Data, Simulations, and AI for Micro-Scale Flow and Transport

When:  Mar 12, 2026 from 09:00 AM to 10:00 AM (CT)

Speaker: Prof. Maša Prodanović – Frank W. Jessen Professor and Associate Department Chair, Petroleum Engineering, UT-Austin

Moderator: Sriram Solairaj - Co-Founder and CEO of JGS Resources,


📌Highlights:
👉 Multi-scale imaging is now able to provide nanometer to millimeter resolution. This enables direct insight into pore-scale flow mechanisms that control large-scale transport in oil recovery and carbon sequestration.
👉 Computed tomography, X-ray microtomography, and SEM, integrated with numerical simulation and machine learning, allow the extraction of key transport properties even in highly complex materials.
👉 We developed the Digital Porous Media Portal as a source of high-quality, curated imaging data. This is hosted at the Texas Advanced Computing Center. This promoted faster learning and insight creation.
👉 We demonstrate how open datasets have enabled AI-driven prediction of permeability and electrical resistivity.
👉 We address the ongoing challenges in modeling complex fluid–solid coupling processes, where fully trained AI models are still emerging.
👉 High-resolution 3D simulations are presented that capture dynamic proppant transport and placement in realistic rough-walled rock microfractures under varying flow conditions, including both Newtonian and shear-thinning fluids. These results provide practical guidance for completion engineers in selecting proppant and fracturing fluids to optimize placement within complex fracture networks.
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