I work on developing mathematical models and numerical solution strategies for highly coupled thermo-chemo-hydro-geo-mechanical flow problems in marine geological settings. My main research interests include numerical methods for solution of PDEs, multirate and multiscale methods, porous media models, computational plasticity and poroplasticity.
A thermo‐chemo‐hydrogeomechanical numerical simulation framework for marine geo‐system applications
Marine sediments are highly complex sub-surface geo-systems characterized by large material hetero-geneities, local anisotropies, and a large number of strongly coupled multiphysics processes occurring at vastly different spatio-temporal scale. For solving multiphysics models of such high complexity, the general purpose numerical tools are not optimal in terms of computational time and resources, and are often not able to handle non-standard models and special interface and coupling conditions. In order to ensure accurate, stable, and reliable solutions, we propose to develop a state-of-the-art prototype numerical simulator for thermo-chemo-hydro-geomechanical processes in marine sediments with a particular focus on the hydro-geomechanical and chemo-geomechanical coupling conditions, and possible extensions to bio-chemo-geomechanical couplings. The numerical solution strategy will be optimized for our existing gas hydrate reservoir model, and will focus on applications like gas migration through the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) and its impact on local and regional slope stability, and gas hydrate exploitation and related environmental and geotechnical issues. The simulator will be developed in a rapid prototyping framework and will form an ideal basis for a much wider variety of marine applications where hydro-geomechanical, chemo-geomechanical, and bio-chemo-geomechanical couplings are of a particular interest, like, stabilization of marine sediments using microbial precipitation and mineral formation, subsurface CO2 storage technologies, etc. The main Cluster topics that will be addressed within the scope of this project are: Ocean Pressures (leakage from gas hydrate production, tailings/sediment plumes from deep-sea mining impacts), Ocean Resilience (slope instabilities, turbidities, submarine landslides), and Ocean Prosperity (gas hydrate exploitation, deep-sea mining). The long term objective for developing this numerical simulator is to improve and enhance our predictive capabilities so that we can make more informed assessments of the economic value of marine resources and the environmental and geotechnical risks of their exploitation, which can greatly benefit industry, environmental NGOs, and national and international regulatory bodies in guiding policy, planning, and legal issues concerning the risks and benefits of seabed resource extraction.
