Representing complex heterogeneous structures of rocks and capturing their influence on complex thermal-mechanical processes occurring during hydrocarbon generation and production are important for practical use of simulation tools in oil & gas industries. Practical numerical simulation needs to be able to handle large models in terms of the number of simulation parameters to be solved on huge number of spatially and temporary discretised domains. From the scale point of view, it needs to have an ability to homogenise and upscale/downscale models used to simulate processes on basin, field, wellbore, laboratory, grain and sub-grain scales. The physical behaviour is generally time dependent as well, and it needs to be correctly captured for a large variety of time scales - from millennia to microseconds. All these make homogenisation and upscaling methods (HUMs) for Finite/Discrete Element codes very important and powerful items within the framework used for numerical simulation of oil and gas exploration, as well as production processes.

This project hopes to develop and validate a practical homogenization and upscaling technology that can be implemented to cope with commercial projects in oil and gas development and production. It will need to be scalable in a broad sense - across the physical (both spatial & temporal) scales and HPC multi-core computers. The new HUM modelling strategy is expected to be able to accommodate a wide variety of rocks (shales, sand & muds), different reservoir liquids (gas, oil, water - assuming immiscibility within this project). One of the main industrial targets of the project is the analysis of the characterization and production of tight gas reservoirs using an advanced coupled geomechanical–fluid flow approach.

Swansea University’s College of Engineering provides a fantastic study environment for around 3,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students. We offer a lively multidisciplinary approach to research that has seen over £100 million of research income generated since 2008:www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 ranks Engineering at Swansea as 10th in the UK for the combined score in research quality across the Engineering disciplines:www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/research/ref-2014/

Our brand new Bay Campus (opening 1st September 2015) has a fantastic beachfront location near to Swansea City Centre and Marina. The Bay Campus is part of a £450 million development project at Swansea University. View the latest videos here: http://www.swansea.ac.uk/campus-development/

This scholarship is funded by and part of The National Research Network in Advanced Engineering and Materials (AEM) which is a transformative alliance that will enhance fundamental and applied research in Wales: http://www.ernw.ac.uk/

http://www.swansea.ac.uk/engineering/utc/

Academic Requirements:

Applicants should hold a good MSc degree in geo-mechanics, engineering, mathematics or other related science subjects.

Applicants should also have experience in Fortran and/or C++ programming.

Residency Criteria:

Both UK/EU and international students are welcome to apply.

Additional Funding Information

The studentship covers the full cost of UK/EU and international tuition fees, plus a tax free stipend of £14,562 p.a.

There will also be additional funds available for research expenses and conference attendance.