Fracture network characterization in enhanced geothermal systems by induced seismicity analysis

Overview & Synopsis

Subject of the doctoral project is to study induced seismicity in enhanced geothermal systems to characterize the underground fracture network. The first part of this work focuses on the case study of the Rittershoffen deep geothermal reservoir. It is demonstrated how the integration of advanced processing techniques can lead to a deeper insight into the structure of the fault system and its reaction to repeated fluid injection. In the second part of this work, a new method is proposed to highlight the fracture network in seismic clouds that do not form apparent planar structures. With this method, the likelihood of having a fracture at a given location is computed from the distribution of seismic events and their source parameters.