Grain-Scale Failure in Thermal Spallation Drilling

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Geothermal power promises clean, renewable, reliable and potentially widely-available energy, but is limited by high initial capital costs. New drilling technologies are required to make geothermal power financially competitive with other energy sources. One potential solution is offered by Thermal Spallation Drilling (TSD) - a novel drilling technique in which small particles (spalls) are released from the rock surface by rapid heating. In this paper, we discuss results from a new modeling effort investigating thermal spallation drilling. In particular, we describe an explicit model that simulates the grain-scale mechanics of thermal spallation and use this model to examine existing theories concerning spalling mechanisms. We will report how borehole conditions influence spall production, and discuss implications for macro-scale models of drilling systems.

Citation Formats

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (2012). Grain-Scale Failure in Thermal Spallation Drilling [data set]. Retrieved from https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/175.
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Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, and Roberts, Jeffery J. Grain-Scale Failure in Thermal Spallation Drilling. United States: N.p., 01 Jan, 2012. Web. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/175.
Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, & Roberts, Jeffery J. Grain-Scale Failure in Thermal Spallation Drilling. United States. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/175
Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, and Roberts, Jeffery J. 2012. "Grain-Scale Failure in Thermal Spallation Drilling". United States. https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/175.
@div{oedi_175, title = {Grain-Scale Failure in Thermal Spallation Drilling}, author = {Walsh, Stuart D.C., Lomov, Ilya, and Roberts, Jeffery J.}, abstractNote = {Geothermal power promises clean, renewable, reliable and potentially widely-available energy, but is limited by high initial capital costs. New drilling technologies are required to make geothermal power financially competitive with other energy sources. One potential solution is offered by Thermal Spallation Drilling (TSD) - a novel drilling technique in which small particles (spalls) are released from the rock surface by rapid heating. In this paper, we discuss results from a new modeling effort investigating thermal spallation drilling. In particular, we describe an explicit model that simulates the grain-scale mechanics of thermal spallation and use this model to examine existing theories concerning spalling mechanisms. We will report how borehole conditions influence spall production, and discuss implications for macro-scale models of drilling systems.}, doi = {}, url = {https://gdr.openei.org/submissions/175}, journal = {}, number = , volume = , place = {United States}, year = {2012}, month = {01}}

Details

Data from Jan 1, 2012

Last updated May 23, 2017

Submitted Feb 13, 2013

Organization

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Contact

Stuart D.C. Walsh

Authors

Stuart D.C. Walsh

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Ilya Lomov

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Jeffery J. Roberts

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

DOE Project Details

Project Name Geomechanical Modeling for Thermal Spallation Drilling

Project Lead Greg Stillman

Project Number LLNL FY12 AOP2

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