Dr. Gottardi is currently collaborating with Dr. Gabriele Morra (geophysicist from the Department of Physics at UL Lafayette) to develop numerical models that aims at coupling fluid flow, heat transfer, and deformation of porous media. Extensive research has been conducted on fluid flow in porous media, heat transfer in porous media, and brittle deformation of porous media. However, few studies have attempted to combine these three processes in order to investigate the feedback they exert on one another. The numerical model is being developed using ABAQUS/Standard, which is a general-purpose finite-element analyzer.
The focus of this research project is to study the effect of permeability and porosity fields on groundwater flow, and heat transfer in a fault-controlled system associated with extension of continental crust. This project is a continuation of the work initiated by Gottardi et al. (2013). The model is intended to idealize the geometry of an extensional system affecting hot and thick crust, such as found in Cordilleran metamorphic core complexes. The numerical approach to compute the fluid and heat transport is based on the finite element method. The model allows us to examine the effect of varying topography, structure (fault length, density, and geometry), and permeability contrasts on fluid flow and heat transfer in the crust.
We currently have a robust groundwater flow model, and we are working on implementing heat flow, and coupled heat/fluid flow.
Idealized fluid flow in a detachment system. The brittle upper crust is separated from the ductile lower crust by the detachment shear zone. Meteoric fluids percolate through fracture arrays from the upper crust down to the detachment shear zone where their isotopic signature is preserved in metamorphic minerals. Owing to high geothermal gradient, fluids heat up and circulate back to the surface in a buoyancy-driven convective flow. Modified from Gottardi et al. (2013).