On January 29, 2020 Grasselli’s Geomechanics Group organized the 2020 NSERC/Energi Simulation IRC Student Symposium held at the University of Toronto. The event was held at the renovated laboratory/office facility in Galbraith Building which is home to the Civil and Mineral Engineering Department. Representatives from Energi Simulation, Geomechanica, as well as Shawcor, attended the proceedings of the conference in person, while representatives from PETRONAS Canada were able to stream the event live. The streamed event was also made available to select collaborators and other Energi Simulation IRC Chairs worldwide.
The proceedings of the symposium showcase the progress that the Geomechanics group has made over a one-year period. The objective being to address the crucial and fundamental question brought upon by the industry partner, which is “How can the work and research being carried out in the group translate into and enhance industry practices“. The presentation covered a broad range of topics including understanding mechanical testing procedures, interpretations of proppant embedment tests and true triaxial testing, advanced digital image segmentation to interpret fractures and roughness and induced seismicity during hydraulic fracturing under true triaxial testing. The group also showcased some of their future works and research interests that will extend over the next few years.
The students and topics of their respective presentations are detailed below:
| Hydraulic fracturing Montney shale cubes in the laboratory – Aly ABDELAZIZ – PhD candidate |
| Fracture complexity in hydraulically fractured Montney shale – Mei LI – PhD student |
| Induced Seismicity and Hydraulic Fracturing – Edouard KRAVCHINSKY– PhD student |
| Fracture roughness – A forensic study – Earl MAGSIPOC – PhD candidate |
| Learning from proppant embedment tests – Yusheng QIU – RA |
| Smash – Accounting for complexity in the mesh – Gil LIFSHITZ SHERZER – PostDoc – Younes FADAKAR ALGHALANDIS – RA |
| Update on laboratory testing reliability – Aly ABDELAZIZ – PhD candidate |
| Update on failure processes at low confinement – Kareem ABOAYANAH – PhD student |
| Update on fracture energy measurement – Bezawit F. HAILE – PhD student |
| Update on seismic attenuation – Afeez K. POPOOLA KOLA – PhD student |