Conduction
•Convection
•Radiation
Conduction: thermal vibrations: every atom is physically
bonded to its neighbours in some way. If heat energy is
supplied to one part of a solid, the atoms vibrate faster. As
they vibrate more, the bonds between atoms are shaken
more. This passes vibrations on to the next atom, and so on
Convection: is the transfer of heat from one place to another by
the movement of fluids, a process that is essentially the transfer
of heat via mass transfer.
•Convection is usually the dominant form of heat transfer in
liquids and gases.
•In a geothermal system, the geothermal heat is carried to the
surface by geothermal fluids via convectional heat transfer.
Through convection the warm mass moves to cooler regions.
convection only plays a significant role in areas with extensive
magmatic and hydrothermal activities such as
active volcanic arcs as well as some tectonically active
where heat is brought to the surface by magma in volcanic eruptions,
circulating groundwater, and/or uplift and erosion
 Radiation
Radiation is the simplest means of heat transfer. Heat radiation is
carried not by moving atoms (as in conduction or convection) but
by electromagnetic waves. Radiation is the only way that heat
can move through a vacuum, and is the reason that even a
closed thermos bottle (which has a vacuum between the inner
and outer parts) will eventually come to the same temperature as
its surroundings
 Assignment 1

1. Heat transfer is affected by presence of fluids, fluid

permeability, rock type and pore geometry. Discus
2. Discus the methods of measuring thermal parameters
 Laws Governing Modes of Heat Transfer

It is possible to quantify heat transfer processes in terms of

appropriate rate equations.
These equations may be used to compute the amount of
energy being transferred per unit time.
For heat conduction, the rate equation is known as Fourier’s
law Fourier’s law is developed from observed phenomena
rather than being derived from first principles.
We have Newton’s Law of Cooling and Stefan-Boltzmann Law
for convection and radiation modes respectively
Fourier's Law of Conduction states that the heat transferred through
conduction is propotional to
1.Area of cross section perpendicular to the direction of heat flow. (A)
2.Temperature difference between the points causing the heat flow.
3.Inversely propotional to he thickness of the material along which heat is
flowing.
Mathematically
Q(heat transferred) α Adt/dx
Q=−KAdt/dx
where Q= Rate of heat transfer in Watt
A=Area of cross section perpendicular to the direction of heat flow in m2
dt=temperature difference causing heat flow in degree Celsius
dx=thickness of the material in metre
K is the constant of proportionality and known as thermal conductivity of
material
Note-Negetive sign in the above expressions is due to the fact that that
temperature of the body decreases as the thickness increases. So
temperature gradient will be negative. So finally heat transferred
becomes positive.
 Newton’s Law of Cooling
Temperature difference in any situation results from energy flow
into a system or energy flow from a system to surroundings.
Newton’s Law of Cooling states that the rate of temperature of
the body is proportional to the difference between the
temperature of the body and that of the surrounding medium.
This statement leads to the classic equation of exponential
decline over time which can be applied to many phenomena in
science and engineering, including the discharge of a capacitor
and the decay in radioactivity.

Suppose that a body with initial temperature T1°C, is allowed to

cool in air which is maintained at a constant temperature T2°C.
Let the temperature of the body be T°C at time t.
Then by Newton’s Law of Cooling,
(1)
 Where k is a positive proportionality constant.
Since the temperature of the body is higher than the temperature of
the surroundings then T-T2 is positive. Also the temperature of the
body is decreasing i.e. it is cooling down and rate of change of
temperature is negative.

The constant ‘k’ depends upon the surface properties of the material being cooled.

Initial condition is given by T=T1 at t=0

Solving (1)

(2)

Applying initial conditions;

Substituting the value of C in equation (2) gives

 Stefan-Boltzmann Law
The Stefan–Boltzmann law, also known as Stefan's law, describes the
power radiated from a black body in terms of its temperature.
Specifically, the Stefan–Boltzmann law states that the total energy
radiated per unit surface area of a black body across all wavelengths per
unit time (also known as the black-body radiant exitance or emissive
power),is directly proportional to the fourth power of the black body's
thermodynamic temperature
The maximum rate of radiation that can be emitted from a surface at a
thermodynamic temperature Ts(in K or R) is given by the Stefan–
Boltzmann law
 A History of Geothermal Energy

Geothermal energy has been around ever

since the Earth was formed about 4.6
billion years ago.
This thermal energy generated and stored
by the Earth.
Thermal has been in use ever since the Paleolithic – Old stone age
Paleolithic era
People used water from hot springs for
cooking, bathing and cleaning
Hot springs
The oldest known spa is a stone
pool on China's Lisan mountain
built in the Qin Dynasty in the
3rd century BC
According to some scholars, the real “fathers of the geothermal
industry” were the Etruscans.
A people that not only used to build most of its settlements and
cities at hydrothermal vents, but which even made geothermal
energy products
– such as alabaster, travertine, iron oxides and mud baths –
veritable bartering goods.
Pioneers not only in trade but also in crafts, the Etruscans were
the first to coat their tools with enamel, using borax, a boron
compound available in boraciferous sources, which at high
temperature is transformed into an insulating glass and is still
used for welds.
The technologies developed by this people were absorbed and
perfected by the Romans, for whom every aspect of daily life was
interwoven with spas: those used for religious purposes, for
socialising, relaxation and treatment or in political life.
And from Agrippa onwards, many powerful men tried to win
popular support by building more and more sumptuous as well as
affordable spas.
At spas the Romans looked after themselves, heard musical
performances, kept themselves informed and concluded business.
In1800, the rapid development of thermodynamics, the discipline
that studies the transformations of work into heat and vice versa, that
scientists learned to convert steam into mechanical energy with
increasing efficiency and thus into electricity with the aid of turbines
and generators
In the 20th century, demand for electricity led to the consideration of
geothermal power as a generating source. Prince Piero Ginori
Conti tested the first geothermal power generator on 4 July 1904
in Larderello, Italy.
It successfully lit four light bulbs.
Later, in 1911, the world's first commercial geothermal power station
was built there.
Experimental generators were built in Beppu, Japan and the
Geysers, California, in the 1920s, but Italy was the world's only
industrial producer of geothermal electricity until 1958
In 1958, New Zealand became the second major industrial producer
of geothermal electricity when its Wairakei station was commissioned.
Pietro Ginori Conti, the first geothermal plants in Larderello (Source:
Italian Geothermal Union)
Global occurrence of geothermal systems in different
geologic settings

Outline
Plate Tectonics
 Origin of Geothermal
 Occurrence of Geothermal Resources
 Surface Manifestations
 A case for rift systems
 Plate tectonics
Earthquakes and volcanoes are related, and also don't
occur at random places. They outline plates

Geologic setting
•Divergent (rift)
•Convergent (arc)
•Transform (pull-apart)
•Hot sopts
•Intracontinental rifts
heat flux is high / concentrated in some regions of the earth
 Occurrence of Geothermal Resources

Regional correlation
with arcs, rifts,
transform step-over
extension, Recent
volcanic, magma
detected at depth by
imaging, radiogenic
heat flow,
earthquakes, etc
The intrusive part of a volcanic system is most important as a
potential heat source for high temperature geothermal systems.
The intrusions form a dense complex at a few km depth. They
maintain and drive geothermal circulation. Underneath a
volcanic centre they include dykes and sheets which are
relatively shallow. With increasing distance from them dykes
become dominant. Concentration of dykes and clustering of
volcanic eruptions may occur away from the centre and a
geothermal system may develop.
The intrusive part of a volcanic
system is most important as a
potential heat source for high
temperature geothermal systems.

The intrusions form a dense

complex at a few km depth.

They maintain and drive

geothermal circulation.

Underneath a volcanic centre they

include dykes and sheets which are
relatively shallow.
Caldera marks where a large
volume of magma has risen,
possibly from a zone of crustal
fusion, and lodged at shallow
depths prior to catastrophic
eruption.

A caldera with a history of

periodic eruption and collapse
over tens to hundreds of
thousands of years implies the
existence of a stable heat source
and high heat flow

Characteristic structures are

concentric and radial eruption
fissures with radial dykes and
cone sheets at depth.