Julien Maes Research CFD | Subsurface processes

Computational Fluid Dynamics for Porous Media Applications

I have more than 10 years industrial and academic experience developing numerical algorithms for modelling complex multiphysic processes for the oil and gas industry, carbon capture and storage, groundwater remediation, hydrogen generation and geothermal systems. I have developed an expertise in modelling multiphase flow, heat transfer and reactive transport, from the micron to the kilometer scale. In particular, I am responsible for the development of GeoChemFoam, the first-ever fully-coupled multiphase reactive transport solver for modelling subsurface processes at the pore-scale.

Current position

I'm currently a Research Fellow at the Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering, Heriot-Watt University. I am the head of the GeoChemFoam Group, and the technical leader of the EPSRC funded project on Direct Numerical Simulation for Additive Manufacturing in Porous Media. We are using 3D printing to generate microfluidic chips representative of porous media and perform flow experiments to porous media applications. I am also participating in industry funded research on carbon storage in depleted oil and gas fields.