Research stay by SFB 1313 doctoral researcher Samuel Burbulla

Samuel Burbulla from the Institute of Applied Analysis and Numerical Simulation (IANS) of the University of Stuttgart is a doctoral researcher and member of the SFB 1313 Integrated Research Training Group "Interface-Driven Multi-Field Processes in Porous Media". He visited Luca Formaggia and Anna Scotti at the MOX at the Politecnico di Milano from 30 August to 1 October 2021 for a research stay.

In research project B03 under supervision of SFB 1313 principal investigator and deputy spokesman Prof. Christian Rohde heterogeneous multi-scale methods for two-phase flow in dynamically fracturing porous media are investigated. In this context, the colleagues in Milan proposed the X-field method for modeling fracture propagation in elastic material coupling a local phase-field model to a global discrete fracture model.

During the research stay, this approach has been generalized to poro-elastic effects and it has been implemented within the conforming discrete fracture framework of SFB 1313 research project B03. It was possible to demonstrate the convergence of the phase-field model to the sharp discrete fracture model. Within an ongoing online collaboration, they aim at a common publication of the results and applying the new method to complex fracture network propagation scenarios.

We thank our hosts in Milan for their hospitality and all scientific discussions!