New Zealand:

Prof. Rosalind Archer Inaugural Public Lecture: Unlocking Energy from the Earth: Fluid Flow Models Large and Small (The University of Auckland)

21 July 2015, 5:30 - 7:30pm, Lecture theatre 401.439, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland

GRC Member Prof. Rosalind Archer

Geothermal fluid and hydrocarbons are both produced from deep underground reservoirs that occupy large areas. Understanding them is a challenge since we can only directly investigate them with a limited number of wells, and have to supplement this with a range of indirect measurements.

Computational models are used to help improve our understanding of these systems – both to define their properties and to forecast their future performance. Using models to help unlock energy from the earth is a challenge because the flows occur within tiny pores and fractures inside domains that can be many square kilometres in extent. Models must ideally address heat and mass transfer, geochemistry, and geomechanics. This lecture discusses a range of computational tools and approaches to assist in the development of energy resources. This suite of tools ranges from boundary element based methods, to geostatistics, to Lattice Boltzmann approaches.

Expect an occasional diversion along the way – such as the application of geostatistics to the stomach.

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