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Geothermal Resource Potential of the Great Basin Province in Western Utah Mason Edwards Dept. of Geology & Geophysics University of Utah (ecoki.com, 2010)
Geothermal Resource Potential of the Great Basin Province
in Western Utah
Mason Edwards Dept. of Geology & Geophysics
University of Utah
(ecoki.com, 2010)
Study Motivation
(Henrikson, 2001)
High Temperature at depth
High ‘q’ (90 mWm-1)Low ‘k’ basin fill
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
Te
mp
era
ture
( C
)
Temperature Requiredfor Geothermal Applications
DirectUse
PowerGeneration
Aquaculture
Greenhouses
DryingTimber
Evaporationof Solutions
BinarySystems
CombinedCycle
CondensingTurbines
T
z
T0 T1 T2
k1
k2
q0
Determining Heat Flow & Temperature
Case 1:• q0 = 90 mWm-2
• z1 = 2 km• T0 = 10 °C• k1 = 3 Wm-1K-1
Case 2:• q0 = 90 mWm-2
• z1 = 2 km• T0 = 10 °C• k1 = 1.5 Wm-1K-1
T(2 km) = 70 °C T(2 km) = 130 °C
Fourier’s Law:
T(z) = T0 + q0Δzi
kiΣ
q = k T∇
Measuring Thermal Conductivity
Divided Bar Method• Known Standard ‘k’• Measured Temperatures• No Lateral Heat Loss
T1
T2
Th
Tc
ΔT1
ΔT2
ΔT3
Sample Cell
k1 l1
lsample
l3k3
q1 = k1
ΔT1
l1
qsample = ksampleΔT2
lsample
q1 = qsample
ksample = k1 ΔT1
l1ΔT2
lsample
Questions?
