Computational modelling
The department conducts a highly active research group in fluid flow that benefits from worldclass codes, developed inhouse, and computational facilities. For more information see our computational modelling group's research pages. If you are interested in one of the projects listed below please feel free to contact the associated staff.
Projects
Chemical Transport and Adsorption in Hierarchical Porous Solids [Info Sheet - Chemical Transport InFUSE]
Supervisors: Dr Ronny Pini; Professor Camille Petit, Department of Chemical Engineering; Professor Martin Blunt, Department of Earth Science and Engineering
Minimal surfaces in porous materials: wettability design for optimal flow performance [Info Sheet - Minimal Surfaces InFUSE]
Supervisors: Professor Martin Blunt; Dr Branko Bijeljic, Department of Earth Science and Engineering; Professor Jerry Heng, Department of Chemical Engineering
Understanding Material Interfaces in Systems for the Energy Transition [Info Sheet - InFUSE 2022]
Up to 10 positions are available. We welcome applications from candidates for October 2022 entry to join the multidisciplinary project InFUSE whose aim is to study key material and fluid interfaces across a range of application areas with direct impact on the energy transition. There are a range of projects available within the research programme, and successful applicants will choose a project following discussions with the programme team and supervisors. Informal enquiries and requests for additional information for these posts can be made to Dr. Ronny Pini.
Any queries regarding the application process should be directed to Bhavna Patel or Amy Nommeots-Nomm.
Large Scale AI Modelling for Environmental Flows [Info Sheet - Environmental Flows]
Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain
Applying Dimensionality Reduction to Solutions on Finite Element Meshes with Autoencoders [Info Sheet - Autoencoders]
Supervisors: Dr Claire Heaney, Professor Christopher Pain
Modelling Extreme Weather Events using Data Science, Machine Learning, and Social Sentiments [Info Sheet - Modelling Extreme Weather]
Supervisor: Dr Rossella Arcucci
Coupling Life Cycle Assessment and modelling tools to inform sustainable mineral resource management [Info Sheet - Life Cycle Assessment]
Supervisor: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada (Imperial College London) and Dr Stephanie Muller (BRGM, France)
Breathe In, Breathe Out, combining machine learning with data analysis, fusion and data assimilation for incomplete, noisy air pollution data [Info Sheet - Breathe In, Breathe Out]
Supervisor: Dr Rossella Arcucci
Automated Crater Detection and Classification with Machine Learning [Info Sheet - Automated Crater Detection]
Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Navjot Kukreja (Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool), Associate Professor Nicholas Warner (Department of Geological Sciences, SUNY Geneseo, USA)
PhD studentship in Next-Generation Fracture Modelling [Info Sheet – Fracture Modelling]
Supervisor: Dr Adriana Paluszny, including interaction with Professor Robert Zimmerman
Applications from women and underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged.
Five PhD studentships in CO2 storage, enhanced oil recovery technologies and digital rocks [Info Sheet - CO2 storage, EOR, Digital rocks]
Supervisors: Professor Martin Blunt and Dr Sam Krevor
Contact: Bhavna Patel
A Machine Learning Approach to Represent Carbonate Heterogeneities in Forward Stratigraphic Models [Info Sheet - Machine Learning]
Supervisor: Dr Cédric M. John
Extending the carbonate clumped isotopes paleothermometer to new mineral systems: a computer modelling approach [Info Sheet - Clumped Isotope Modelling]
Supervisor: Dr Cédric M. John
Topology, wettability and fluid flow in porous materials [Info Sheet - Topology]
Supervisor: Professor Martin Blunt
Accelerating Scientific Discovery of Complex Scientific Applications with Process-Guided Deep Learning: Aquatic Eco-Dynamics in Lakes [Info Sheet - Imperial_lakes_phd ]
Supervisors: Professor Matthew Piggott (Imperial College London), Dr R. Iestyn Woolway (University of Reading), Professor Stephen Maberly (UK CEH)
EPSRC CASE studentship:
Dynamic semi-structured meshes for fast numerical simulation of Multi-Phase Modelling in Oil and Gas
Info Sheet - Dynamic semi-structured meshes
For further information and to apply, please contact supervisors Professor Christopher Pain or Dr Pablo Salinas
Understanding how subduction has shaped Circum-Pacific tectonics using 3D numerical models [Info Sheet - Subduction dynamics]
Supervision: Professor Saskia Goes, Dr Gareth Roberts
iCASE studentship: Pore-to-core linkages and upscaling for CO2 Storage in carbonates [Info Sheet - Digital Rock CO2 Storage]
Supervisor: Dr Sam Krevor
Global CO2 storage capacity: Modeling limitations of geography and injectivity [
Supervisor: Dr Sam Krevor
Modelling and predicting flotation froth stability [Info Sheet - Froth stability]
Supervisors: Dr Pablo Brito-Parada and Professor Stephen Neethling
Modeling the global Pb cycle: from industrial emissions to the bottom of the ocean [Info Sheet]
High enthalpy geothermal reservoir modelling and optimisation using dynamic mesh optimisation and surface-based modelling [Info Sheet - Geothermal_high_enthalpy_systems]
Dr Philippa Mason, Professor Richard Ghail (Royal Holloway, University of London) and Dr Gareth Roberts
Multi-scale characterization of water flow in submarine hydrothermal systems [Info Sheet - Rainbow-modelling+lab]
Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto, Dr Sam Krevor, Dr Carl Jacquemyn and Professor Matthew Jackson
High resolution 3D imaging of an oceanic core complex: interaction of magma, water and faults on the mid-Atlantic ridge [Info Sheet - Rainbow_FWI]
Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto and Professor Joanna Morgan
Multi-parameter geophysical imaging of Santorini Volcano [Info Sheet - Santorini]
Supervisors: Dr Michele Paulatto and Professor Joanna MorganUnderstanding and minimising the potential environmental impacts of tidal range (lagoon) based renewable energy generation via advanced numerical modelling [Info sheet]
Supervisor: Professor Matthew Piggott
Impact Processing of Planetary Crust [Info sheet]
Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins and Mark Wieczorek (IPGP)
Multiscale modeling of compaction of primitive solar system materials [Info sheet]
Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Dr Tom Davison and Professor Phil Bland (Curtin)
Decoding inner solar system bombardment from impact crater populations [Info sheetInfo Sheet]
Supervisor: Professor Gareth Collins
Simulating submarine slide tsunami inundation of the Shetland Islands [Info sheet]
Supervisors: Professor Gareth Collins, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Sue Dawson (Dundee)
Optimisation of sensor locations for observation of air flows/pollutions [Info sheet]
Rapid Response Modelling for Assessment of Pollution and Toxic Releases in Complex Urban Environments [Info sheet]
Dr Fangxin Fang and Professor Christopher Pain
New generation data assimilation and rapid response models for urban flooding [Info sheet]
Dr Fangxin Fang and Professor Christopher Pain
Modeling landscape evolution through space and time [Landscape_PhD_2016]
Dr Gareth Roberts, Professor Matthew Piggott, Professor Gareth Collins and Dr Alex Whittaker
Continental Uplift and Erosion From Drainage Patterns: Predicting Sedimentary Flux to Passive Margins [O_and_G_PhD2017b]
Dr Gareth Roberts and Professor Matthew Piggott
Redundancy, retiming and data flow in compiling finite-difference applications for many core architectures [Info sheet]
Dr Gerard Gorman, Professor Paul Kelly (Department of Computing) and Dr Fabio Luporini
Simulation of geo-thermal wells with reduced order modelling and data assimilation [Info sheet]
Dr Claire Heaney, Dr Pablo Salinas, Professor Christopher Pain and Professor Matthew Jackson
Dynamic semi-structured meshes for fast numerical simulation of MultiPhase Modelling in Oil and Gas [Info Sheet - Semi Structured Meshes]
EPSRC CASE studentship sponsored by industrial partner BP PLC
Proposed Supervisors: Professor Christoper Pain, Dr Pablo Salinas, Dr A. I. Obeysekara and Dr Andre Nicolle (BP)
Modelling the physics of granular rock compaction for characterisation of flow in reservoirs [Info sheet]
Supervisors: Dr John-Paul Latham, Dr Jiansheng Xiang and Professor Martin Blunt
Geological representation of highly heterogeneous reservoirs and aquifers using NURBS and dynamic mesh optimisation [Info Sheet: Geological representation of heterogeneous reservoirs & aquifers]
Dr Pablo Salinas, Dr Carl Jacquemyn, Professor Christopher Pain and Professor Matthew Jackson
Reactive porous media flow using dynamic mesh optimisation and surface-based modelling [Info sheet: Reactive porous media flow]
Dr Pablo Salinas, Dr Carl Jacquemyn and Professor Matthew Jackson
Stokes-flow solver for pore-scale modelling of flow using dynamic mesh optimisation and surface-based modelling [Info sheet: Stokes-flow solver for pore-scale modelling of flow]
Dr Pablo Salinas, Professor Matthew Jackson and Professor Christopher Pain
Modelling High Temperature Subsurface Energy Storage using Dynamic Mesh Optimisation [Info sheet: Modelling High Temperature Subsurface Energy Storage]
Dr Pablo Salinas, Dr Carl Jacquemyn and Professor Matthew Jackson
Hydrogen subsurface storage efficiency analysis using dynamic mesh optimisation [Info sheet: Hydrogen subsurface storage efficiency analysis]
Professor Matthew Jackson and Dr Pablo Salinas
Fluid dynamics of magma reservoirs [Info sheet: Fluid dynamics of magma reservoirs]
Professor Matthew Jackson, Dr Pablo Salinas, Dr Haiyang Hu and Professor Jon Blundy (University of Oxford)
Modelling the Giant South Pole-Aitken basin [Info sheet: Modelling the Giant South Pole-Aitken basin]
Meteoroid fragmentation in planetary atmospheres and the formation of crater clusters on Earth and Mars [Info sheet: Meteoroid fragmentation]