GEAGAM · Geophysical Exploration using Advanced GAlerkin Methods

Geophysical Exploration using Advanced GAlerkin Methods

The main objective of this Marie Curie RISE action is to improve and exchange interdisciplinary knowledge on applied mathematics, high performance computing, and geophysics to be able to better simulate and understand the materials composing the Earth's subsurface. This is essential for a variety of applications such as CO2 storage, hydrocarbon extraction, mining, and geothermal energy production, among others. All these problems have in common the need to obtain an accurate characterization of the Earth's subsurface, and to achieve this goal, several complementary aspects need to be studied, including the mathematical foundations of various high-order Galerkin multiphysics simulation methods, the efficient computer implementation of these methods in large parallel machines and GPUs, and some crucial geophysical aspects such as the design of measurement acquisition systems in different scenarios. Specific objectives of this Project include: I) Working with both borehole and on surface measurements, including: (a) complex borehole environments such as those encountered in deviated (and possibly cased) wells when the logging instrument is borehole ex-centered, (b) marine controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) measurements in shallow waters, and (c) magnetotelluric (MT) measurements. II) Developing (a) a mathematical modeling of multi-wave problems, (b) advanced numerical methods for Helmholtz problems, (c) a mathematical analysis of Helmholtz problems, and (d) construction of stabilized high-order hybrid Galerkin schemes. III) Developing a large parallel simulation software of geophysical measurements. IV) Building a multiphysics inversion method based on an adaptive multi-dimensional model for the rapid inversion of borehole geophysical resistivity, elastoacoustic, and possibly nuclear measurements that can be interpreted in terms of a 1D model plus a salient 2D or 3D feature. V) Apply the simulation and inversion software to complex geological environments. For example, those containing subsalt and pre-salt layers, and/or hydrocarbon-bearing shales exhibiting low porosity and permeability values. VI) To study the application of the developed numerical methods for geophysical exploration to other industries, including mining.

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