We study the physics and mathematics of geophysical fluid flow in subsurface environments. We create theoretical and computational tools, including machine learning and artificial intelligence tools, to investigate these multi-physics processes and address engineering challenges related to energy and the environment such as geologic carbon storage, induced seismicity, hydraulic fracturing, groundwater remediation, and enhanced oil recovery. Our work is at the intersection of petroleum engineering, geophysics, hydrogeology, and computational mechanics. At USC, we are affiliated with the Mork Family Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.
Recent News
- 02/10/24: We received $1M ARPA-E funding to conduct research in geologic hydrogen production.
- 01/28/24: Gravity-induced seismicity modulation on planetary bodies and their natural satellites paper published in Scientific Reports
- 09/29/23: Alessandra’s paper, Influence of initial plume shape on miscible porous media flows under density and viscosity contrasts, has been published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
- 06/29/23: “Multi-stage hydraulic fracture monitoring at the lab scale” published in Engineering Fracture Mechanics
- 04/27/23: Dr. Jha receives the Chevron Research Innovation Award for 2023.
- 03/22/23: Dr. Jha talks about Repurposing Oil and Gas Legacy Assets for Subsurface Energy and Carbon Storage at the Energy Transition Summit, 2023.
- 03/16/23: “Physics-Informed Machine Learning for Fault-Leakage Reduced-Order Modeling,” has been published in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.
- 02/24/23: “Failure analysis of the edge-notched beam test on fluid-exposed Berea Sandstone,” has been published in Acta Geotechnica.
- 02/06/23: Dr. Jha receives the NSF CAREER award for conducting research on the topic of Solute Transport Coupled to Geomechanics and Convective Mixing.