- Continue work on multiscale multiphysics study of granular materials/porous media- New research on Compressed Air Energy Storage and hydrogen storage

Extend my research to energy screw pile and phase change materialsEmbedding heat exchangers into a screw pile can form a cost-effective energy pile with a fast installation capability. However, better solutions to handle thermal waves and thermal interferences among energy piles are still required. This work aims to solve the issues by proposing a novel concept of an energy screw pile filled with mixtures of phase change materials (PCM) such as paraffin and “solid” grouting. Numerical simulations are conducted to investigate the utilisation of PCM energy screw piles on reducing fluid and ground temperatures, considering different constituents in PCM-solid mixtures, moisture conditions, phase change temperatures and operation schemes. more details at https://wenbinfei.github.io/research_demos/10-energy-screw-pile/

Deep geothermal engineeringEnergy Storage Energy TunnelParticle scale study of mechanical response, heat transfer and fluid flow in soils and rocks• Soil structure characterisation and property prediction based on Computed Tomography (CT) images in an automatic way without human bias.• The framework from my PhD project is further developed for cemented geomaterials.

Subject coordination, Consultation, Task arrangements for tutors.

Particle Scale Study on Fluid and Heat Flow in Granular Mixtures• Images from Computed Tomography Scanning and post-processed using ImageJ and Simpleware;• Simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer using COMSOL and network models;• In-house developed codes are used to calculate three-dimensional particle shape descriptors;• Particle connectivity using complex network theory (graph theory);• Machine learning is used to establish the relationship between the microscale structure and transport properties under loading and diagenesis.Effect of Chemical Reaction on the Permeability of Fractures in Deep Geothermal Reservoir• Variation of precipitation and dissolution with the change of pore pressure and temperature;• Fracture heterogeneity;• In-house C++ software to conduct full coupling THC simulationData scientist toolboxMachine learning and graph theory are advances in analysis of the interpersonal relationship in a social society. Now we are employing them to civill engineering to study the particle/pore connectivity and predict the fluid and heat transfer in soil, rock and concrete. • ipython jupter• numpy• pandas• scipy• graph-tool• networkx• scikit-learn• seaborn• matplotlib• plotly

Lab management; Induction for lab users; Lab inspection.

Seepage lab practical; Slope stability tutorial; Finite element simulation tutorial; Optimization tutorial; GeoStudio workshops.

• Mechanical strength: Brazilian tensile, point load, uniaxial compressive and triaxial strength;• Penetration resistance (Toughness): Goodrich drillability test and sievers J-value test• Brittleness: Swedish brittleness number;• Abrasiveness: CERCHAR abrasivity index.

Road Bed Design• Design of high embankment and deep cutting in mountain highway;• Design of CFG and pipe piles in soft soil;• Special design about sponge city (permeable pavement and low impacted development drain)construction and utility tunnel;• Leader of geotechnical engineering group for designing 6 roads in Hainan island.Slope Design and Treatment• Slope stability analysis using GeoStudio Slope/w and ABAQUS;• Research on expansive clay slope progressive deformation mechanism of instability based onFLAC2D (using fish code to add the expansion force) ;• Design anchor frame beam, retaining wall or anti-slide pile to strengthening slope.Geotechnical Investigation Report• Field survey;• Recommend soil and rock properties;• Recommend methods to treat poor soil and avoid geological disasters.Experimental study of anisotropy and non-coaxiality of granular solids• Hollow cylindrical tests;• Using particulate materials (glass beads and polymers).

Coupled Analysis of Carbon Dioxide Storage Combining with Overlying Coal Exploitation• A code (“AEEA Coupler”) by linking ABAQUS (Mechanics software) and ECLIPSE (Reservoir software) was developed to realize THMC coupling analysis;• Applying sub modelling technique to well stability analysis;• Geological modelling with Petrel;• Controlling ABAQUS using Python language.Numerical simulation of hydraulic fracturing• The stress-damage model with different hydraulic and native fissures;• Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) in ABAQUS.Adopting different methods to simulate the mining process• Coal-rock visco-elasto-plasticity deformation;• Cohesive element;• Smoothed particle hydrodynamic (SPH) method.Survey and sampling in the Sichuan basin• One moth field trip to investigate the outcrops and to understand the geological systems;• Investigating gas fields to study the injection-induced seismicity in oil/gas reservoirs;• Sampling various rock for laboratory acoustic emission experiment to further understand the loadinduced failure process.