Derek Elsworth

Email: fkd@psu.edu

Phone: (814) 865-2225

Office Address:
231 Hosler Bldg.

Title: Professor

Website: http://www.ems.psu.edu/~elsworth/

http://g3.ems.psu.edu

Research Areas:
Coal Science & Technology
Petroleum & Natural Gas Engineering

Education Background:
• Portsmouth Polytechnic, Portsmouth, UK, Engineering Geology, B.Sc. (1979)
• Imperial College, London, UK, Engineering Rock Mechanics, M.Sc., DIC (1980)
• University of California, Berkeley, Engineering, Ph.D. (1984)

About:

Elsworth is a professor of energy and geo-environmental engineering and geosciences. His interests are in the areas of computational mechanics, rock mechanics, and in the mechanical and transport characteristics of fractured rocks, with application to geothermal energy, the deep geological sequestration of radioactive wastes and of carbon dioxide, and the recovery of unconventional hydrocarbons, including coal-gas, tight-gas-shales and hydrates.

Research Interests:

• Computational reservoir geomechanics
• Poromechanics
• Permeability evolution in fractured reservoirs and induced seismicity
• Hydraulic fracturing with nonconventional propellants
• Shale gas and coalbed methane recovery (SGR/CBM and Enhanced-SGR/CBM)
• EGS and conventional geothermal reservoir engineering
S• equestration of CO2 and radioactive wastes

Memberships & Committees:

President ARMA Foundation (2014- ). Department of Energy, Future of EGS Committee (2012-pres.). ARMA, Chair of Fellows (2011-). Department of Health and Human Services, Mine Health and Safety Research Committee (2011-2013). Department of Homeland Security, Geophysics Advisory Committee (2010). Chair, DUSEL Research Association Exec. Committee (2010). ARMA Fellow (2009). Chair, DUSEL Experiment Development Committee interfacing science experiments with the SURF facility (2008-2010).

Honors & Awards:


Teaching:

Courses
Fluid Mechanics [EME 303]
Energy and Society: Energy Choices for the New Millennium [EMSc 470W - 2000]
Energy and Society: Industrial Revolution to Industrial Ecology [EMSc 470W - 2003]
Energy, Environment and Society: The "Energy" New Deal - Down Under [EMSc 470W - 2013]
Sustainable Energy in Scandinavia: One Region, Many Choices [EMSc 470W - 2015]
Sustainable Energy in New Zealand [EGEE 497] Flyer News
Contaminant Hydrology [ EnvSE 408]
Engineering Physics of Energy and Geo-Environmental Systems [EGEE 500]
Mathematical Modeling of Energy and Geo-Environmental Systems [EGEE 520]
Computational Geomechanics [GeoEE 557]
Poromechanics [GeoEE 559] Book
Geomechanics Seminar [Fa 2015] [Sp 2016] [Sp 2017] [Fa 2017]

Short Courses
Computational Reservoir Geomechanics [Outline] Course Resources Page
Poromechanics of Porous and Fractured Reservoirs [Outline] Course Resources Page

Design Projects
Graduate - Design Engineering in Energy and Geo-Environmental Systems [EGEE 580]
Graduate/Undergraduate - NREL National Student Geothermal Competition[Report]

Publications:

Elsevier: https://pennstate.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/derek-elsworth/publications/

Google: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=jHE-gWUAAAAJ

Derek Elsworth's Publications
Record 1 - 10 of 443 View All
Affinito, R., D. Elsworth, and C. Marone, (2023). The Stability Transition from Stable to Unstable Frictional Slip with Finite Pore Pressure, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-16777, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-16777.
Cui, L., F. Zhang, M. An, L. Zhuang, D. Elsworth, and Z. Zhong, (2023). Frictional stability and permeability evolution of fractures subjected to repeated cycles of heating-and-quenching: granites from the Gonghe Basin, northwest China, Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources, v. 9 [18].
Schwartz, B. and D. Elsworth, (2023). “Chapter 10: Permeability Enhancement in Shale Induced by Desorption” in Physics of Fluid Flow and Transport in Unconventional Reservoir Rocks, edited by Behzad Ghanbarian, Feng Liang, and Hui-Hai Liu, pp. 209-234.
Wood, C., C.-Y. Ke, J. Rivière, D. Elsworth, C. Marone, and P. Shokouhi, (2023). Decoupling the poromechanics of particle remobilization and interface stiffness of dynamically stressed tensile fractured rock, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 24–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-17555, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-17555, 2023.
Yildirim, L. T. O., D. Elsworth, and John Y. Wang, (2023). Permeability and Rigidity of Green River Shale Before and After Exposure to Water, Journal of Energy Resources Technology, v. 145 (4), [042401], https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4056032.
An, M., F. Zhang, K.-B. Min, D. Elsworth, C. He, and L. Zhao, (2022). Frictional Stability of Metamorphic Epidote in Granitoid Faults Under Hydrothermal Conditions and Implications for Injection-Induced Seismicity, JGR Solid Earth, v. 127 (3), [e2021JB023136], doi.org/10.1029/2021JB023136.
Cai, M., Y. Su, S. Zhan, and D. Elsworth, and L. Li, (2022). Immiscible/Near-Miscible relative permeability for confined fluids at high-pressure and high-temperature for a fractal reservoir, Fuel, v. 310, pp. 122389.
Cao, Y., J. Zhang, X. Zhang, Shimin Liu, and D. Elsworth, (2022). Micro-fractures in coal induced by high pressure CO2 gas fracturing, Fuel, v. 311, pp. 122148.
Dong, P., R. Chen, K. Xia, W. Yao, Z. Peng, and D. Elsworth, (2022). Earthquake Delay and Rupture Velocity in Near‐Field Dynamic Triggering Dictated by Stress‐Controlled Nucleation, Seismological Research Letters, https://doi.org/10.1785/0220220264.
Hu, Y., G. Quan, A. Hurst, and D. Elsworth, (2022). Hydraulic fracture propagation and interaction with natural fractures by coupled hydro-mechanical modeling. Geomechanics and Geophysics for Geo-Energy and Geo-Resources v. 8, 4, pp. 1-26, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-021-00307-9
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