PoreStudio: First Cloud-Based Multiscale Reactive Flow Simulator

Reactive transport models (RTMs) are quantitative tools to analyze the interaction between physical, chemical, and biological processes in various material and energy systems. Oil and gas, mining, nuclear waste management, and environmental consulting companies use RTMs to acquire critical information which are essential to: estimate the oil and gas production rates under different hydraulic fracturing and enhanced oil recovery strategies, minimize the risk of groundwater contamination by acid mine drainage, assess the safety of cement-based engineered barrier systems in nuclear waste repositories, and design the efficient treatment and remediation strategies for contaminated sites. In order to benefit gamut of industries which face real-world engineering and scientific problems spanning from nanometer to kilometer length scales, multiscale RTMs are needed. For example, reservoir engineers in oil and gas industry need simulation tools which are capable of combining information of the entire reservoir in kilometer scale with micro-scale properties of various rock samples. Current predictive RTMs are not benefited from state-of-the-art mathematical and high-performance computing algorithms. Furthermore, elevated upfront and maintenance costs of on-premise hardware and software for complex real-world problems, have led to increased demand for SaaS (Software as a Service) and cloud-based applications. PoreStudio is the first cloud-based multiscale reactive flow simulator which combines novel mathematical methods, high-resolution imaging tools such as microCT or scanning electron microscopy and cloud hosting to 1) solve physical and chemical equations simultaneously in exact and complex geometry of materials, 2) account for processes in wide range of length scales, and 3) provide a cost-effective SaaS solution. PoreStudio offers worldwide access to data anytime and with any mobile device while providing an on-demand and pay-as-you-go model. During DoE- SBIR Phase I, single-phase fluid solvers of PoreStudio were developed and migrated to the newly- designed cloud architecture on Amazon Web Service (AWS). The cloud environment was provisioned based on best practices considering crucial factors such as scalability, availability, automation and security. In DoE-SBIR Phase II, PoreStudio’s applications will be extended to multiphase flow systems in porous media which span numerous industries such as oil reservoir engineering, geothermal engineering, disposal of high-level nuclear waste, fuel cells and multiphase packed-bed reactor. We will implement parallel computing algorithms on hybrid CPU- GPUs clusters to achieve speedup. The cloud architecture will be updated, and new features will be added accordingly through DevOps processes for further automation, efficient management and CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment) pipeline. In collaboration with major academic and industrial partners, several numerical and laboratory experiments will be conducted to validate the accuracy and scalability of new capabilities of PoreStudio.