Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Canada has the second-largest population living in subarctic and arctic remote communities. The development of geothermal energy has been suggested as a strategic technology to increase energy and food security in the off-grid communities of circum-arctic countries, given that some weather-dependent renewable energy (e.g., solar energy) is insufficient for local needs in winter. Previous studies mainly focus on hydro-thermal properties of ground soils for some studying areas in northern Quebec. Potential geohazards were not evaluated. There is a lack of investigations on the geotechnical aspect which is essential for the geothermal energy project. The design of geothermal energy is dependent on the accurate characterizations of thermo-poromechanical responses of the surrounding soils involved. The long-term goal of the proposed research program is to provide design solutions for sustainable geothermal energy development in the north and to ensure Indigenous Peoples' access to clean energy with the lowest geo-risk. In the coming five years, the major objectives are to a) improve the constitutive modeling of thermo-poromechanical behaviors of clay soils b) development of advanced finite element codes for simulating thermo-poromechanical responses 3) apply advanced models to the geothermal energy projects in Canadian northern communities. Theoretical models developed from the research will be applied to evaluate the geohazard related to a potential borehole thermal energy storage project in a non-permafrost region. In addition, the use of ground source heat pump for maintaining permafrost ground stability in a local community will also be evaluated. In the proposed research, the mechanisms of thermal-hydro-mechanical coupled processes in clay soils will be interpreted from the fundamental aspects of physics. The proposed research project will promote the motivation of engineers to proactively consider thermo-poromechanical impacts on designs and operations of geothermal energy-related projects in cold regions. The high-performance finite element numerical package to be built upon the open-source FEM platform will finally be released as an open-source code to benefit all the communities. The findings will help in prioritizing the design considerations in geo-energy projects and identifying deficiencies in existing projects. Canada is one of the UN countries that are taking decarbonization actions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The need for HQPs to work on geothermal engineering projects in northern communities has been demonstrated by the Canadian engineering industry. The 9 HQPs (2 PhDs, 3 MScs, 4 UGs) trained during this program will help to fill this gap.