[Classifieds] [classifieds] MIT's Earth System Initiave (ESI) is sponsoring a once-monthly seminar at MIT

[MBL Classifieds]

MIT's Earth System Initiative (ESI) is sponsoring a once-monthly seminar series on Tuesday afternoons at MIT featuring young faculty presenting their latest work. In the ESI spirit of cross-departmental community building, this semester’s talks will come from the Civil and Environmental Engineering ( CEE) faculty speaking at MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences ( EAPS) in 54-915 and EAPS faculty speaking at the Parsons Lab (48-316). All talks will begin promptly at 4:00 p.m. and be followed by a social hour at 5:00 p.m....with catered snacks, I might add. 



Please don’t miss these opportunities to sample the variety of ESI-affiliated research at MIT, meet new colleagues and make new research connections. It couldn’t be easier. 




Here is the line-up for this spring: 

Tuesday, February 9: Ruben Juanes, 54-915 @ 4pm 

Tuesday, March 9: Tanja Bosak, 48-316 @ 4pm 

Tuesday, April 6: Jesse Kroll, 54-915 @ 4pm 

Tuesday, May 4: Taylor Perron, 48-316 @ 4pm 

Tuesday, June 1: Janelle Thompson, 54-915 @ 4pm 


First up is Ruben Juanes, ARCO Assistant Professor in Energy Studies at CEE. 

On Tuesday, February 9, at 4:00 p.m. in 54-915, Ruben will regale us with his talk: 




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Non-equilibrium physics of multiphase flow in porous media: Origin of gravity fingers 

Simultaneous flow of multiphase fluids through porous media is a pervasive natural phenomenon—such as when water infiltrates soil, and during the formation of methane hydrates in ocean sediments and permafrost. It also is central to critical energy technologies, like production of oil and gas reservoirs and CO2 injection into geologic formations. Yet our ability to model multiphase flow at the macroscopic scale is still in a stage of infancy. 

I present a new approach to modeling multiphase flow that incorporates one basic feature—a system out of thermodynamic equilibrium. To demonstrate this approach, I examine the infiltration of water into soil to solve a long-standing mystery in soil physics: why do the infiltration fronts lead to preferential flow paths—aka gravity fingers? The answer has direct implications for predicting contaminant travel times through the vadose zone, recharge rates in shallow aquifers, and the susceptibility of soils to desertification. 
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