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Projects

The Hydraulic Fracturing Field Test (HFTS) Project

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…

Funded by DOE-FE-Office of Fossil Energy

Theoretical and Experimental Geochemistry

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…

Funded by DOE-SC-Basic Energy Sciences

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.

Watershed Function SFA

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
Funded by DOE-SC-Biological and Environmental Research