IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v347y2026ics0360544226003191.html

Heat extraction mechanism in hot dry rock based on horizontal wells with multi-stage fracturing

Author

Listed:
  • Shi, Yu
  • Zhang, Yulong
  • Wang, Guangyi
  • Zhang, Xu
  • Song, Xianzhi
  • Cui, Qiliang
  • Wang, Gaosheng

Abstract

Multi-stage fracturing with horizontal wells is currently recognized as the most promising reservoir stimulation technique for the development of Hot Dry Rock (HDR) resources. While current research predominantly focuses on optimizing operational parameters during injection and extraction, the specific influence of fracture parameters remains underexplored. Experimental evidence confirms that shear-induced dilation significantly impacts reservoir permeability. Consequently, this study establishes a Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical (THM) coupled model based on Discrete Fracture Networks (DFN) to quantitatively characterize network connectivity and investigate the dynamic evolution of fracture apertures driven by shear dilation in multi-stage fractured horizontal wells. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the impact of fracture morphological parameters and operational parameters on heat extraction performance. Results indicate that rock deformation is predominantly localized around the injection well, while stress perturbations attenuate continuously toward the production well. Notably, fractures with larger strike angles exhibit significant aperture expansion induced by shear dilation, a phenomenon further amplified by increased in-situ stress differences. Crucially, the sensitivity analysis reveals that heat extraction performance exhibits significantly higher sensitivity to fracture morphological parameters than to operational parameters. Consequently, optimizing multi-stage fracturing configurations is identified as a key strategy to mitigate thermal breakthrough. These findings offer essential theoretical guidance for developing efficient heat extraction strategies in HDR reservoirs.

Suggested Citation

  • Shi, Yu & Zhang, Yulong & Wang, Guangyi & Zhang, Xu & Song, Xianzhi & Cui, Qiliang & Wang, Gaosheng, 2026. "Heat extraction mechanism in hot dry rock based on horizontal wells with multi-stage fracturing," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 347(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:347:y:2026:i:c:s0360544226003191
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2026.140217
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544226003191
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2026.140217?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhou, Luming & Zhu, Zhende & Xie, Xinghua & Hu, Yunjin, 2022. "Coupled thermal–hydraulic–mechanical model for an enhanced geothermal system and numerical analysis of its heat mining performance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1440-1458.
    2. Gong, Facheng & Guo, Tiankui & Sun, Wei & Li, Zhaomin & Yang, Bin & Chen, Yimei & Qu, Zhanqing, 2020. "Evaluation of geothermal energy extraction in Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) with multiple fracturing horizontal wells (MFHW)," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 1339-1351.
    3. Luo, Jin & Zhu, Yongqiang & Guo, Qinghai & Tan, Long & Zhuang, Yaqin & Liu, Mingliang & Zhang, Canhai & Zhu, Mingcheng & Xiang, Wei, 2018. "Chemical stimulation on the hydraulic properties of artificially fractured granite for enhanced geothermal system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 754-764.
    4. Shi, Yu & Song, Xianzhi & Shen, Zhonghou & Wang, Gaosheng & Li, Xiaojiang & Zheng, Rui & Geng, Lidong & Li, Jiacheng & Zhang, Shikun, 2018. "Numerical investigation on heat extraction performance of a CO2 enhanced geothermal system with multilateral wells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 38-51.
    5. Chen, Jiliang & Jiang, Fangming, 2015. "Designing multi-well layout for enhanced geothermal system to better exploit hot dry rock geothermal energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 37-48.
    6. Shi, Yu & Song, Xianzhi & Wang, Gaosheng & Li, Jiacheng & Geng, Lidong & Li, Xiaojiang, 2019. "Numerical study on heat extraction performance of a multilateral-well enhanced geothermal system considering complex hydraulic and natural fractures," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 950-963.
    7. Qiu, Lihua & He, Li & Kang, Yu & Liang, Dongzhe, 2022. "Assessment of the potential of enhanced geothermal systems in Asia under the impact of global warming," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 636-646.
    8. Zeng, Yu-Chao & Su, Zheng & Wu, Neng-You, 2013. "Numerical simulation of heat production potential from hot dry rock by water circulating through two horizontal wells at Desert Peak geothermal field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 92-107.
    9. Cui, Qiliang & Shi, Yu & Li, Shuang & Song, Xianzhi & Zhu, Bin & Wang, Gaosheng & Peng, Junlan, 2025. "Study on impacts of seasonal heat storage on CO2 geological sequestration and parameter optimization," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 334(C).
    10. Cui, Guodong & Ren, Shaoran & Zhang, Liang & Ezekiel, Justin & Enechukwu, Chioma & Wang, Yi & Zhang, Rui, 2017. "Geothermal exploitation from hot dry rocks via recycling heat transmission fluid in a horizontal well," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 366-377.
    11. Zhu, Jialing & Hu, Kaiyong & Lu, Xinli & Huang, Xiaoxue & Liu, Ketao & Wu, Xiujie, 2015. "A review of geothermal energy resources, development, and applications in China: Current status and prospects," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 93(P1), pages 466-483.
    12. Aliyu, Musa D. & Archer, Rosalind A., 2021. "A thermo-hydro-mechanical model of a hot dry rock geothermal reservoir," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 475-493.
    13. Zeng, Yu-Chao & Wu, Neng-You & Su, Zheng & Wang, Xiao-Xing & Hu, Jian, 2013. "Numerical simulation of heat production potential from hot dry rock by water circulating through a novel single vertical fracture at Desert Peak geothermal field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 268-282.
    14. Sun, Zhi-xue & Zhang, Xu & Xu, Yi & Yao, Jun & Wang, Hao-xuan & Lv, Shuhuan & Sun, Zhi-lei & Huang, Yong & Cai, Ming-yu & Huang, Xiaoxue, 2017. "Numerical simulation of the heat extraction in EGS with thermal-hydraulic-mechanical coupling method based on discrete fractures model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 20-33.
    15. Guo, Tiankui & Tang, Songjun & Sun, Jiang & Gong, Facheng & Liu, Xiaoqiang & Qu, Zhanqing & Zhang, Wei, 2020. "A coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical modeling and evaluation of geothermal extraction in the enhanced geothermal system based on analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    16. Song, Xianzhi & Shi, Yu & Li, Gensheng & Yang, Ruiyue & Wang, Gaosheng & Zheng, Rui & Li, Jiacheng & Lyu, Zehao, 2018. "Numerical simulation of heat extraction performance in enhanced geothermal system with multilateral wells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 325-337.
    17. Xu, Chaoshui & Dowd, Peter Alan & Tian, Zhao Feng, 2015. "A simplified coupled hydro-thermal model for enhanced geothermal systems," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 135-145.
    18. Huang, Wenbo & Cao, Wenjiong & Jiang, Fangming, 2018. "A novel single-well geothermal system for hot dry rock geothermal energy exploitation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 630-644.
    19. Olasolo, P. & Juárez, M.C. & Morales, M.P. & D´Amico, Sebastiano & Liarte, I.A., 2016. "Enhanced geothermal systems (EGS): A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 133-144.
    20. Wang, Gaosheng & Song, Xianzhi & Yu, Chao & Shi, Yu & Song, Guofeng & Xu, Fuqiang & Ji, Jiayan & Song, Zihao, 2022. "Heat extraction study of a novel hydrothermal open-loop geothermal system in a multi-lateral horizontal well," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    21. Shi, Yu & Song, Xianzhi & Song, Guofeng, 2021. "Productivity prediction of a multilateral-well geothermal system based on a long short-term memory and multi-layer perceptron combinational neural network," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(PA).
    22. Li, Sanbai & Feng, Xia-Ting & Zhang, Dongxiao & Tang, Huiying, 2019. "Coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical analysis of stimulation and production for fractured geothermal reservoirs," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C), pages 40-59.
    23. Shi, Yu & Cui, Qiliang & Song, Xianzhi & Li, Gensheng & Wang, Gaosheng, 2025. "Performances of a novel compressed CO2 energy storage and heat storage integration system using multi-stage hydraulic fractures of horizontal well in subsurface reservoirs," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C).
    24. Liu, Yongwang & Li, Kun & Guan, Zhichuan & Lin, Guojun & Xu, Yuqiang, 2023. "Research on circulating heat recovery law of single horizontal well for hot dry rock geothermal resources," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    25. Zhao, Yangsheng & Feng, Zijun & Feng, Zengchao & Yang, Dong & Liang, Weiguo, 2015. "THM (Thermo-hydro-mechanical) coupled mathematical model of fractured media and numerical simulation of a 3D enhanced geothermal system at 573 K and buried depth 6000–7000 M," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 193-205.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ma, Yuanyuan & Li, Shibin & Zhang, Ligang & Liu, Songze & Liu, Zhaoyi & Li, Hao & Shi, Erxiu & Zhang, Haijun, 2020. "Numerical simulation study on the heat extraction performance of multi-well injection enhanced geothermal system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 782-795.
    2. Ma, Yuanyuan & Li, Shibin & Zhang, Ligang & Liu, Songze & Liu, Zhaoyi & Li, Hao & Shi, Erxiu, 2020. "Study on the effect of well layout schemes and fracture parameters on the heat extraction performance of enhanced geothermal system in fractured reservoir," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    3. Zheng, Jun & Li, Peng & Dou, Bin & Fan, Tao & Tian, Hong & Lai, Xiaotian, 2022. "Impact research of well layout schemes and fracture parameters on heat production performance of enhanced geothermal system considering water cooling effect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    4. Zhang, Jie & Xie, Jingxuan, 2020. "Effect of reservoir’s permeability and porosity on the performance of cellular development model for enhanced geothermal system," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 824-838.
    5. Zhou, Luming & Zhu, Zhende & Xie, Xinghua & Hu, Yunjin, 2022. "Coupled thermal–hydraulic–mechanical model for an enhanced geothermal system and numerical analysis of its heat mining performance," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 1440-1458.
    6. Zhao, Peng & Liu, Jun & Elsworth, Derek, 2023. "Numerical study on a multifracture enhanced geothermal system considering matrix permeability enhancement induced by thermal unloading," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 33-44.
    7. Lv, YanXin & Fan, Shu & Fang, XiaoYu & Shi, ChangShuai & Liu, Weiji & Gan, Quan & Li, HaiBo, 2025. "Comparative analysis of thermal extraction performance of EGS model with N2O, H2O and CO2 as working fluids based on Voronoi fractures," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    8. Ma, Yuanyuan & Li, Shibin & Zhang, Ligang & Liu, Songze & Liu, Zhaoyi & Li, Hao & Shi, Erxiu & Liu, Xuemei & Liu, Hongliang, 2020. "Analysis on the heat extraction performance of multi-well injection enhanced geothermal system based on leaf-like bifurcated fracture networks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 213(C).
    9. Xiang Gao & Tailu Li & Yao Zhang & Xiangfei Kong & Nan Meng, 2022. "A Review of Simulation Models of Heat Extraction for a Geothermal Reservoir in an Enhanced Geothermal System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(19), pages 1-23, September.
    10. Xie, Jingxuan & Wang, Jiansheng, 2022. "Compatibility investigation and techno-economic performance optimization of whole geothermal power generation system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 328(C).
    11. Qiao, Mingzheng & Jing, Zefeng & Feng, Chenchen & Li, Minghui & Chen, Cheng & Zou, Xupeng & Zhou, Yujuan, 2024. "Review on heat extraction systems of hot dry rock: Classifications, benefits, limitations, research status and future prospects," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 196(C).
    12. Li, Jiawei & Sun, Zhixue & Zhang, Yin & Jiang, Chuanyin & Cherubini, Claudia & Scheuermann, Alexander & Torres, Sergio Andres Galindo & Li, Ling, 2019. "Investigations of heat extraction for water and CO2 flow based on the rough-walled discrete fracture network," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    13. Wang, Gaosheng & Song, Xianzhi & Yu, Chao & Shi, Yu & Song, Guofeng & Xu, Fuqiang & Ji, Jiayan & Song, Zihao, 2022. "Heat extraction study of a novel hydrothermal open-loop geothermal system in a multi-lateral horizontal well," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 242(C).
    14. Zhao, Jiale & Li, Zijun & Xu, Yu & Zheng, Gongguan & Qin, Xinglang, 2026. "Integrating geothermal extraction with mine heat hazard control: A thermal–hydraulic–mechanical-ventilation coupling model for deep mines," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 342(C).
    15. Li, Xinxin & Li, Chengyu & Gong, Wenping & Zhang, Yanjie & Wang, Junchao, 2023. "Probabilistic analysis of heat extraction performance in enhanced geothermal system based on a DFN-based modeling scheme," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 263(PC).
    16. Liu, Jun & Zhao, Peng & Peng, Jiao & Xian, Hongyu, 2024. "Insight into the investigation of heat extraction performance affected by natural fractures in enhanced geothermal system (EGS) with THM multiphysical field model," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    17. Wei, Xin & Feng, Zi-jun & Zhao, Yang-sheng, 2019. "Numerical simulation of thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling effect in mining fault-mode hot dry rock geothermal energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 120-135.
    18. Ding, Junfeng & Wang, Shimin, 2018. "2D modeling of well array operating enhanced geothermal system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 918-932.
    19. Jiansheng, Wang & Lide, Su & Qiang, Zhu & Jintao, Niu, 2022. "Numerical investigation on power generation performance of enhanced geothermal system with horizontal well," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 325(C).
    20. Zhang, Qitao & Dahi Taleghani, Arash, 2023. "Autonomous fracture flow tunning to enhance efficiency of fractured geothermal systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:347:y:2026:i:c:s0360544226003191. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.