Multiscale Finite Elements for Reactive Transport in Natural Porous Media: The Impacts of Dissolution, Precipitation, and Clogging at the Pore Scale.

A key global challenge for the 21st century is securing sustainable access to energy, water and food. The underpinning understanding of natural systems to address this challenge is, in large part, concerned with storage and extraction from porous rock: this includes safe storage of carbon dioxide (CO2), efficient recovery from hydrocarbon reservoirs, and groundwater/contaminant transport. In many of these applications, complex geological structures such as carbonate rock hosts reactive transport processes spanning a huge range of spatial and temporal scales. These applications have similar workflows that involve transferring pore scale, detailed, information to large simulation scales. This transfer of information faces significant challenges associated with multiscale phenomena and uncertainty. In particular, the accuracy of predictions can depend on factors such as the spatial resolution of the simulations and physical models at particular scales for example pore-scale to Darcy-scale. This challenge is exacerbated when the host rock geometries evolve due to dissolution or clogging effects that can occur due to fluid-solid reaction at the pore scale. The relationship between geochemistry and diverted flow paths is highly nonlinear and adds a layer of computational difficulty - no method hitherto can single-handedly overcome all these challenges. An interdisciplinary collaboration involving state-of-the-art theoretical, numerical, and experimental methods is therefore crucial.

Utilizing multiscale finite elements in complex pore geometries has been an area of vivid current research. These methods solve local problems at the sub-grid scale to build in geometric information into the coarse-grid basis. However, these methods suppose a fixed rock microstructure and do not include the effects of dissolution, precipitation, or clogging. The key challenge being that solving fully-resolved microstructural problems in each coarse block is expensive. One method of attack is to suppose pore scale geometries are parameterized and reduced basis or empirical interpolation methods can be utilized. Linking these parameterizations to physical processes that govern rock surface evolution will be critical in this project. Thus, making a project that is challenging both numerically, but also in terms of physical modelling.

This PhD studentship aims to develop efficient techniques to incorporate these higher order effects into multiscale finite elements at the pore-scale. Then, X-ray micro-tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance imaging technologies can probe reactive transport signatures at the pore and core scales and provide the framework for experimental validations. For this project, candidates with experience with numerical methods as well as ability to program in MATLAB or other programming languages would be at an advantage. This project will have considerable interaction with the GeoEnergy Research Centre (GERC), Imperial College London, and British Geological Survey (BGS). This project will also include possible linkages and training with GERCs industrial partner’s reservoir simulation software Petrel.

About the Energy Research Accelerator
The Energy Research Accelerator (ERA) is a cross-disciplinary energy innovation hub which brings together capital assets, data and intellectual leadership to foster collaboration between academia and business to accelerate the development of solutions to the global energy challenge. It will provide new buildings and cutting-edge demonstrators, develop highly skilled people and jobs, as well as new products and services to ultimately transform the UK’s energy sector. Building on existing programmes and academic expertise across the partnership, universities within ERA have committed over £2m for doctoral students as a critical part of the ERA skills agenda.
Delivered through Innovate UK, the government has committed an initial capital investment of £60m, and ERA has secured private sector co-investment of £120m. ERA’s initial priorities of Geo-Energy Systems, Integrated Energy Systems and Thermal Energy will help deliver the new technologies and behaviours that will open the avenues for its future development and demonstrate the transformative effect ERA can have across the energy spectrum.

Through the Midlands Energy Consortium (MEC), Midlands’ universities have already worked closely to deliver essential research and postgraduate skills - clustering energy research and development to deliver technologies capable of enabling the UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy. ERA is the next step along that journey to become a major hub for energy talent.

Summary: UK/EU students - Tuition Fees paid, and full Stipend at the RCUK rate, which is £14,296 per annum for 2016/17. There will also be some support available for you to claim for limited conference attendance. The scholarship length will be 3.5 years and the successful applicant will be part of the Energy Research Accelerator at the University of Nottingham (http://www.era.ac.uk/).