Prof. Xuhai Tang

Xuhai Tang is a Professor at Wuhan University.He holds a PhD degree from Imperial College London and was a postdoc at Princeton University. Prof. Tang developed a microscale experiment system and AiFrac simulator to study the fundamental mechanical behaviour of Earth and planetary geological materials. The microscale experiment system is able to test the mechanical property of minerals, which is especially useful for non-standard rock/soil samples including fracture filling materials and Mars/lunar samples. The AiFrac simulator is widely applied for analysing the multiscale deformation and fracturing of geological materials induced by Hydraulic-Mechanical-Thermal-Chemical (THMC) process.Prof. Tang’s achievement contributes to smarter petroleum production, geothermal production and space exploitation. He is the editorial board member of the "International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences".

We develop an advanced system to investigate the mechanical property of minerals and their impact on earth/planetary geological materials, which combines microscale rock mechanics experiment (micro-RME) and accurate grain-based model (AGBM). The micro-RME is developed to test the physics property evolution of rock-forming minerals under hydraulic-mechanical-thermal-chemical coupling process. The AGBM is developed to solve the macroscale mechanics property of geological materials numerically, based on Micro-RME result.

This system is especially useful to test non-standard rock/soil samples, such as filling in fractures, arbitrarily-shaped cuttings, meteorite and samples of Mars/lunar rock. Additionally, this system advances our fundamental understanding the mechanical property of geological material at mineral scale.

●   J.J. Xu, Y.H. Zhang, J. Rutqvist, M.S. Hu, Z.Z. Wang, X.H. Tang*, 2023. Thermally Induced Microcracks in Granite and Their Effect on the Macroscale Mechanical Behavior, Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 128(1), https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JB024920

●    X.H. Tang, Y.H. Zhang, J.J. Xu*, J. Rutqvist, M.S. Hu, Z.Z. Wang, Q.S. Liu, 2022,Determining Young's modulus of granite using accurate grain-based modeling with microscale rock mechanical experiments, International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmms.2022.105167

●    唐旭海,许婧璟,张怡恒,何琦,王正直,张国平,刘泉声.基于微观岩石力学试验和NWA13618陨石的小行星岩石力学参数分析[J].岩土力学,2021,43(05):1157-1163.DOI:10.16285/j.rsm.2021.1342.

The Aifrac simulator is developed to create the digital twin of reservoirs with mechanical deformation and fracturing. In this AiFrac simulator, advanced numerical algorithms, such as extended finite element method and phase field method, are developed to model the deformation and fracturing of geomaterials induced by Hydraulic-Mechanical-Thermal-Chemical coupling process. Additionally, the combination of physical simulation and machine learning is developed to analysis the geostress redistributioin and hydraulic fracturing, according to monitoring data. This achievement contributes to smarter energy oil/gas production, geothermal production and space exploitation.

●    J.M. Qiao,X.H. Tang*, M.S. Hu, J. Rutqvist, Z.Y. Liu, 2022, The hydraulic fracturing with multiple influencing factors in carbonate fracture-cavity reservoirs, Computers and Geotechnics, 147, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2022.104773

●    X.H. Tang, S.J. Tao*, P. L, J. Rutqvist, M.S. Hu, L. Sun, 2022. The propagation and interaction of cracks under freeze-thaw cycling in rock-like material, International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 154, 105112, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmms.2022.105112

●    S.J. Tao, X.H. Tang*, J. Rutqvist, Q.S. Liu, M.S. Hu, The influence of stress anisotropy and stress shadow on frost cracking in rock,Computers and Geotechnics, 2021, 133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2020.103967.

●    S.J. Tao, X.H. Tang*, J. Rutqvist,   M.S. Hu, Q.S. Liu, 2020. Simulating three dimensional thermal cracking with TOUGH-FEMM, Computers and Geotechnics,124, 103654.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compgeo.2020.103654

●   Z.L. Shao, Y. Wang, X.H. Tang*, 2020. The influences of heating and uniaxial loading on granite subjected to liquid nitrogen cooling, Engineering Geology, 271, 105614.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2020.105614

●    X.H. Tang*, J. Rutqvist, M.S. Hu, N.M. Rayudu, 2019. Modeling three-dimensional fluid-driven propagation of multiple fractures using TOUGH-FEMM, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 52(2), 611-627.https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-018-1715-7

●    Q.S. Liu, L. Sun, X.H. Tang*, B. Guo, 2019, Modelling Hydraulic Fracturing with a Point-Based Approximation for the Maximum Principal Stress Criterion, Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 52(6), 1781-1801. DOI:10.1007/s00603-018-1648-1

●    Q.S. Liu, L. Sun, X.H. Tang*, L. Chen,2018. Simulate intersecting 3D hydraulic cracks using a hybrid “FE-Meshfree” method, Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 91, 24-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2018.03.005

●    Y.T. Yang, X.H. Tang*, H. Zheng, Q.S. Liu, Z.J. Liu, 2018, Hydraulic fracturing modelling using the enriched numerical manifold method, Applied Mathematical Modelling,53, 462-486. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apm.2017.09.024

●    Y.T. Yang, L. Chen, X.H. Tang*, H. Zheng, Q.S. Liu, 2017, A partition-of-unity based ‘FE-Meshfree’ hexahedral element with continuous nodal stress, Computers & Structures, 178 :17-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruc.2016.10.012

●    Y.T. Yang, X.H. Tang, H. Zheng, Q.S. Liu, L. He, 2016,Three-dimensional fracture propagation with numerical manifold method, Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, 72, 65-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2016.08.008

●    Y.T. Yang, X.H. Tang*, H. Zheng, 2015. Construct 'FE-Meshfree' Quad4 using mean value coordinates. Engineering analysis with boundary elements, 59, 78-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enganabound.2015.04.011

●    Y.T. Yang, X.H. Tang*, H. Zheng, 2014. A three-node triangular element with continuous nodal stress, Computers & Structures, 141, 46-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruc.2014.05.001

● X.H. Tang, A. Paluszny*, RW. Zimmerman, 2014. An impulse-based energy tracking method for collision resolution, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 278 (15), 160-185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cma.2014.05.004

● X.H. Tang, A. Paluszny*, RW. Zimmerman, 2013. Energy conservative property of impulse-based methods for collision resolution. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 95(6): 529-540. https://doi.org/10.1002/nme.4537