Geothermal numerical simulation technology by bibliometrics: advances and trends

Numerical simulation is an important method to meet the needs of large time-scale research in geothermal systems, bibliometric analysis of relevant literature can provide some reference for understanding current research progress and trends． A total of 899 and 686 papers in the field of geothermal numerical simulation retrieved from Web of Science core and CNKI from 2000-2022 respectively are subject to CiteSpace and VOSviewer bibliometric analysis． The number of publications in geothermal numerical simulation was found to have increased exponentially, entering a period of rapid development after 2014, with papers from China accounting for the largest percentage． The keyword co-occurrence and clustering timeline maps show that the key research directions are: enhanced geothermal systems, ground source heat pumps, heat transfer performance, and multi-field coupling． Hydraulic-thermal coupling is the earliest and most researched issue, as the core of multi-field coupling． Hydraulic-thermal-mechanical is the current research hotspot, mainly hydraulic-thermal-mechanical coupling and hydraulic-thermal-chemical coupling． Mechanical deformation and geochemical reaction sedimentation and dissolution process are added on the basis of two-field coupling． Hydraulic-thermal-mechanical-chemical coupling with less attention needs to consider the time scale effect of heat extraction process． Discrete fracture network model is the research focus and hotspot at present． Numerical simulation method is in a period of rapid development, and is an important means for industry-university-research applications．