Surface Area Scaling Law Reduces Uncertainty in Subsurface Energy Engineering and Hints at New Physics
The advancement of sustainable subsurface energy options, especially geothermal energy and geologic hydrogen production, is limited by a challenge that is unique to subsurface engineering. Unlike most engineering disciplines, poorly constrained flow path geometries dominate the financial uncertainty of commercial-scale subsurface energy projects. Here, a simple method to extract heat transfer surface area and subsequently forecast changes to production well temperature is presented in a pedagogical fashion. Then, a surprising connection to particle physics is presented.
Bio: Adam Hawkins is an assistant professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at Clemson University. His primary research interests are in heat and reactive mass transfer in Earth’s subsurface, particularly in the context of “next generation” tracer technologies that can report on and/or modify subsurface conditions. Research projects have largely focused on geothermal reservoir engineering with additional applications in nuclear waste disposal, carbon sequestration, subsurface energy storage, and geologic hydrogen production. Novel tracers of interest include engineered nanoparticles, reactive tracers for temperature and area reporting, DNA/microbial tracers, and “active” tracers for controlling subsurface fluid flow paths. He has also developed novel machine learning tools and predictive models for fluid flow in non-uniform permeability fields.