Principal Investigator

Ruben Juanes

I am a geoscientist with a strong interest in the physics of multiphase flow in porous media. My research focuses on advancing our fundamental understanding and predictive capabilities of the simultaneous flow of two or more fluids through rocks, soils and other porous materials. Research in my group combines theory, simulation and experiments that elucidate fundamental aspects of multi-fluid flow, which we then apply for prediction of large-scale Earth science problems in the areas of energy and the environment.

Postdoctoral Researchers

Wei Li

I am a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. My research interests lie in the deeper understanding of the coupled physical processes in the underground solid-fluid systems. I obtained my Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at MIT, working on projects such as the heat transfer between rock and fluid in discrete fracture networks, transport-controlled dissolution in underground cavities, dissolution in porous media and formation of wormhole. In the Juanes Research Group, I'll study the frictional behavior of fault gouge under large strain and different pore flow conditions.

Graduate Students

Maryam Alghannam

I am a graduate student in Computational Science and Engineering with background in petroleum engineering, geomechanics, and applied mathematics. Before coming to MIT, I worked as a reservoir engineer in the oil and gas industry for a few years. Here, I am interested in using theory and simulation to study induced earthquakes and fault poromechanics.

Yue (Olivia) Meng

I am a graduate student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. I am interested in numerical modeling of multiphase flow in porous media, which has practical importance in enhanced oil recovery and shale gas production. My current research is centered about DEM modeling of wettability control on hydraulic fracture patterns.

Bauyrzhan Primkulov

I am a PhD student in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Interfacial tension dominated flows and applied mathematics are two fields that keep me a happy and hungry student. The applications of the field are ubiquitous - from physics of subsurface flow and mineral processing to microfluidics and 3D printing. My first work in the field was the study of bitumen droplet relaxation on curved glass substrates (with Professor Xu), followed by work (in Professor Chalaturnyk's group) on 3D printing, and modeling of multiphase flow in deformed granular media..

Yu Qiu

I’m a master student in department of civil and environmental engineering. My research interests include fracture characterization, image process and analysis of microfluidic multiphase flow as well as the interplay between solid surface and fluid. I got my bachelor degree from Jilin University, where I conducted experimental research on T-H-M coupling of fractured rock. I did my senior thesis at National University of Singapore on representing flow behavior under stressed rough surface. I also did internship on investigating multiphase flow with 3D printing micromodel. Here, I’ll study porous media flow from the aspect of wettability and roughness.

Lluis Salo

I am a graduate student building my knowledge in geology, flow in porous media, geomechanics and seismology. My goal is to apply it for improving integrated approaches for complex problems in geologic media, particularly in the context of CO2 storage. I am currently working in flow and geomechanical modeling to enhance our understanding of the hazards posed by fault zones in subsurface energy technologies. For example, fluid migration and induced seismicity. In the past, I have also worked in seismic signal analysis of earthquake and non-earthquake related processes.

Administrative and Financial Coordinator

Roberta Pizzinato

Alumni

  • Antoine Jacquey, Postdoctoral researcher 2020-2021: modeling fault slip and induced seismicity

  • Ehsan Haghighat, Postdoctoral researcher 2016-2019: geomechanics, stochastic modeling and machine learning

  • Rebecca Liyanage, Postdoctoral researcher 2019-2020: coupled evaporation and unstable infiltration in soil

  • Ke Xu, Postdoctoral researcher 2018-2019: multiphase flow and phase change in porous media

  • Alina Tyukhova, Postdoctoral researcher 2016-2018: simulation of coupled flow and geomechanics

  • David Castineira, Research scientist 2015-2017: data science, geomechanics, and induced seismicity

  • Marie-Julie Dalbe, Postdoctoral researcher 2015-2017: morphodynamics of fluid displacement in 3D deformable media

  • Zhibing Yang, Postdoctoral researcher 2015-2016: discrete element modeling of multiphase flow and deformation

  • Mathias Trojer, Postdoctoral researcher 2013-2016: impact of wettability on multiphase flow and fracture in granular media

  • Pietro de Anna, Postdoctoral researcher 2012-2015: bacterial chemotaxis in porous media

  • Luis Cueto-Felgueroso, Research scientist 2008-2014: multiphase flow in porous media

  • Juan Hidalgo, Postdoctoral researcher 2010-2012: convective dissolution during geologic CO2 sequestration

  • Ran Holtzman, Postdoctoral researcher 2009-2011: coupled multiphase flow and granular mechanics at the grain scale

  • Jane Chui, PhD 2020: Mixing with complex patterns: from the impact of miscible viscous fingering to the effects of motile bacteria (pdf, 20MB)

  • Josimar Alves da Silva, PhD 2020: Multiphase flow and fault poromechanics: Understanding earthquake triggering and seismic hazard (pdf, 60MB)

  • Amir Pahlavan, PhD 2018: Moving contact lines, wetting transitions and interfacial instabilities in confined environments (pdf, 100MB)

  • Xiaojing (Ruby) Fu, PhD 2017: Multiphase flow in porous media with phase transitions: from CO2 sequestration to gas hydrate systems (pdf, 40MB)

  • Benzhong (Robin) Zhao, PhD 2016: Multiphase flow in porous media: the impact of capillarity and wettability from field-scale to pore-scale (pdf, 100MB)

  • Benjamin Scandella, PhD 2016: Spatiotemporal variability of methane ebullition from lake sediments (pdf, 5MB)

  • Peter Kang, PhD 2014: Anomalous transport through porous and fractured media (pdf, 10MB)

  • Christos Nicolaides, PhD 2014: Dynamic processes on complex networks: from disease spreading to neural activity (pdf, 18MB)

  • Birendra Jha, PhD 2014: Flow through porous media: from mixing of fluids to triggering of earthquakes (pdf, 16MB)

  • Michael Szulczewski, PhD 2013: The subsurface fluid mechanics of geologic carbon dioxide storage (pdf, 20MB)

  • Christopher MacMinn, PhD 2012: Migration and trapping of CO2 in saline aquifers (pdf, 27MB)

  • Jihoon Kim, PhD 2010: Sequential methods for coupled geomechanics and multiphase flow (pdf, 3MB)

  • Sebastien Matringe, PhD 2008: Mixed finite element methods for discretization and streamline tracing (pdf, 3MB)

  • Mohammad Aladwani, MS 2017: Prediction of velocity distribution from the statistics of pore structure in 3D porous media via high-fidelity pore-scale simulation

  • Michael Chen, MS 2014: Experiments in fluid spreading in the partial wetting regime

  • Antone Jain, MS 2009: Preferential mode of gas invasion in sediments: grain-scale mechanistic model of coupled multiphase fluid flow and sediment mechanics

  • Reena Bajaj, MS 2009: An unstructured finite volume simulator for multiphase flow through fractured-porous media

  • Francois-Xavier Dub, MS 2008: Variational multiscale mixed finite element methods

Visitors (current and past)

MIT

Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 48 · Cambridge, MA 02139