PhD opportunities

Rheology and transport properties of rock salt: application to hydrogen storage in salt caverns

Thesis proposal

Area of expertiseGeoscience and Geoengineering
Doctoral SchoolGéosciences, Ressources Naturelles et Environnement
SupervisorM. Ahmed ROUABHI
Co-supervisorMme Laura BLANCO MARTIN
Research unitCentre de Géosciences
ContactBLANCO MARTIN Laura
Starting dateOctober 1st 2022
Keywordsrock salt, rheology, underground energy storage, hydrogen
AbstractThe 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 hydrogen). 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 caverns 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.
ProfileContinuum 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

How to apply
Candidates must contact the director(s) of the thesis proposal or the contact person specified. The latter will then hold auditions and select the most suitable candidate for their project.
Content of the application :
-a CV
-a letter of motivation
-transcript of marks of Master 2 (or equivalent)
-summary of the Master 2 report (or equivalent)
-Letter of recommendation from the Master 2 internship supervisor (or equivalent)
FundingAutre type de financement