Projects

The EGS Collab Project: Stimulation Investigations for Geothermal Modeling Analysis and Validation

• Geothermal Systems

The EGS Collab Project is addressing fundamental challenges in understanding the relationship between permeability creation, induced seismicity, and heat production in crystalline rocks under relevant stress (and temperature) conditions for Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS)...

Tim Kneafsey tjkneafsey@lbl.gov 510-486-4414

Patrick F. Dobson pfdobson@lbl.gov 510-486-5373

Susan Sprinkle ssprinkle@lbl.gov 510-486-6372

The Hydraulic Fracturing Field Test (HFTS) Project

• Hydrocarbon Resources

The Hydraulic Fracturing Field Test (HFTS) project, fielded within the Wolfcamp Formation in the Permian Basin, provides an excellent opportunity to further develop our understanding of the geomechanical response to hydraulic stimulation and associated fluid transport and hydrocarbon production in nano-porous lithologies. The drilling program was designed to elucidate the intra- and inter-well stress interactions…

Jens Birkholzer jtbirkholzer@lbl.gov 510-486-7134

Reed Helgens rhelgens@lbl.gov 510-486-6897

Theoretical and Experimental Geochemistry

• Fundamental Geosciences

We seek to understand and model the effects of salinity on geochemical processes occurring in aqueous environments including nanopores and interlayers in clay media, thin water films in unsaturated porous media, and solutions in which mineral nanoparticles nucleate, aggregate and grow. The overall goal is to identify conceptual models of salinity effects on complex geochemical…

Benjamin Gilbert bgilbert@lbl.gov 510-495-2748

TOUGH Suite of Simulators for Nonisothermal Multiphase Flow and Transport in Fractured Porous Media

The TOUGH (“Transport Of Unsaturated Groundwater and Heat”) suite of software codes are multi-dimensional numerical models for simulating the coupled transport of water, vapor, non-condensible gas, and heat in porous and fractured media. Developed at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the early 1980s primarily for geothermal reservoir engineering, the suite of simulators is now widely used throughout the world.

Stefan Finsterle safinsterle@lbl.gov

George J. Moridis gjmoridis@lbl.gov 510-486-4746

Curtis M. Oldenburg cmoldenburg@lbl.gov 510-486-7419

Eric L. Sonnenthal elsonnenthal@lbl.gov 510-486-5866

Yingqi Zhang yqzhang@lbl.gov 510-495-2983

Watershed Function SFA

• Environmental Remediation and Water Resources

The Watershed Function SFA is developing a predictive understanding of how mountainous watersheds retain and release water, nutrients, carbon, and metals. In particular, the SFA is developing understanding and tools to measure and predict how droughts, early snowmelt, and other perturbations impact downstream water availability and biogeochemical cycling at episodic to decadal timescales.

Susan Hubbard sshubbard@lbl.gov 510-486-5266

Jacob Gimbel jgimbel@lbl.gov 510-486-7146