GeoVerse Lab
← Resource & Energy Engineering Division

Rock Mechanics & Geomechanics Center

Characterizes the stress-dependent mechanical behavior of rock for wellbore stability, hydraulic fracturing, and subsurface integrity through in-situ-stress/poroelastic modeling and rock-failure-criterion simulation, assessing the safety of subsurface operations including CO2 and hydrogen storage.

Reservoir Modeling & Recovery CenterWell & Production Engineering CenterRock Mechanics & Geomechanics CenterGeothermal Energy Engineering CenterCarbon Engineering CenterHydrogen Energy & Storage CenterMining Engineering CenterNuclear Energy Engineering Center
Research Fields 22
In-Situ Stress Measurement & Stress-Regime Characterization
🧭 In-Situ Stress Measurement & Stress-Regime Characterization
In-situ stress characterization determines the magnitude and orientation of the three prin…
Rock Failure Criteria & Strength Theory
📐 Rock Failure Criteria & Strength Theory
Rock failure-criteria research develops mathematical envelopes that predict, as a function…
Poroelasticity & Pore Pressure Prediction
💧 Poroelasticity & Pore Pressure Prediction
Poroelasticity is the coupled-deformation theory of a linearly elastic solid skeleton satu…
Wellbore Stability Analysis
🕳️ Wellbore Stability Analysis
Wellbore stability analysis predicts the stress concentration that develops around a cylin…
Sand Production & Cavity/Perforation Failure Mechanics
🏜️ Sand Production & Cavity/Perforation Failure Mechanics
Sand-production mechanics predicts the onset of shear failure and progressive cavity colla…
Hydraulic Fracture Mechanics & Propagation
⚡ Hydraulic Fracture Mechanics & Propagation
Hydraulic fracture mechanics models the width, length, height, and propagation velocity of…
Caprock/Seal Integrity for CO2 and H2 Geological Storage
🛢️ Caprock/Seal Integrity for CO2 and H2 Geological Storage
Caprock integrity assessment determines whether a fine-grained, low-permeability rock over…
Fault Reactivation & Injection-Induced Seismicity Mechanics
🌋 Fault Reactivation & Injection-Induced Seismicity Mechanics
Fault-reactivation mechanics predicts the conditions under which a pre-existing fault, oth…
Subsidence & Reservoir Compaction Geomechanics
📉 Subsidence & Reservoir Compaction Geomechanics
Subsidence and reservoir-compaction geomechanics predicts how the vertical compaction of a…
Rock Mass Classification Systems
🪨 Rock Mass Classification Systems
Rock mass classification develops empirical, index-based systems that quantify the overall…
Laboratory Rock Mechanics Testing (Triaxial/UCS)
🔬 Laboratory Rock Mechanics Testing (Triaxial/UCS)
Laboratory rock-mechanics testing measures the strength and deformation properties of rock…
Discrete Element Modeling of Rock & Fractured Media
🔵 Discrete Element Modeling of Rock & Fractured Media
Discrete element modeling (DEM) simulates a rock mass not as a continuous medium but as an…
Finite Element Geomechanical Simulation
🕸️ Finite Element Geomechanical Simulation
Finite element geomechanical simulation discretizes a continuous rock or soil domain into …
Salt Mechanics & Creep
🧂 Salt Mechanics & Creep
Salt mechanics develops time-dependent constitutive models for the viscoplastic creep of r…
Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) Processes
🔥 Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) Processes
THMC process modeling extends poroelastic theory into a fully coupled continuum-mechanics …
Rock Fracture Toughness & Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
💎 Rock Fracture Toughness & Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics
Rock fracture-toughness research characterizes the critical condition under which an exist…
Anisotropic Rock Mechanics & Shale Geomechanics
🧱 Anisotropic Rock Mechanics & Shale Geomechanics
Anisotropic rock mechanics characterizes the directional dependence of elastic and strengt…
Rock Joint & Discontinuity Shear Behavior
🔩 Rock Joint & Discontinuity Shear Behavior
Rock joint mechanics develops constitutive models for the shear strength and volumetric di…
Rock Slope Stability Engineering
⛰️ Rock Slope Stability Engineering
Rock slope stability engineering analyzes whether a natural or engineered rock slope will …
Underground Excavation & Tunnel Support Design
🚇 Underground Excavation & Tunnel Support Design
Underground excavation and tunnel-support design develops rock-mass-behavior-based methods…
Mechanical Earth Models & Drilling Geomechanical Risk
🏗️ Mechanical Earth Models & Drilling Geomechanical Risk
A mechanical earth model (MEM) is a depth-continuous, calibrated profile of the elastic mo…
Rock Physics for Geomechanics (Static-Dynamic Moduli)
🎚️ Rock Physics for Geomechanics (Static-Dynamic Moduli)
Rock physics for geomechanics relates the dynamic elastic moduli obtained from sonic-log o…