This research focus is centered on the applications of geomechanics for energy.
This topic is of fundamental interest today due to the growing global energy demand and climate change. Economically, companies involved in deep geothermal energy, geological storage, CO2 sequestration, nuclear energy, and oil production, among others, represent an international market with a multi-billion-euro impact on eco-sociological factors. A significant risk in these industrial activities is the undesirable reactivation of faults in the Earth’s crust, leaks due to rock fracturing, large-scale subsidence, clogging, compaction, and alteration of the porosity of geological reservoirs, etc.
To mitigate these risks, cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary methods are developed and applied, considering the kilometer-scale of the underlying geo-systems. This research focus leverages scientific advancements from other areas and aims to provide a deep understanding of the phenomena occurring during these industrial activities.
Diagram of a series of fluid injections into a seismic fault and monitoring of fault slip at the surface (PhD Thesis of G.Tzortzopoulos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyvAtueAmRU)
ONGOING PROJECTS
- ERC Consolidator Grant INJECT – Preventing human-induced seismicity to fight climate change (PI : Ioannis Stefanou – 2024-2029)
- ERC Starting Grant CoQuake – Controlling Earthquake (2018-2023).
- ANR STOWENG – Underground STOrage of reneWable ENergies in low permeability materials (2018-2022).
MEMBERS
- Panagiotis KOTRONIS
- Giulio SCIARRA
- Ioannis STEFANOU