Optimizing the design of a geothermal district heating and cooling system located at a flooded mine in Canada

Flooded underground mines are attractive for groundwater heat pump systems, as the voids created during mining operations enhance the subsurface permeability and storage capacity, which allows the extraction of significant volumes of groundwater without requiring extensive drilling. Heat exchange at a flooded mine is, however, difficult to predict because of the complex geometry of the underground network of tunnels. A case study is presented here to demonstrate that numerical simulations of groundwater flow and heat transfer can help assess production temperatures required to optimize the design of a heat pump system that uses mine water. A 3D numerical model was developed for the Gaspé Mines located in Murdochville, Canada, where a district heating and cooling system is being studied. The underground mining tunnels and shafts are represented in the model with 1D elements whose flow and heat transfer contributions are superimposed to those of the 3D porous medium. The numerical model is calibrated to simultaneously reproduce the groundwater rebound that occurred when the mine closed and the drawdown measured during a pumping test conducted in a former mining shaft. Predictive simulations over a period of 50 years are subsequently performed to minimize pumping rate and determine maximum heat extraction rate.