Rice University Professor Hirasaki joined the Rice faculty after a 26 year career with Shell Development and Shell Oil Company. His research in fluid transport through porous media ranged from the microscopic scale intermolecular forces governing wettability to the megascopic scale numerical reservoir simulators for field-wide modeling. A reoccurring theme throughout this research is the dominance of interfaces in the determination of fluid transport processes.
Fluids flow through rock and soil in pore spaces that are on the order of microns.
The relative transport of phases and components are governed by the degree of wetting of the solid by the fluid phases and the sorption of species on the fluid and solid surfaces in addition to the usual transport coefficients such as viscosity and diffusivity. Similar measurements are made in the laboratory with fluid and rock samples to develop the methodology to interpret the NMR signals. This investigation is in collaboration with Professor Kishore Mohanty at University of Houston. Research is being conducted to understand fundamental mechanisms of wettability and to enhance the imbibition of water into carbonate rocks. This investigation is in collaboration with Professor Mukul Sharma at The University of Texas.