Biao Li

Concordia University · Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Understanding the physics of flows in a single fracture is the basis for modeling subsurface transport problems in fractured media. Capillary pressure curve and equivalent aperture have been accepted as tools for characterizing capillary invasion and single-phase flow in a single fracture. Numerical modeling is used to determine the capillary press...

In this paper, a cm model is proposed to quantify structural states of soft mudrocks, which are dependent on clay fractions and porosities. Physical properties of natural and reconstituted soft mudrock samples are used to derive two parameters in the cm model. With the cm model, a simplified homogenization approach is proposed to estimate geomechan...

In this paper, a two-dimensional computational homogenization model is utilized to investigate the elastic stiffness properties of soil-rock mixtures (S-RMs). The medium is idealized as a periodic environment. Consequently, a Representative Elementary Volume (REV) containing rock aggregates within the soil matrix is adopted at the meso-scale level...

This study presents a new fully coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical (THM) model for variably saturated freezing soil, which examines the freeze–thaw (F-T) actions. The model is derived based on the general form of continuum mechanics for porous media. The mass balance equations cover the conservations of the total water and dry air, where liquid w...

During thermal steam stimulation in the unconsolidated oilsands reservoir, fractures are often created to enhance injectivity. This process involves pressurizing and heating the reservoir, leading to changes in stress. The current understanding of the in-situ stress fields in mature oilsands reservoirs post thermal stimulation is limited, and the i...

To investigate the complex macro-mechanical properties of coal from a micro-mechanical perspective, we have conducted a series of micro-mechanical experiments on coal using a nano-indentation instrument. These experiments were conducted under both dynamic and static loading conditions, allowing us to gather the micro-mechanical parameters of coal f...

Permafrost degradation poses significant environmental and geological challenges in Arctic and subarctic regions, particularly in areas like Umiujaq, Canada. The warming climate leads to thawing permafrost, causing ground instability, disrupting hydrology, and impacting local built environment. This study evaluates the use of Ground Source Heat Pum...

This study addresses the challenge of estimating the elastic properties of heterogeneous frozen clay soils by introducing a comprehensive approach that combines analytical and numerical models. The frozen clay soil is treated as a mixture composed of frozen clay-water composites and nonclay mineral inclusions. An inversion algorithm is employed to...

Seasonal borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) has been recommended as a strategic technology to make an energy transition in the off-grid communities. However, the running of BTES can create thermal disturbance to the surrounding soil formation and bring a thermal-hydro-mechanical coupled process. This coupled process is particularly significant...

Nunavik, a remote subarctic region covering the northern third of Quebec, Canada, relies heavily on diesel to meet residential heating demand. Solar district heating (SDH) with borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) has been developed there as one of the most promising solutions that can break the dependence on fossil fuels and develop renewable en...

This paper presents a comprehensive computational model for analyzing thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled processes in unsaturated porous media under frost actions. The model employs the finite element method to simulate multi-phase fluid flows, heat transfer, phase change, and deformation behaviors. A new soil freezing characteristic curve model is pr...

This paper presents a new finite element method (FEM) model to simulate the thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) responses of water-saturated clay soils. The model can account for the effects of temperature variation on bound water dehydration and the corresponding thermo-poromechanical strains. The governing equations, including mass balance, momentum ba...

Extensive experimental studies have demonstrated the time-dependent mechanical behaviors of frozen soil. Nonetheless, limited studies are focusing on the constitutive modeling of the time-dependent stress–strain behaviors of frozen clay soils at different subzero temperatures. The objective of this study is to numerically investigate the time-depen...

Assessing the stability of toppling failure using numerical methods is crucial for geotechnical engineering. The discrete element method (DEM) can model large deformations, account for block breakage, and simulate the interactions resulting from bond breakage due to exceeding tensile strength. These attributes allow this method to accurately simula...

Previous studies showed that deep geothermal energy can be a promising solution to support Canada's energy transition, which is particularly valuable for remote northern communities. Geological formations containing natural fractures in fault zones of the Canadian Shield prove advantageous for geothermal development from the perspective of permeabi...

Frost damage in mid-latitude loess regions is mainly caused by the coupled soil water and heat transfer during freezing-thawing (FT) processes. In this paper, to better understand the thermo-hydraulic (TH) behaviors of seasonally frozen loess, field monitoring and assessment were performed on the Loess Plateau, China with a quasi-distributed opto-e...

Deformation monitoring of frozen soil is essential to prevent ground settlement problems and geological disasters in cold regions. Fiber optic sensing offers an effective tool for this purpose. However, the interfacial behavior of fiber optic strain sensing cables embedded in frozen soil remains elusive, leading to uncertainty in monitoring data an...

Residual friction angles of clay soils are commonly determined by laboratory tests, which are time-consuming and costly. It is more desirable to find practical means of estimating the residual strength of soils. Previous researchers attempted to correlate the soil residual strength with clay fraction or Atterberg limits using empirical equations. A...

Harsh environments are external conditions that present a heightened or unusual challenge to geotechnical engineering construction, geo-infrastructure operation, and geological disaster prevention. In the context that the construction and excavation activities of geotechnical engineering projects get deeper into the ground and cover a longer geomet...

In preventing and controlling coal–rock dynamic disasters, the damage and fracture characteristics of the loaded coal play an important role. Using the continuous–discontinuous element coupling numerical software and the experimental test results of the acoustic emission (AE) of the loaded coal, the damage and fracture modes as well as the evolutio...

The non-isothermal deformation of soft mudrocks or clay soils is one of the most critical issues in energy and environmental related geotechnics. Clay-related geomaterials hold complex microstructure and mineral composition, which brings difficulty in investigating their thermo-mechanical behaviors. Previous studies pay little attention to the diff...

An accurate characterization of the tensile failure processes of frozen soils under a warming environment is critical for predicting geological disasters such as thawing-induced slumps. In this study, the approaches of rod bar splitting test and double punch test are applied to measure the tensile strength of artificially prepared frozen sandy clay...

Petrochina’s Karamay oilsands reservoir features high in-situ oil viscosity and strong reservoir heterogeneities. Early depletion plan envisioned a cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) process through vertical wells. As CSS efficiency declines due to lack of steam confinement and slow steam chamber growth, vertical-horizonal well steam drive (VHSD) proce...

Ground Source Heat Pumps (GSHPs) are extensively used as a renewable energy technology worldwide. However, the use of GSHPs in cold regions remains challenging. Particularly, for a shallow GSHP system, the cyclic freezing and thawing conditions may cause considerable ground subsidence and have an impact on the stability of infrastructure. Very few...

Mineral fines act a pivotal part in determining the fate and behavior of oil. In this study, the infiltrations of oil emulsion in simulated sediments and natural shoreline sediments were investigated using a fixed bed experiment. Oil infiltration process was simulated based on fixed-bed dispersion model. The role of mineral fines in oil release was...

In situ stress is one of the key engineering parameters that ensures caprock integrity in steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) operations. Massive steam injections during an SAGD operation leads to significant changes in the pore pressure, temperature, stress, and volumetric strain in the rock formations. These changes trigger deformation and str...

Soft mudrocks have low permeability and are mostly treated as sealing geological formations. Clay-rich soft mudrocks are also classified as the transversely isotropic (TI) material due to the intrinsic preferred fabric orientation. The TI elastic properties of soft mudrocks are highly dependent on the containing mineralogical compositions and clay...

Residual friction angles of soils are commonly determined by laboratory tests, which are time-consuming and costly. It is more desirable to find practical means of estimating the residual strength of soils in the slip zones. Previous researchers attempted to correlate the soil residual strength with clay fraction or Atterberg limits using empirical...

Seepage-induced engineering geology disasters such as sinkholes, foundation pits, and road collapses have resulted in massive economic losses and serious casualties in recent decades, with a major mechanism involved being sand internal erosion. In this research, a novel flexible-wall triaxial test apparatus is developed based on the conventional tr...

Xinjiang oil field is at the heart of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and special technologies like hydraulic fracturing treatments and thermally enhanced oil recovery technology were applied for unconventional petroleum productions in the Xinjiang oil field. Geomechanics is particularly important in the petroleum productions in these unconvent...

It has been held that seasonal energy storage will be a strategic technology to increase energy and food security in the off-grid communities of circum-arctic countries. Using borehole thermal energy storage (BTES) has recently become a considerable method for a potential renewable source of energy. However, the effect of thermal energy storage may...

Soil-rock mixtures (S-RMs) are highly heterogeneous media which are frequently encountered in geotechnical engineering. The stiffness properties of the system may differ because of the variations in the volume ratio of rock to soil. An Accurate prediction of the stiffness properties of such heterogenous media is required to determine the stress dis...

The deeply buried petroleum reservoirs are usually associated with fault zones resulting from substantial tectonic activities. Thus, the issue of wellbore stability is particularly important since these natural fractures are quite abundant in fault zones. In this study, we focus on the wellbore stability of a deeply buried petroleum well located in...

PetroChina’s Karamay heavy oil reservoirs mostly comprise Jurassic deposits of braided fluvial facies that have a low porosity, extremely high bitumen viscosity, and strong heterogeneities within the reservoir. Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) dilation start-up has been proven to be an efficient reservoir geomechanical stimulation method as i...

Pipeline uplift resistance plays an essential role in the design of buried pipelines in permafrost regions or artificially frozen ground. The uplift resistance of a frozen soil is dependent on the soil’s mechanical properties, which are needed to characterize plastic zones in the frozen soil that surrounds pipes. Owing to the presence of unfrozen w...

The rate-dependent uniaxial compressive behavior of frozen clay soil is strongly affected by its minerals, void ratio, stress history, and pore fluid salinity. Previous studies show that an extremely low deformation rate applied on a clay soil tends to result in a lower bound compressive strength. However, the lower bound stress-strain behavior of...

Steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) methods have been widely applied in oil-sands exploitation globally. SAGD processes are effective only after thermal and hydraulic communication between the injector and producer has been established during the start-up operation of the well pair. The geomechanical SAGD dilation startup has been considered a p...

Massive hydraulic fracturing treatments have been used to produce hydrocarbons from tight glutenite oil reservoirs through both vertical and horizontal wells. Some tight glutenite reservoirs are rich in laumontite. Field experiences indicate that the performance of hydraulically fractured wells on this type of laumontite-rich tight glutenite reserv...

Deep geothermal engineering is usually involved in fractured reservoirs with high permeability and boreholes are usually inclined to promote thermal production. Wellbore stability is particularly important in such fractured porous media. In this paper, dual-porosity and dual-permeability theories of poromechanics are employed to study the stability...

This paper evaluates the weathering behavior and weathering degree of basalt from the Wudalianchi UNESCO Global Geopark in the northeast of China. The geopark possesses the most typical and perfect geoheritage examples of a modern volcanic eruption activities in China. Laboratory experiments were conducted on basalt samples to simulate basalt's wea...

Beijing marble has been used as a construction material for cultural heritage sites in Beijing area, China. The Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, and the Thirteen Ming Tombs are classified as UNESCO World Heritage sites. In this paper, detailed experimental and analytical investigations of two representative sub-types of Beij...

The design of buried pipelines in permafrost regions or artificially frozen grounds requires knowledge of the uplift resistance. The uplift resistance of frozen soil is dependent on soil mechanical properties such as tensile strength, shear strength, and deformation modulus, and those properties are critical for characterizing the plastic yielding...

Under a high heating rate, thermally induced pore pressure is readily developed in low-permeability soft mudrocks, such as clay shale. Thermally induced pore pressure may lead to tensile fracturing in soft mudrocks and pose severe issues for thermal projects that include thermal heavy oil recovery and radioactive waste disposal. This article presen...

Thermally induced deterioration behaviour can cause severe weathering in marbles. Most previous studies focus on the deterioration behaviour of calcitic marbles. Relevant studies of dolomitic marbles are generally carried out under a ‘high temperature and low cycling times' condition. Little attention is focused on the deterioration behaviour in do...

Thermal processes have been widely used to recover heavy oil from oil-sands reservoirs, where the overburden shale undergoes cyclic heating and cooling processes. During thermal operations, thermally induced pore pressure can be developed in the shale formation around a thermal well and thermal pore pressure may lead to plastic yielding in the shal...

This paper quantifies the effects of clay fraction and fabric on the permeability of soft mudrocks with emphasis on micro-level mechanisms. Soft mudrocks are treated as a mixture composing the non-clay minerals and the clay-water composite as two constituents. A simplified approach to estimate the fabric orientation distribution of soft mudrocks ba...

We have quantified the effects of clay fraction and fabric on the static elastic properties of soft mudrocks with emphasis on microlevel mechanisms. Soft mudrocks are treated as a mixture of nonclay minerals and clay-water composites. We have devised a simplified approach to estimate the fabric orientation distribution of soft mudrocks based on mea...

The clay shale is subjected to high pressures up to 10 MPa and high temperatures up to 300 °C during the recovery process. Very few experimental researches have been conducted to investigate the thermal response of clay shale under such environment. In this paper, the thermal responses of clay shale under different heating rate conditions are inves...

Due to their low permeability, soft mudrocks often serve as geological seals for thermal recovery and nuclear waste disposal projects which are accompanied by thermal-hydro-mechanical (THM) coupled processes. The studies on the temperature, pore pressure, strain and stress developments in soft mudrock formations are the fundamentals of evaluating t...

During steam-based-oil-recovery processes (e.g., cyclic steam stimulation and steam-assisted gravity drainage), heat is transmitted from wellbore and reservoir to surrounding formations. The thermally induced deformation in shale can affect wellbore integrity and caprock integrity. In this paper, a compositional thermal strain model was proposed to...

In thermal enhanced oil recovery process, the clay shale formations above the oil sands reservoirs may be subjected to high pressures up to 10MPa and high temperatures up to 300°C. The responses of the clay shale are very critical for designing or operations of thermal recovery processes. Maintaining wellbore and caprock integrities prevents incide...

Geomechancial properties of shale are essential to drilling operation and well design for thermal enhanced oil recovery. In this research, well logging and laboratory testing data are integrated to characterize the geomechanial properties of Colorado shale in Cold Lake area, Alberta, Canada. Density and sonic logs were applied to estimate the dynam...

During thermal enhanced oil recovery processes such as Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) and Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), heat is transferred from the wellbore and reservoir to the surrounding formation. The thermally induced deformation in shale can pose an impact on casing and caprock integrity. In this research, thermally induced deforma...

The geological environment of the section from Dalian to Yingkou in Dalian LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) project is much more complex than that of others. Various geological hazards developed and caused severe threat to the construction of pipeline projects and safety operation. Closer analysis to the patterns of the geological hazard, development ch...