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Rock Mechanics & Geomechanics Department

The Rock Mechanics & Geomechanics Department focuses on the stress-dependent behavior of rock that governs the safety of subsurface facilities. Students learn to quantitatively predict when and how rock fails using in-situ-stress and poroelastic modeling together with rock-failure-criterion simulation, and apply this to wellbore-stability assessment and hydraulic-fracturing design. Graduates are ready to personally evaluate subsurface integrity and set safety criteria for a range of underground operations, including CO2 and hydrogen storage.

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Well & Production Engineering DepartmentRock Mechanics & Geomechanics DepartmentGeothermal Energy Engineering DepartmentHydrogen Energy & Storage DepartmentCarbon Engineering DepartmentMining Engineering DepartmentNuclear Energy Engineering DepartmentReservoir Modeling & Recovery Department

Field-based Curriculum · 22

This department's curriculum is built directly on the GeoVerse Lab research fields its professors hold — click a field to see how it is taught.

In-Situ Stress Measurement & Stress-Regime Characterization
In-Situ Stress Measurement & Stress-Regime Characterization
In-situ stress measurement is taught as an inverse problem: students recover the…
Ernest Masson Anderson
Rock Failure Criteria & Strength Theory
Rock Failure Criteria & Strength Theory
Rock failure criteria are taught as empirical strength theory: students fit Mohr…
John Conrad Jaeger
Poroelasticity & Pore Pressure Prediction
Poroelasticity & Pore Pressure Prediction
Poroelasticity is taught as coupled deformation-diffusion: students apply Biot a…
Leo Rendulic
Wellbore Stability Analysis
Wellbore Stability Analysis
Wellbore stability is taught as stress-concentration analysis: students combine …
Ernst Gustav Kirsch
Sand Production & Cavity/Perforation Failure Mechanics
Sand Production & Cavity/Perforation Failure Mechanics
Sand production mechanics is taught as cavity failure: students compute critical…
Daniel C. Drucker
Hydraulic Fracture Mechanics & Propagation
Hydraulic Fracture Mechanics & Propagation
Hydraulic fracture mechanics is taught as coupled fluid-solid-fracture problems:…
Sergey Khristianovich
Caprock/Seal Integrity for CO2 and H2 Geological Storage
Caprock/Seal Integrity for CO2 and H2 Geological Storage
Caprock integrity is taught as dual capillary and geomechanical limits: students…
Robert R. Berg
Fault Reactivation & Injection-Induced Seismicity Mechanics
Fault Reactivation & Injection-Induced Seismicity Mechanics
Fault reactivation is taught as frictional-limit assessment: students quantify i…
James Byerlee
Subsidence & Reservoir Compaction Geomechanics
Subsidence & Reservoir Compaction Geomechanics
Subsidence and compaction is taught as propagation of surface displacement: stud…
Robert E. Gibson
Rock Mass Classification Systems
Rock Mass Classification Systems
Rock mass classification is taught as empirical indexing: students compute RQD, …
Don U. Deere
Laboratory Rock Mechanics Testing (Triaxial/UCS)
Laboratory Rock Mechanics Testing (Triaxial/UCS)
Laboratory rock mechanics testing is taught as standardized data generation: stu…
David T. Griggs
Discrete Element Modeling of Rock & Fractured Media
Discrete Element Modeling of Rock & Fractured Media
The discrete element method is taught as modeling emergent discontinuous behavio…
Raymond D. Mindlin
Finite Element Geomechanical Simulation
Finite Element Geomechanical Simulation
Finite element geomechanics is taught as the numerical backbone: students implem…
John Argyris
Salt Mechanics & Creep
Salt Mechanics & Creep
Salt mechanics and creep is taught as time-dependent constitutive modeling: stud…
Melvin Friedman
Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) Processes
Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) Processes
Coupled THMC processes is taught as a multi-physics framework: students apply Co…
Olivier Coussy
Rock Fracture Toughness & Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
Rock Fracture Toughness & Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
Rock fracture toughness is taught through linear elastic fracture mechanics: stu…
George R. Irwin
Anisotropic Rock Mechanics & Shale Geomechanics
Anisotropic Rock Mechanics & Shale Geomechanics
Anisotropic rock mechanics is taught with a shale focus: students measure direct…
Zvi Hashin
Rock Joint & Discontinuity Shear Behavior
Rock Joint & Discontinuity Shear Behavior
Rock joint shear behavior is taught through roughness-dilatancy models: students…
Branko Ladanyi
Rock Slope Stability Engineering
Rock Slope Stability Engineering
Rock slope stability is taught as kinematic feasibility analysis: students apply…
Richard E. Goodman
Underground Excavation & Tunnel Support Design
Underground Excavation & Tunnel Support Design
Underground excavation and tunnel support is taught as ground-support interactio…
Ladislaus von Rabcewicz
Mechanical Earth Models & Drilling Geomechanical Risk
Mechanical Earth Models & Drilling Geomechanical Risk
The mechanical earth model is taught as systems integration: students combine lo…
Siméon Denis Poisson
Rock Physics for Geomechanics (Static-Dynamic Moduli)
Rock Physics for Geomechanics (Static-Dynamic Moduli)
Rock physics for geomechanics is taught as static-dynamic moduli conversion: stu…
Sophie Germain