Developing EGS Collab Site Geologic Framework Models at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, Lead, South Dakota
The ongoing DOE/GTO funded EGS Collab project aims to stimulate and conduct inter-well flow tests at an intermediate (~10-20 m) in an underground mine in Lead, South Dakota. It is a collaborative initiative where several national laboratories, universities, and other institutions are working together to develop experimental, instrumentation, characterization, and monitoring tools and concepts that could be later employed at a full-scale EGS demonstration FORGE site. In this paper, we describe the development and workflow approach and some preliminary results of earth modeling task for EGS Collab project. We are creating earth models at three different domain scales – EGS Collab, Intermediate, and Large area – using RockWorks 17 software. Local geology, drifts/shafts, and 4850 L boreholes are incorporated in these models. Similarly, available and applicable physical/mechanical properties are also planned to be included in the earth models. Besides providing visualization of the local geology, mine architecture, and bore holes in the test site, the earth modeling task also envision to develop a series of 3-D block models (ASCII files for scattered data/point clouds in the form of X, Y, Z, g) for various physical/mechanical properties of rock. These 3-D block models will provide a consistent baseline value for a parameter of interest to all modeling/simulation groups involved in the EGS Collab project. For this task, we have assembled a preliminary suite of physical/mechanical properties of rocks. Some of the earth modeling results (3-D block models) have been tested by some modeling/simulation team members to test their applicability and for developing additional modeling capability or modifications in RockWorks exported 3-D block models. It is expected that the earth modeling results will be helpful for achieving the overall EGS Collab project objectives.