InterPore2025

Brady’s Geothermal Field Computed Tomography Core Characterization

21 May 2025, 10:05

1h 30m

Poster Presentation (MS10) Advances in imaging porous media: techniques, software and case studies Poster

Speaker

Magdalena Gill (US Department of Energy - National Energy Technology Lab)

Description

Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) are an integral part of the expanding renewable energy portfolio and hold the promise of deploying geothermal energy sources beyond traditional areas. Optimizing injection strategies and the placement of new wells in existing and prospective hydrothermal fields requires a thorough understanding of fluid and temperature distribution in fractured subsurface reservoirs. However, limited public data exist for natural or enhanced hydrothermal systems, hindering the ability to develop optimized strategies for reservoir development and stimulation to effectively expand geothermal energy production.
Brady’s Geothermal Field in northwestern Nevada, which has been producing power since 1992, was the site of an early EGS demonstration aimed at testing potential production expansion into near-field unproductive wells (Akerley et al., 2020). While the project failed to make the target well productive, it involved extensive data collection and characterization during the pre-stimulation phase.
We present a publicly accessible database centered around multi-scale Computed Tomographic (CT) imaging of samples from the BCH-03 well, supplemented by a wide range of supporting geological analyses (Brown, et al., 2022). The data include detailed petrologic descriptions of core samples, core-scale medical CT scans, high-resolution micro-CT scans, thin section photomicrographs, elemental abundance data from X-ray diffraction, velocity wave measurements, and helium porosimetry of the matrix.
The multiple data streams enable ground-truthing and validation of digitally derived porosity values by cross-referencing with experimental porosimetry results and thin section estimates. Additionally, the multi-scale nature of the dataset allows for evaluation of both matrix and fracture porosity, permeability, and morphology. This facilitates data upscaling for model development and testing, as well as correlation with adjacent well data to enhance field-scale understanding of subsurface fracture networks, connectivity, and controls on fluid flow.
This comprehensive dataset, hosted on the government- and National Energy Technology Laboratory-maintained Energy Data eXchange (EDX), advances our understanding of influential factors on subsurface hydraulic connectivity. Such insights are critical for enabling successful expansion and development of hydrothermal energy resources in the future.