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Center for Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards (GMG)

The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the Center author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Center Overview

The Center for Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards (GMG) helps design strategies and technical solutions for safe and economic operations for carbon dioxide (CO2) storage, oil and gas extraction and production, and geothermal heat production. Its mission is to advance the understanding of geomaterials failure in the presence of fluids for industry applications and geohazard mitigation. It leverages cutting-edge modeling, computing, geophysical, and remote-sensing research to better understand how geomaterials fail when subjected to hydromechanical effects (for example, fluid pumping in or out of the subsurface, or slope instabilities induced by ground shaking or rainfall).

Natural hazards such as earthquakes and landslides threaten the safety and economic stability of urban centers as well as the structural integrity and smooth operation of their interconnected infrastructure systems. These events and the sustainability of fossil-fuel dependent economies depend on:

Extracting oil and gas and geothermal resources safely, effectively and efficiently.
Diminishing the impact that energy production and consumption have on the climate through CO2 sequestration, utilization and storage.
Mitigating the risk posed by natural hazards such as earthquakes and landslides to the infrastructure systems that, in part, transmit and distribute energy resources to the public.

To carry out its research, GMG gathers industry and government stakeholders, and scientists and engineers with diverse expertise spanning geophysics, geology, remote sensing, computational mechanics, fracture mechanics, and applied mathematics.

Universities

California Institute of Technology

View Center Website

Center Personnel

Nadia Lapusta
Center Co-Director
lapusta@caltech.edu

Domniki Asimaki
Center Co-Director
domniki@caltech.edu

Jean-Philippe Avouac
Center Director
+1 626 395 6219
avouac@gps.caltech.edu

Lisa Christiansen
Center Staff
lisac@gps.caltech.edu

Research Focus

Application of distributed acoustic sensing to monitor microseismicity and velocity changes in the subsurface

Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is a sensor technology that is gaining momentum in the oil and gas industry, especially in monitoring faint earth tremors and seismic velocity changes induced by stress and fluid during fluid injection or extraction. An objective of this project is to use the Pasadena, Calif., DAS array as a platform to research how to deal with the challenges of using DAS data for monitoring.

Experimental investigation of the interaction between fluids and failure of rock faults in shear

Fluids are known to trigger a range of slip events spanning from a slow, creeping motion to dynamic earthquake rupture growth. GMG studies the interaction of fluids and faulting in a highly instrumented experimental setup capable of injecting fluid at various rates onto a 3D polymethyl methacrylate specimen's interface, mimicking a fault in the Earth's crust.

Infrastructure system resiliency via ground deformation monitoring

Landslides pose a major hazard to local communities and infrastructure systems. Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery, which is now acquired weekly from satellites with near-global coverage, can provide high-spatial resolution measurements of ground surface motion. GMG's goal is to assess how SAR images can be used in combination with conventional techniques to monitor ground deformation at millimeter-level precision and accuracy to help forecast landslides.

Microseismic monitoring with deep learning

This project is focused on developing an end-to-end microseismic monitoring workflow using deep neural networks. GMG develops and tests deep learning algorithms to detect and locate induced microearthquakes using, in particular, data from a deep geothermal well simulation. GMG also explores application to vertical component seismic surveys.

Modeling deformation and seismicity due to fluid injections

Pumping fluids in the subsurface produces deformation due to poroelastic and thermal effects. It can induce seismicity and affects transport properties of the medium. GMG aims to forecast and eventually control these effects for various applications, such as geothermal energy production and CO2 storage. GMG therefore develops new approaches to estimate fluids pressure, deformation, transport properties and forecast induced seismicity through a combination of data analysis, thermo-poroelastic stress modeling and reservoir modeling.

Understanding conditions for stable/unstable fault slip induced by fluid injections

When fluids enter an existing fault, they increase pore pressure and promote slip; however, to predict whether the resulting slip would be seismic or not, and how far induced earthquakes might reach, GMG needs detailed understanding of several mechanisms: the effect of pore pressure on fault stability; the effect of dilatancy and compaction on pore fluid; and changes in friction properties due to the presence of fluids. GMG develops numerical models to simulate and assess these effects.

Awards

1822214

Phase I IUCRC at California Institute of Technology-Center for Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards[GMG]

A number of energy-related industrial activities as well as a range of natural disasters - such as earthquakes and landslides - involve the deformation and eventual failure of geomaterials in presence of fluids. The governing mechanisms remain poorly understood. The Industry-University Collaborative Research Center for Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards (GMG) will enable a synergetic research effort to improve their understanding. GMG will thereby contribute to more efficient, reliable and safe methods for energy production, CO2 and gas storage and improved methods for the assessment and mitigation of earthquake and landslide hazard. The center members include oil and gas companies, engineering companies in the areas of geomechanics and geohazard mitigation, and utilities operators concerned with the exposure of infrastructures to earthquake and landslide hazard. Participation of postdoctoral fellows, graduate and undergraduate students in the research projects based on fundamental science yet relevant to the industrial and societal needs to be pursued by the center will educate a new generation of academic and industrial leaders in science and engineering. Deformation in the subsurface is often associated to, and eventually coupled with fluid flow. Investigating these mechanisms is important to improve our ability to model the effects of fluid injection or extraction in the sub-surface, fault dynamics in general, landslides and the ground response to earthquake shaking. The Industry-University Collaborative Research Center for Geomechanics and Mitigation of Geohazards (GMG) will therefore conduct cross-disciplinary research to advance the fundamental understanding of how geomaterials deform and fail in presence of fluids. GMG will achieve its goal by combining experimental and modeling studies, and leveraging cutting-edge research in geomechanics and computational mechanics, remote sensing, and geophysics. The research will benefit industrial activities involving the management of fluids in the sub-surface related for example, to energy production, gas storage and CO2 storage, and will advance methods for the assessment and mitigation of geohazards, whether of natural origin or related to industrial activities. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. Read More >