Associate Professor Nicolas Espinoza

The University of Texas at Austin

Biography

Dr. D. Nicolas Espinoza is an Associate Professor in the Hildebrand Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Espinoza earned his Civil Engineering diploma from Universidad Nacional de Cordoba in 2006, and his MS and PhD degrees from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2008 and 2011. His primary research interests include mechanics and physics of natural porous solids and granular media, including applications to advanced completion techniques, reservoir geomechanics, geophysics and formation evaluation. The main fields of application of Espinoza's research include energy recovery from unconventionals, carbon geological storage, and deep geothermal energy. Dr. Espinoza has co-authored over 80 technical articles, served as an expert reviewer for several scientific and engineering journals, and given seminars at various leading research and educational institutions. 

All sessions by Associate Professor Nicolas Espinoza

Reliable CO2 Geological Storage: Accounting for Chemo-Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Coupled Processes
06:30 PM

A transition towards a low-carbon economy requires carbon geological storage. Carbon dioxide has been injected in the subsurface for several decades for enhanced oil recovery. However, carbon geoleogical storage requires more stringent controls on assuring reservoir integrity during injection, predicting seal capacity over long times and achieving high pore volume occupancy (the opposite of a recovery ratio). This talk discusses selected examples that highlight the importance of chemo-thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled processes for economic and reliable CO2 geoleogical storage. These examples include: potential fracturing at the injector, fault reactivation, structural seal capacity, and undrained poroelastic reservoir monitoring.

Associate Professor Nicolas Espinoza

The University of Texas at Austin

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