Josselin Ouf
Graduated engineer with a Master in geotechnical engineering. Especially interested in FEM, numerical simulation, constitutive equations and multi-physics coupling. Experienced in organizing teamwork as part of a science project and involved in international frameworks.
- Ph.D. Student, RWTH Aachen, Germany – TU Delft, The Netherlands (2021 – )
- Designer in Geotechnical Engineering, Normandy, France (2019 – 2020:)
- MSc geotechnical engineering, École Polytechnique de l’Université Grenoble Alpes, France (2016-2019)
- BSc Civil engineering, Université du Havre, France (2014-2016)
Project Title: Large scale cooling induced stress changes around deep geothermal reservoirs
Host Institutions: RWTH Aachen, ETH Zürich, Geoenergie Suisse
Supervisory Team: Florian Amann, Marian Hertrich, Peter Meier
Start date: 1.5.2021
ESR Objectives:
The operation of geothermal systems (petrothermal and hydrothermal) leads to a transient cooling of the swept rock volume and thus to thermal shrinkage. Due to these THM-coupled processes, the stress state within the reservoir will change.
Thermally induced shrinkage will also affect the stress state in remote locations from the reservoir causing surface subsidence and likely induced seismic events.
The project aims to investigate large-scale thermally induced stress changes using numerical modelling tools such as MOOSE.
Research Update
We have achieved success in modeling three laboratory experiments involving hydroshearing induced in a true triaxial cell. Our framework demonstrated remarkable accuracy in reproducing the experimental data. Building upon this achievement, we proceeded to examine meso-scale experiments conducted at the Grimsel test site. Here too, the framework effectively replicated the results obtained during on-site measurements.
The final phase of the Ph.D. project centers on exploring fault triggering caused by reservoir cooling. With the foundation of our framework firmly established, the time has come to generate novel insights and knowledge in this area.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovati