IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v262y2026ics0960148126001886.html

A computationally efficient model of a geothermal well for the Thermal Response Test (TRT) during drilling

Author

Listed:
  • Negahdari, Zahra
  • Gravdal, Jan Einar
  • Balakin, Boris V.

Abstract

Thermal modeling of geothermal wells during drilling offers a practical and efficient approach to determine key thermal properties of subsurface formations, thereby facilitating the optimized design of geothermal energy systems. This study presents the development of a numerical model designed to predict the transient temperature distribution within a wellbore during active drilling operations. The model delineates the wellbore system into distinct thermal regions and formulates governing partial differential equations for each, capturing the effects of conduction, convection, internal heat generation, and time-dependent boundary conditions. The model’s capability is validated against the literature and a third-party code, demonstrating average discrepancies of 1.8% and 0.6%, respectively. Parametric simulations were conducted across a range of operational scenarios to evaluate the impact of critical drilling variables. We found that the outlet temperature of the drilling fluid changes by 30% during a 16-fold increase in the ground thermal conductivity and by 40% during a twofold reduction in the flow rate. The findings underscore the applicability of the model for real-time optimization and predictive control in geothermal drilling operations.

Suggested Citation

  • Negahdari, Zahra & Gravdal, Jan Einar & Balakin, Boris V., 2026. "A computationally efficient model of a geothermal well for the Thermal Response Test (TRT) during drilling," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:262:y:2026:i:c:s0960148126001886
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2026.125363
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148126001886
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2026.125363?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. Aydin, Murat & Gultekin, Ahmet, 2025. "Effect of test parameters on the recovery of underground after a Thermal Response Test and optimum waiting time between tests," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    2. Mou Yang & Yingfeng Meng & Gao Li & Yongjie Li & Ying Chen & Xiangyang Zhao & Hongtao Li, 2013. "Estimation of Wellbore and Formation Temperatures during the Drilling Process under Lost Circulation Conditions," Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Hindawi, vol. 2013, pages 1-11, July.
    3. Zhang, Zheng & Xiong, Youming & Pu, Hui & Sun, Zheng, 2021. "Effect of the variations of thermophysical properties of drilling fluids with temperature on wellbore temperature calculation during drilling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    4. Pour Ahmadiyan, Ali & Nord, Natasa, 2026. "Seasonal storage of district heating surplus heat through borehole thermal energy storage: a global sensitivity analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    5. Chae, Hobyung & Nam, Yujin, 2025. "New approach to reduce analysis time of thermal response test: Active thermal response test using linear heat optical fiber sensor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    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. Zhang, Zheng & Wei, Yongqi & Xiong, Youming & Peng, Geng & Wang, Guorong & Lu, Jingsheng & Zhong, Lin & Wang, Jingpeng, 2022. "Influence of the location of drilling fluid loss on wellbore temperature distribution during drilling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 244(PB).
    2. Dorota Kluk & Teresa Steliga & Dariusz Bęben & Piotr Jakubowicz, 2024. "Study on Surfactants for the Removal of Water from Deliquification Natural Gas Wells to Enhance Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(23), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Guo, Yide & Li, Xibing & Huang, Linqi, 2023. "Experimental investigation on the sudden cooling effect of oil-based drilling fluid on the dynamic compressive behavior of deep shale reservoirs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    4. Wang, Haoyu & Zhang, Dan & Yang, Bo & Lin, Kai, 2025. "Estimation of groundwater flow rates based on the thermal-hydro response of energy pile: A multi-stage inversion framework with optimisation algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 341(C).
    5. Zhang, Nanlin & Chen, Zhangxin & Luo, Zhifeng & Liu, Pingli & Chen, Weiyu & Liu, Fushen, 2023. "Effect of the phase-transition fluid reaction heat on wellbore temperature in self-propping phase-transition fracturing technology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 265(C).
    6. Bo Feng & Jin Li & Zaoyuan Li & Xuning Wu & Jian Liu & Sheng Huang & Jinfei Sun, 2023. "Enhancing Environmental Protection in Oil and Gas Wells through Improved Prediction Method of Cement Slurry Temperature," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, June.
    7. Jingpeng Wang & Youming Xiong & Zongyu Lu & Jiangang Shi & Jiwei Wu, 2021. "Influence of Volume Fracturing on Casing Stress in Horizontal Wells," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-14, April.
    8. Yao, Xuezhe & Song, Xianzhi & Zhou, Mengmeng & Xu, Zhengming & Duan, Shiming & Li, Zengjia & Li, Huazhou, 2025. "A modified heat transfer model for predicting wellbore temperature in ultra-deep drilling with insulated drill pipe," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    9. Zhang, Xishun & Shi, Junfeng & Zhao, Ruidong & Ma, Gaoqiang & Li, Zhongyang & Wang, Xiaofei & Zhang, Jinke, 2024. "Simulation of wellbore pipe flow in oil production engineering: Offshore concentric double-tube CO2-assisted superheated steam wellbore during SAGD process of heavy oil reservoirs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 294(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:renene:v:262:y:2026:i:c:s0960148126001886. 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/renewable-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.