2 PhD's on digital twins for modelling and forecasting induced seismicity

Job description

Are you inspired by (analogies between) the physics of soft-matter systems and the phenomenology of (induced) seismicity?  
Are you fascinated by the complex physics of stabilized emulsions?  
Are you passionate about programming and high-performance computing?  
Are you eager to collaborate with geophysics colleagues and to analyse field data?  

We are looking for two motivated PhD candidates that will advance the fundamental understanding on the physics of dense stabilized emulsions to develop quantitative analogues for (induced) seismicity.

Injecting or extracting fluids into the shallow subsurface carries the risk of induced seismicity. An explicit multi-physics system to model fluid-migration induced seismicity is currently not within reach due to the complexity of the phenomena involved. In this project your will contribute to build a digital twin for induced seismicity based on a numerical model of soft-glass dynamics.

You will build on some preparatory works [1-6], showing as a proof-of-concept that a soft-glass, forced below yield stress, follows stick-slip dynamics and closely mimics the empirical laws observed for tectonic seismicity (Gutenberg-Richter law, Omori’s law, interevent time distribution). The model needs to be tuned to a specific field situation where induced seismicity is occurring. This is the central part of this project. Once tuned, the digital twin will replicate what is happening in the field.  Further, once tuned, different fluid migration scenarios can be tested to explore, for example, which protocols may produce induced seismicity with the steepest possible Gutenberg-Richter slope.

Deeper understanding of seismicity may have an important societal impact.  It can provide stakeholders with a tool to control induced seismicity due to fluid movement in the near subsurface and it may support the possibility to forecast seismic hazard.

The two PhD projects will focus on:

• Modelling the statistics of induced seismicity.
• Modelling the spatial distribution of seismicity.

Benzi, R., Kumar, P., Toschi, F., & Trampert, J. (2016). Earthquake statistics and plastic events in soft-glassy materials. Geophysical Supplements to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 207(3), 1667-1674.

Kumar, P., Korkolis, E., Benzi, R., Denisov, D., Niemeijer, A., Schall, P., Toschi, F., Trampert, J. (2020). On interevent time distributions of avalanche dynamics. Scientific reports, 10(1), 626.

Kumar, P., Benzi, R., Trampert, J., & Toschi, F. (2020). A multi-component lattice Boltzmann approach to study the causality of plastic events. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 378(2175), 20190403.

Trampert, J., Benzi, R., & Toschi, F. (2022). Implications of the statistics of seismicity recorded within the Groningen gas field. Netherlands Journal of Geosciences, 101, e9.

Kumar, P., Benzi, R., Trampert, J., & Toschi, F. (2023). Direct observations of causal links in plastic events and relevance to earthquake seismology. Physical Review Research, 5(3), 033211.

Kumar, P. P. (2021). Statistical studies on a soft-glass for applications in seismology. [Phd Thesis] Eindhoven University of Technology https://research.tue.nl/en/publications/statistical-studies-on-a-soft-glass-for-applications-in-seismolog

Job requirements

• We are looking for enthusiastic and highly motivated PhD-students with a solid background in fluid dynamics, statistical physics, computational physics and high-performance computing.
• A master’s degree (or an equivalent university degree) in (applied) physics, mechanical engineering or related subjects.
• A research oriented attitude. 
• Knowledge of computational (fluid dynamics) methods and parallel (GPU) programming are an asset.
• Ability to work in a team. 
• Fluent in spoken and written English.  

Conditions of employment

• A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university with the possibility to present your work at international conferences. 
• A full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. 
• To develop your teaching skills, you will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• To support you during your PhD and to prepare you for the rest of your career, you will make a Training and Supervision plan and you will have free access to a personal development program for PhD students (PROOF program). 
• A gross monthly salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labor Agreement for Dutch Universities. 
• Additionally, an annual holiday allowance of 8% of the yearly salary, plus a year-end allowance of 8.3% of the annual salary. 
• Should you come from abroad and comply with certain conditions, you can make use of the so-called ‘30% facility’, which permits you not to pay tax on 30% of your salary.  
• A broad package of fringe benefits, including an excellent technical infrastructure, moving expenses, and savings schemes.  
• Family-friendly initiatives are in place, such as an international spouse program, and excellent on-campus children day care and sports facilities. 

Information and application

More information  
Do you recognize yourself in this profile and would you like to know more?  
Please contact the hiring manager prof. F. (Federico) Toschi, f.toschi@tue.nl, Department of Applied Physics, group Fluids and Flows https://www.tue.nl/en/research/research-groups/fluids-and-flows/.

For information about terms of employment, click here. You can also contact  HR Services Flux, HRServices.Flux@tue.nl.

Please visit www.tue.nl/jobs to find out more about working at TU/e! 

Application 
We invite you to submit a complete application by using the 'apply now'-button on this page.  
The application should include a: 

• Cover letter in which you describe your motivation and qualifications for the position. 
• Curriculum vitae, including a list of your publications and the contact information of three references. 

• Brief description of your MSc thesis. 

We do not respond to applications that are sent to us in a different way. 

Please keep in mind you can upload only 5 documents up to 2 MB each. If necessary, please combine files. 

We look forward to your application and will screen it as soon as we have received it. Screening will continue until the position has been filled.