OpenGeoSys A Simulation Framework for Modeling and Predicting Energy System Properties

January 10th 2014 Ashok Singh, PhD at Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig / Germany guested Centre for Smart Energy Solutions with the talk:

OpenGeoSys: a Simulation Framework for Modeling and Predicting Energy System Properties

Conventional sources of energy such as coal, oil, and natural gas are finite and emit greenhouse gases (GHG).  To protect the atmosphere from GHG emission and effort to further extend the life of hydrocarbon reservoirs, participation in renewable energy transition is a good idea. The renewable energy that comes from resources which are continually replenished on a human timescale such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat. Nevertheless, energy derived from renewable energy sources is variable by nature. Hence, technologies for energy storage systems and enhancement of energy production from geothermal reservoirs are required to make it sustainable. To predict the properties of these energy systems, mathematical modeling of physical, chemical and biological processes offers a well-established numerical simulator.

First part of the talk covers development of scientific open FEM source code (OpenGeoSys) which implementation is based on C++, object-oriented programing (OOP) concept. OpenGeoSys is used for numerical simulation of multi-phase and multi-componential fluid flow and heat transport through deformable porous media. Applications currently are in CO₂ sequestration, enhanced gas recovery, renewable energy and radioactive waste deposition. OOP provides a suitable framework for distributed code development; however, the parallelization (PETSc) of OOP codes still lacks efficiency. Benchmarking has been accepted scientific tool for code verification or validation purposes. Therefore, in the second part of the talk, selected benchmarks are presented to gain a better understanding about technologies such as enhanced gas recovery, compressed air energy storage, thermo-chemical energy storage, and enhanced geothermal system analysis with different level of complexity.

For more information: www.opengeosys.org