Dr A Busch
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
BP Energy Outlook forecasts that shale gas will account for 24% of the global gas production in 2035. Utilising them requires a step-change in understanding gas migration, accumulation and reserve/resource calculations, and to better inform environmental concerns and reduce production costs.
The understanding of the pore system and related fluid flow across scales is still a major issue for integrating flow properties into reservoir engineering concepts. Specifically, the different flow processes (diffusion, slip flow, Darcy flow) occurring in gas shales are difficult to predict. This is because very small pores (<10 nm) are difficult to resolve using imaging techniques and measurements to determine diffusion coefficients are technically challenging. Slip flow through the larger pores however is sourced by diffusional transport from the storage pores and is therefore required as input when predicting the long term performance of a shale gas reservoir.
In order to bridge this gap, we aim at combining a variety of methods for an integrated assessment of flow in such materials:
• Small scale (d~2nm10µm): Fracture hydraulic conductivity measurements and nano/µCT scanning on sample plugs
Pore-scale gas flow will be simulated on shale pore-network models that are constructed from characterisations to be obtained from FIB images and small angle scattering/gas adsorption measurements to perform mechanistic modelling with respect to pore geometry and topology, and fluid transport mechanisms. The results can then be used to interpret laboratory flow measurements by numerical inversion on X-ray tomograms of small shale sample plugs.
Funding Notes
Scholarships will cover tuition fees and provide an annual stipend of approximately £14,700 for the 36 month duration of the project.
To be eligible, applicants should have a first-class honours degree in a relevant subject or a 2.1 honours degree plus Masters (or equivalent). Scholarships will be awarded by competitive merit, taking into account the academic ability of the applicant.