英国UEA大学PhD奖学金 申请从速

davidlio60

PhD Research Project - University of East Anglia, UK

该博士课题免学费，并提供生活费每年13,726 英镑（连续三年）。申请者需要有流体力学和离散元分析背景。英语雅思6.5（单科不少于6分）。此奖学金专门为海外学生申请（HOME/EU学生不适合）。

Hydrofracture (hydraulic fracture or fracking) is a technique to release petroleum or shale gas for extraction. Fractures are created by the fluid pumped into the rock at high pressure. This technique increases significantly the amount of petroleum/gas which was inaccessible. There are several environmental concerns preventing this technique from being used more widely, including local earthquakes and contamination of ground water. The technique should be better studied to be used more efficiently without damaging the environment.

The process of hydrofracture is complex and difficult to model by simple means. It includes rock mechanics and the dynamics of forced flow of a non-newtonian fluid with particles through a medium with low porosity. The problem is coupled: deformations of the rock, its porosity and forces of fracturing are determined by the pressure in the fluid and the fluid flow, which itself depend on the porosity of the medium. This is a problem of hydroelasticity, and it is complex due to multi-scale properties of the pumped fluid and the rock, and the fact that the fluid penetrates the rock between its elements. It is reasonable to model the rock as an agglomerate at high compressive loads with elements of the rock represented by small elastic particles. The elements are closely packed, but may contain cavities and dislocations. The fluid is pumped into such an agglomerate, forcing the elements to move apart, giving more space to the fluid and increasing the area over which the high hydrodynamic loads are applied.

We need to know how a non-newtonian fluid flows between the solid elements, which are closely spaced; how the elements are displaced by the fluid and how the elements may lose contact with each other and so fracturing the rock. We need to develop a macro-model which is independent of particular shapes of these small elastic particles. It is likely that statistical methods will be needed to cover uncertainties in characteristics of a particular rock. The discrete element model is likely to be employed on the micro-scale to recover basic constitutive relations between macroscopic characteristics of the hydrofracturing.

Any interested student is invited to contact Professor David Liu (David.Liu@XJTLU.edu.cn) (西交利物浦大学数学系） to discuss an application.


Funding Notes:

This project is funded specifically for international students. Funding includes full tuition fees as well as an annual stipend of £13,726 for three years.