Seminar - Rachel Gelet- Thermo-hydro-mechanical study of deformable porous media with double porosity in local thermal non-equilibrium

Wednesday 19 October 2011, 1.00 pm - 2.00 pm
Lecture Room 3, School of Civil Engineering

Dr Rachel Gelet
University of Sydney

Bio:
Rachel received her Bachelor degree with first-class honour in Mechanical engineering, from the University of Technology of Belfort-Montbeliard (France), in 2006. She proceeded with study in geotechnical engineering in the National Institute of Technology of Grenoble (France), and finished first of here Master degree, in 2007. Next she was awarded with two PhD degrees; one form the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble (France) and one from the UNSW (Australia) in 2011. Since June 2011, Rachel has been working in Uni Sydney as a Post-Doctoral fellow, and his research topic is on the micro-mechanics of faulting and fluid flow in porous reservoir rocks.

Abstract:
A fully coupled constitutive model is presented for a rigorous analysis of deformation, hydraulic and heat flows in saturated dual porosity media subject to thermo-hydro-mechanical loadings including those able to cause local thermal non-equilibrium. The solid phase is assumed to contain two distinct cavities: the porous blocks and the fissure network. The governing equations are derived based on the equations of conservation of mass, momentum and energy. Solution to the governing equations is obtained numerically using the finite element approach. The capabilities of the model address two energy applications: the stability of a borehole in a thermally enhanced oil recovery context and the heat extraction of enhanced geothermal systems. Substantial differences, particularly in the effective stress response, highlight the major influence of the dual porosity model and the importance of the local thermal non-equilibrium assumption to predict the behaviour of fractured media.