We are pleased to announce that Florian Doster, professor at the Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering of the Heriot-Watt University (UK), will give the SFB 1313 "Pretty Porous Science Lecture" #69. His talk will be on "Geological Carbon Storage and Faults – Insights from a Modelling Journey Toward Robust Leakage Risk Assessment".
Date: 25 November 2025
Time: 4:00 pm CET
Speaker: Prof. Florian Doster, Heriot-Watt University (UK)
Lecture title: "Geological Carbon Storage and Faults – Insights from a Modelling Journey Toward Robust Leakage Risk Assessment"
Place: Multi Media Lab (MML), U1.003, Pfaffenwaldring 61, 70569 Stuttgart, Campus Vaihingen. If you are interested in participating in the lecture online, please contact samaneh.vahiddastjerdi@mechbau.uni-stuttgart.de
Abstract
Tackling climate change requires reducing atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Most realistic mitigation scenarios involve capturing CO₂ at major emission sources and storing it in suitable subsurface geological formations. Faults are ubiquitous planar discontinuities in a volume of rock because of rock-mass movements. The corresponding deformation processes alter the rocks in faults and their vicinity.
From the perspective of geological carbon storage, faults can be either allies or adversaries. Depending on their characteristics, they may help contain CO₂ or facilitate its escape. Unfortunately, the key properties that define fault behavior are notoriously difficult to measure. Their nature is influenced by a complex interplay of mechanical, chemical, thermal, and hydromechanical processes, as well as geological heterogeneities across scales.
Developing a geological carbon storage project involves multiple stages, each with evolving data availability and risk assessments that inform critical decisions. At every stage, models must balance complexity with practicality, tailored to the data and resources at hand. While general principles are understood, many fundamental processes governing fluid migration through fault zones remain poorly constrained. Thus, it is essential to keep models “as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
In this presentation, I will share insights from our modelling journey at Heriot-Watt University, focusing on leakage risk assessment related to faults in geological carbon storage. I will discuss how fine-scale observations and coarse-scale models can be integrated to quantify risks and uncertainties and to ultimately support better decision-making throughout project development.
About Florian Doster
Florian Doster is Professor for Multi-Scale Multi-Phase Flow Modelling in the Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering at Heriot-Watt University and GeoEnergy co-lead at the Global Research Institute for Achieving NetZero and Beyond. His research interests include the study of multi-physics multi-phase flow phenomena in porous media and their appropriate physical and mathematical description across length and time scales. He focuses on applications related to the energy transition in particular CO2 storage and phenomena around flow in fractured porous media. His research is funded by ACT(BEIS), UKRI (EPSRC, NERC), European Commission, US Department of Energy, the Scottish Energy Technology Partnership, Norwegian Research Council, Foundation CMG, Total, BP, Shell and Petronas, Nuclear Waste Services and the Clean Energy Transition Partnership. His scientific journey has started with a MSc in Physics from Heidelberg University, and continued with a PhD in the International Research Training Group NUPUS at the University of Stuttgart and postdoctoral research at Princeton University and at the University of Bergen before settling at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh.