Title: Rheology and transport properties of rock salt: application to salt cavern storage
Research outline: The PhD candidate will work in the framework of the ANR RockStorHy project, which investigates the rheology and the transport properties of rock salt (in particular, tightness to gases stored in the context of the energy transition).
Several PhD students and French research laboratories will collaborate in the project. A major outcome of this PhD work is to propose a unified constitutive law covering a wide range of stress ranges, which will be fit against the quantitative results of macroscopic tests and the qualitative lessons drawn from microscopic analysis conducted during the project. Transport properties will be examined at the micro and macro-scales (experimental and numerical work). Numerical computations at the cavern scale will be performed using, for comparison, several standard constitutive laws and the unified law resulting from the experimental efforts. Emphasis will be put on cycled operation of hydrogen storage caverns.
Keywords : rock salt, rheology, underground storage, energy transition
Prequisite skills and knowledge:
- Continuum solid mechanics
- Strong background in mathematics
- Knowledge of the finite element method (modeling experience if possible)
- Willingness to perform experimental work on rocks
- Fluent in English and French (oral, spoken, written)
- Eager to work in a multidisciplinary environment
Contact: laura.blanco_martin@minesparis.psl.eu
Starting date: not later than January 2, 2023 (grant is for 36 months)
Deadline for applications: September 23, 2022
Please send your application as one pdf file including: CV, letter of motivation, two recommendation letters, bachelor and master grades