Modelling of heat flow in Earth’s Crust

Abstract

The paper deals with the modelling of the heat flow in the Earth’s crust. The used three-dimensional model utilises the computer environment where the rock masses are modelled by the set of basic structural elements placed in the orthogonal co-ordinate system x, y, z, while the basic structural element is a cube with a chosen size. The physical notion of the diffusion is utilised for modelling the potential’s flow from places with higher value of potentials to the surrounding rock masses. With the help of coefficients of diffusion kx, ky, kz, representing the ability of transmission of the thermal energy being present in the basic structural element of the rock to the adjacent structural elements of the rock model, it is possible to model iso-tropic, anisotropic, or heterogeneous properties of the modelled rock masses, as well as the properties of spreading the heat in this environ-ment.

Keywords

• geothermal energy
• heat flow
• rock masses
• diffusion
• computer modelling