At 16:30 on November 9, 2018, Dr. Qinghua Lei was invited to give a lecture at our school. Dr. Lei holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from Tongji University and a Ph.D. in Rock Mechanics from Imperial College London. He is now a lecturer in Engineering Geology at the Department of Earth Sciences, ETH Zürich, Switzerland. Dr. Lei delivered a talk entitled “Impact of geomechanical processes on fluid flow and transport in fractured geological media”. Prof. Xuhai Tang hosted the seminar.
In the seminar, Dr. Lei first discussed the complexities of natural fractures in rock with respect to their length distribution, spatial organisation and scale dependence. Then, he described the computational framework of a finite-discrete element method that can be used to simulate important geomechanical processes in fractured rocks. Finally, he discussed the impact of these geomechanical responses on hydrogeological properties such as equivalent permeability, flow pattern and mass transport.
Professors and students of our school who attended the seminar were highly inspired by Dr. Lei’s presentation and raised a number of questions followed by intensive discussions and idea exchanges.