Lab Overview
The experimental hydrogeology group is focused on understanding fundamental physics and mechanisms of fluid, gas, and solute transport in heterogeneous porous and fractured media. The image above illustrates the complexity of the pore space that fluids navigate as they flow through these natural subsurface systems. Our approach is to using in situ imaging—such as X-ray computed tomography and positron emission tomography—combined with analytical and numerical models to describe flow processes in these complex geologic systems across time and length scales. Due to the fundamental nature of this approach, and the ubiquity of fluid transport in porous media, this work has important applications across a range of important environmental and geological processes including contaminant migration in the vadose zone, fluid flow through fractured systems, colloid transport in the subsurface, and carbon dioxide transport and immobilization in carbon storage projects.
Recent Papers
Spatial and temporal quantification of spontaneous imbibition
Accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters (Postprint, Supplemental Information, Data)
Positron Emission Tomography in Water Resources and Subsurface Energy Resources Engineering Research
Published in the May 2019 volume of Advances in Water Resources (Postprint)
Multimodal imaging and stochastic percolation simulation for improved quantification of effective porosity and surface area in vesicular basalt
Published in the November 2018 volume of Advances in Water Resources (Postprint, Data and Simulation Matlab Codes)
Upcoming conferences
AGU Fall Meeting 2019: San Francisco, CA
Gordon Research Conferences – Flow and Transport in Permeable Media 2020: Les Diablerets, Switzerland
Recent Conferences and Presentations
Trondheim CCS Conference, June 2019: Trondheim, Norway
Presented: In Situ Quantification of Capillary Pressure During Spontaneous Imbibition in Carbon Storage Reservoirs

Interpore 11th Annual Meeting, May 2019: Valencia, Spain
Presented: Positron Emission Tomography in Water Resources and Subsurface Energy Resources Engineering Research

AGU Fall Meeting, December 2018: Washington DC
Presented: Multimodal Imaging and Simulation for Improved Quantification of Effective Porosity and Surface Area in Basalt Carbon Storage Reservoirs
