- February 3, 2022
- Posted by: Stef Lantin
- Category: Research Spotlight
Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1313 “Interface-Driven Multi-Field Processes in Porous Media – Flow, Transport and Deformation” of the University of Stuttgart
About SFB 1313
SFB 1313 is an international and interdisciplinary Collaborative Research Centre of the University of Stuttgart (Germany), entitled “Interface-Driven Multi-Field Processes in Porous Media – Flow, Transport and Deformation“. SFB 1313 is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) since 2018 and consists of four major project areas: Free flow and porous-media flow (A), Fracture propagation and fluid flow (B), Fluid-solid phase change (C), Benchmarks, computing, and visualization (D). The projects are supported by a project for “Research Data Management and Research Software Engineering”, by a project for “Public Relations” and its “Porous Media Lab” for in-situ experiments. In total, about 60 researchers of 9 different institutes of the University of Stuttgart and of about 35 partner universities and research institutions build the SFB 1313 team.
Fig 1: Group picture of SFB 1313 during the status seminar 2019 in Blaubeuren. Credits: SFB 1313 / University of Stuttgart
Aims
Flow, transport, and deformation in porous media are highly coupled processes that strongly depend on the non-linear interplay between physical, chemical and biological phenomena. According to the current state-of-the-art, the analysis of these processes is mostly carried out on a variety of characteristic spatial and temporal scales that are determined by the geometry, structure, and heterogeneity of the porous media. However, it is increasingly being recognised that the relevant overall functioning of porous media systems is dictated by the character, geometry, and dynamics of various types of fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interfaces that occur not only on the characteristic scales, but most notably on smaller scales. For this reason, many available conceptual models do not adequately capture and predict the actual system behaviour. Research in the Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1313 aims at acquiring the much-needed fundamental understanding of how the above-mentioned interfaces affect flow, transport, and deformation processes in porous media systems. This involves the challenging tasks of quantifying how the dynamics of fluid-fluid and fluid-solid interfaces in porous media systems are affected by pore geometry, heterogeneity, and fractures, and of developing mathematical and computational models that describe the effective behaviour of porous media systems including the effects of interfaces that occur on much smaller spatial scales.
Fig 2: Velocity field in the coupled free-flow and pore-network domain obtained by the hybrid-dimensional model including pore-scale slip. Credits: K. Weishaupt et al. 2020: A Hybrid-Dimensional Coupled Pore-Network/Free-Flow Model Including Pore-Scale Slip and Its Application to a Micromodel Experiment. Transport in Porous Media. (license: CC BY4.0).
Research Structure
SFB 1313 is structured in the following project areas:
- Project Area A deals with complex interface-dependent exchange processes (mass, momentum and energy) for coupled free-flow/porous-media systems.
- Project Area B addresses complex fracture and damage processes in fluid-filled porous media.
- Project Area C deals with pore-space alterations due to processes leading to fluid-solid phase change.
- Project Are D complements and supports project area A to C. It provides a common information and experimental infrastructure, visualization of simulation and experimental results, the definition of benchmarks for code and model validation, as well as coupling between different parts of multi-physics and multi-scale simulation environments.
Furthermore, the research of SFB 1313 is complemented by experiments, realised within SFB 1313’s international partner institutions as well as within its own Porous Media Lab, and an information infrastructure, managing “Software and Data”.
Fig 3: Structure of SFB 1313. Three application-oriented Project Areas A to C, one application-spanning Project Area D. Credits: SFB 1313 / University of Stuttgart
Porous Media Lab
The Porous Media Lab is an experimental platform, organised as a shared lab, where researchers from various departments with different expertise and background work together on issues related to physical and image-based characterization of porous materials on various scales (from pore scale with sub micrometre resolution to core scale of samples with a diameter in the 10 cm range).
Core facilities of the PML:
- Micro-focused open X-Ray Computed Tomography scanner (μXRCT) for in-situ experiments
- Micro-fluidic setups incl. high-speed cameras
- Open-microscopes for extended FOV, μPIV etc.
- X-ray transparent flow and triaxial cells for micrometre i.e. pore-scale investigations. Further, harmonic measurements devices for rock cores and a DMTA rig allows for the temperature-, humidity- and frequency-dependent of porous samples on the cm-scale.
International Network
In recent years, SFB 1313 has developed extensive expertise in the field of porous media research and education. The principal investigators of SFB 1313 are a well-connected and dynamic group of researchers, including internationally visible scientists and promising junior faculty members. This is reflected in a number of joint research and education activities. The SFB 1313 researchers intensively pursue their research goals within the well-developed national and international research structure and strengthen the connections within their dynamic porous media network.
Fig 4: International network of the SFB 1313 and of the University of Stuttgart. Credits: SFB 1313 / University of Stuttgart
Public Relations
In recent years, research communication to the public and the scientific community is becoming more important for explaining the high impact of research work to society, for gaining better networking opportunities within the scientific world and for justifying the use of public funds in such projects. Therefore, a public relations manager communicates SFB 1313’s activities and developments in the field of porous media research to the general public and to the porous media academic community through online media, traditional press activities, events, and popular science exhibitions.
www.sfb1313.uni-stuttgart.de
@sfb_1313
www.linkedin.com/company/sfb-1313/
www.youtube.com/channel/UC3TGpQIqdYWV9gmbXMI_Cvg
Fig 5: Impressions of the “TryScience” and “Girls’ Day” workshops and of the “Science Day of the University of Stuttgart” in 2018 and 2019. Credits: SFB 1313 / University of Stuttgart
Integrated Research Training Group “Interface-Driven Multi-Field Processes in Porous Media” (IRTG–IMPM)
The research of the SFB 1313 involves various different disciplines and is strongly interrelated with the research of international partners. This led to the establishment of a structured doctoral programme for researchers from Stuttgart and the international partners within the framework of an Integrated Research and Training Group “Interface-Driven Multi-Field Processes in Porous Media”, called the IRTG-IMPM. It provides structural support for SFB 1313’s doctoral researchers right from the beginning of their academic careers.
The IRTG-IMPM organises a tailored qualification programme that includes a graded curriculum with subject-related as well as soft skill themes. Interdisciplinary work within SFB 1313 is supported by appropriate cooperative research formats. Furthermore, the quality of the doctoral work is ensured by measures for international mobility and a demanding supervision concept. Short courses to porous media related research topics, seminars, summer schools, and doctoral workshops are offered to doctoral students. They are motivated for research stays abroad at partner universities and institutions. The qualification programme of the IRTG-IMPM consists of the following key elements that are especially designed to meet these requirements on the basis of the following fundamental guidelines:
- ensure quality standards of excellence for the doctoral research
- offer junior scientists high-quality interdisciplinary training
- foster international mobility of the doctoral researchers
- to train the doctoral researchers to effectively communicate within an international expert community
- to foster the development of each doctoral researcher into an independent researcher at the earliest possible stage