Progress on heat transfer in fractures of hot dry rock enhanced geothermal system

Hot Dry Rock (HDR) is the most potential renewable geothermal energy in the future. Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) is the most effective method for the development and utilization of HDR resources, and fractures are the main flow channels and one of the most important conditions for studying heat transfer process of EGS. Therefore, the heat transfer process and the heat transfer mechanism in fractures of EGS have been the hot spots of research. Due to the particularity of the mathematical models of heat transfer, research in this field has been at an exploratory stage, and its methods are mainly experimental tests and numerical simulations. This paper introduces the progress on heat transfer in fractures of Hot Dry Rock EGS in detail, provides a comparative analysis of the research results and prospects for future research directions: It is suggested that relevant scholars should further study the mathematical equations which are applicable to engineering construction of seepage heat transfer in irregular fractures of the rock mass, the unsteady heat transfer process between multiple fractures of the rock mass and the heat transfer mechanism of the complex three-dimensional models of EGS. © 2021, Tech Science Press. All rights reserved.