Boiling flow in a horizontal fracture

The modeling of a geothermal reservoir requires an in-depth understanding of the heat transfer process that causes the ¯uid ¯owing within a fracture to boil as heat is transferred to the ¯uid from the surrounding rock. One of the key parameters that describes this process is the boiling heat transfer coecient. In this work, experiments were performed and a model based on the experiments was developed in order to quantify the heat transfer coecient. In the process, it was also determined that ¯ow in fractures may be described using linear relative permeability functions. # 2000 CNR. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.