Abstract: The utilization of abandoned wells to develop geothermal energy is one of the current international research hotspots,but it is rarely discussed in China at present.Aiming at this problem,through the systematic investigation of geothermal energy development technology and numerical simulation research status of abandoned wells at home and abroad,the existing development processes has been described,which was classified into two types:open loop heat extraction process（EGS,“irrigation-pumping”heat extraction）and closed loop heat extraction process（heat exchanger heat extraction,“U-shaped well”heat extraction）. At present,the main object of numerical simulation research on heat extraction from abandoned wells is closed-loop heat extraction process;the coaxial heat exchanger and“U-shaped well”heat extraction now has relatively complete mathematical models for reference,but the relevant conclusions of each model need to be further verified by field tests.Analyzing the existing research results and problems,it is considered that the combination of numerical simulation and experiment,the development and optimization of production process,the research and development of supporting equipment and facilities,and artificial intelligence screening of target abandoned wells will be the important development direction in the future.