Technical Papers and Presentations

Permafrost is defined as soil which remains frozen for at least two consecutive years. In the Swiss Alps, it is a widespread phenomenon with a great impact on the landscape particularly regarding natural hazards. The occurrence of permafrost is not only influenced by meteorological ... Read More

Deformation prediction is an important part of the structure stability analysis. However, the deformation of bank protection structure which is affected by many factors, such as structural stiffness, earth pressure and hydrostatic pressure. It contains a complex mechanical process, which ... Read More

Accurate estimation of rock permeability and porosity play a crucial role in the evaluation of oil and gas reservoirs. This evaluation is, however, challenging in tight formations such as shale due to the slow transition of fluid in such formations with extremely-low permeability. To ... Read More

An estimation method, known as Thermal Response Test, of the soil thermal properties necessary to the design of a borehole geothermal energy storage system is discussed in relation to its application to the ground having non–homogeneous composition. The governing equations of the ... Read More

To investigate the thermal-mechanical behavior of oceanic transform faults, we calculate 3-D steady-state incompressible mantle flow and heat transport using COMSOL Multiphysics. Our model incorporates a nonlinear viscous rheology with a visco-plastic approximation to simulate ... Read More

To assess the safety deep geological repositories for nuclear waste, it is important to have a clear understanding of groundwater flow at the interface between the storage vault and the fractured rock. Traditional approaches for modelling groundwater often consider both the geological ... Read More

An energy pile harvests geothermal energy to heat and cool a building by integrating ground heat exchanger (GHX) pipes into the building’s deep foundation, and extracts heat from the ground in the winter to heat buildings and injects heat into the ground during the summer. In areas with ... Read More

Mass transport modelling through porous media is typically characterized by complex physics and geometry. In the particular case of radionuclide transport, modelling for radioactive waste repositories, an additional level of complexity, and thus uncertainty, originates from the long time ... Read More

冻融循环引起的破坏是季节冻土区渠道的主要病害，其发生与温度梯度和水分迁移有密切的联系。为了研究冻融循环作用下土体温度变化与水分分布，多场耦合理论应运而生。但目前存在的多场耦合模型大多采用了过多的参数，其中的一些参数甚至难以确定。因此本文基于Harlan流体动力学模型，以温度和孔隙率为变量建立了一个实用的多场耦合控制方程，然后采用COMSOL Multiphysics中的数学模块中的系数型偏微分方程（PDE）对土体温度场和水分场进行模拟，并与室内水分迁移试验进行对比，证明了该耦合模型的有效性。最后以北部引嫩工程渠道为例，建立模型试验，所得试验结果与模拟结果也是十分接近。 Read More

The IR CO2 laser powered chemical conversions in the gas phase are intriguing and the researchers’ attention was focused on this transformation a while ago. The method, known as Infrared Laser Powered Homogeneous Pyrolysis, or IR LPHP opened reaction pathways not reached by conventional ... Read More