Scales and coupling in geological porous media
Event details
| Date | 24.05.2011 |
| Hour | 08:15 |
| Speaker | Ivan Lunati, SNSF Professor, University of Lausanne, Institute of Geophysics, Lausanne, CH |
| Location |
ELA 1
|
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Aquifers and reservoirs are characterized by complex structures, which exhibit a hierarchy of heterogeneity scales ranging from the pore scale (at which the processes physically occur) to the formation scale (at which the system needs to be described in practical applications). Coping with this disparity of scales has been the major issue in traditional hydrogeological problems, in which highly heterogeneous properties dictate fluid flow and contaminant transport. In modern applications we are forced to deal with a higher level of complexity due to fact that we are confronted to several simultaneous and interacting physicochemical processes. Understanding and modeling the interaction between coupled processes and the complex structure of geological media is essential in many applications that have a large societal impact, such as geological storage of greenhouse gases or safe underground disposal of nuclear waste. As there is in general no clear scale separation, traditional approaches based upscaling (e.g., homogenization, volume average) are not effective and novel multiscale techniques are required, which enable to describe all the relevant temporal and spatial scales. These techniques, together with improved conceptual models based on experimental observations, can contribute both to advance the fundamental understanding of the processes and to improve the reliability of the models used in practical applications.
Links
Practical information
- General public
- Free
Contact
- Christina Treier