Philipp Blum

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology | KIT · Institute of Applied Geosciences

Subsurface hydraulic and geomechanical properties can be estimated from well water level responses to Earth and atmospheric tides. However, the limited availability of analytical solutions restricts the applicability of this approach to realistic field conditions. We present a new and rigorous analytical solution for modeling flow between a subsurf...

The permeability of rock fractures is a crucial parameter for flow processes in the subsurface. In the last decades different methods were developed to investigate on permeability in fractures, such as flow through experiments, numerical flow simulations or empirical equations. In recent years, the topological method persistent homology was also us...

Built-up areas are known to heavily impact the thermal regime of the shallow subsurface. In many cities, the answer to densification is to increase the height and depth of buildings, which leads to a steady growth in the number of underground car parks. These underground car parks are heated by waste heat from car engines and are typically several...

Subsurface hydraulic and geomechanical properties can be estimated from well water level responses to Earth and atmospheric tides. However, the limited availability of analytical solutions restricts the applicability of this approach to realistic field conditions. We present a new and rigorous analytical solution for modelling flow between a subsur...

In recent decades, the global cooling demand has significantly increased and is expected to grow even further in the future. However, knowledge regarding the spatial distribution of cooling demand is sparse. Most existing studies are based on statistical modelling, which lack in small-scale details and cannot accurately identify individual large co...

Sustainable and climate-friendly space heating and cooling is of great importance for the energy transition. Compared to conventional energy sources, Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) systems can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from space heating and cooling. Hence, the objective of this study is to quantify the technical potentia...

The aim of this study was to perform a phytoscreening of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at a contaminated site in Germany, to investigate the applicability of this technique for PFAS contaminations. Foliage of three species, namely, white willow (Salix alba L.), black poplar (Populus nigra L.), and black alder (Alnus glutinosa L.), were...

There is a current need for developing improved synthetic porous materials for better constraining the dynamic and coupled processes relevant to the geotechnical use of underground reservoirs. In this study, a low temperature preparation method for making synthetic rocks is presented that uses a geopolymer binder cured at 80 °C based on alkali-acti...

Groundwater is an important global resource, providing water for irrigation, industry, geothermal uses, and potable water all over the world. Moreover, groundwater contains the world’s largest terrestrial freshwater biome. Groundwater faunal communities undertake important ecosystem services including the provision of clean water. Despite this, inv...

More than 30% of Germany’s final energy consumption currently results from thermal energy for heating and cooling in the building sector. One possibility to achieve significant greenhouse gas emission savings in space heating and cooling is the application of aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) systems. Hence, this study maps the spatial technica...

Harmonic Earth tide components in well water levels have been used to estimate hydraulic and geomechanical subsurface properties. However, the robustness of various methods based on analytical solutions has not been established. First, we review the theory and examine the latest analytical solution used to relate well water levels to Earth tides. S...

Aquifers contain the largest store of unfrozen freshwater, making groundwater critical for life on Earth. Groundwater temperatures infl uence stream thermal regimes, groundwater-dependent ecosystems, aquatic biogeochemical processes, water quality, and the geothermal potential. Yet little is known about how groundwater responds to surface warming a...

Soft rocks can weather and lose their structure within a short time due to drying out and rewetting. Thus they are very sensitive to weathering. Since these rocks are often found in the shallow subsurface, they are of great practical relevance in the foundation of constructions. The rock properties change during the weathering process. Particularly...

Meeting the rising energy demands of cities is a global challenge. Exploitation of the additional heat in the subsurface associated with the subsurface urban heat island (SUHI) has been proposed to address the heating demands. For the sustainable use of this heat it is crucial to understand how SUHIs evolve. To date, there have been no comprehensiv...

Zusammenfassung Mit zunehmender Anzahl an Grundwasserwärmepumpenanlagen steigt auch das Potenzial an Nutzungsüberlagerungen. Im Rahmen des wasserrechtlichen Genehmigungsverfahrens ist es daher erforderlich, u. a. die von einer Anlage ausgehenden Temperaturfahnen im Grundwasser zu berechnen. In Baden-Württemberg wurde als Erweiterung des für Anlagen...

Calcite is a highly abundant mineral in the Earth's crust and occurs as a cement phase in numerous siliciclastic sediments, where it often represents the most reactive component when a fluid percolates through the rock. Hence, the objective of this study is to derive calcite dissolution rates on different scales in a reservoir sandstone using miner...

Tunnel geothermal systems hold the potential to promote decarbonization of the building heating and cooling sector. They can be integrated into existing infrastructure, resulting in low additional costs. In addition, these systems have large contact areas with the ground leading to larger heat fluxes. However, tunnel geothermics is relatively unkno...

In 1980, the Federal Mining Act was introduced to govern the use of the German subsurface. By paying royalties, companies can get permission to exploit resources. Yet, there is no official report breaking down the payments for hydrocarbons and lignite, in particular regarding the effectively levied fees. Hence, the objective of this study is to pro...

Global climate change and growing research activities lead to increasing cooling demands and related supply costs at universities, while at the same time ambitious goals towards carbon neutral campuses are established. Hence, universities are facing the challenge to develop large scale future-proof cooling solutions. This also applies to the Campus...

Zusammenfassung Ziel dieser Studie ist die Bestimmung der hydraulischen Durchlässigkeiten eines Sandsteins unter Berücksichtigung der Gesteinsmatrix sowie einer Einzelkluft unter Verwendung eines tragbaren Luftpermeameters. Hierfür wurde der fluviatil-äolisch abgelagerte Bebertaler Sandstein des Oberen Rotliegenden in Sachsen-Anhalt untersucht. Es...

The objective of the current study is to utilize an innovative method called “change probabilities” for describing fracture roughness. In order to detect and visualize anisotropy of rock joint surfaces, the roughness of one-dimensional profiles taken in different directions is quantified. The central quantifiers, change probabilities, are based on...

The objective of the current study is to utilize an innovative method called 'change probabilities' for describing fracture roughness. In order to detect and visualize anisotropy of rock joint surfaces, the roughness of one-dimensional profiles taken in different directions is quantified. The central quantifiers, 'change probabilities', are based o...

Realistic modelling of tightly coupled hydro-geomechanical processes is relevant for the assessment of many hydrological and geotechnical applications. Such processes occur in geologic formations and are influenced by natural heterogeneity. Current numerical libraries offer capabilities and physics couplings that have proven to be valuable in many...

The objective of the present study is to investigate wellbore cement alteration due to CO2-rich brine interaction under reservoir conditions. Hence, an experiment made with a unique large-scale autoclave system has been numerically simulated. Results from that experiment showed an alteration zone of 3 mm thickness at the bottom of the cemented casi...

Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES) is an open-loop geothermal system allowing long-term storage of thermal energy in groundwater. It is a promising technology for environmentally friendly energy generation that can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the literature, there are few studies on the greenhouse gas emissions caused by ATES syste...

Despite the widespread application of landslide susceptibility analyses, there is hardly any information about whether or not the occurrence of recent landslide events was correctly predicted by the relevant susceptibility maps. Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate four landslide susceptibility maps retrospectively in a landslide-prone...

Construction of cavities in the subsurface is always accompanied by excavation damage. Especially in the context of deep geological nuclear waste disposal, the evolving excavation damaged zone (EDZ) in the near field of emplacement tunnels is of utmost importance concerning safety aspects. As the EDZ differs from the intact host rock due to enhance...

Continuous river incisions, heavy precipitation events, reservoir water-level fluctuations, and changes in groundwater flow are the main driving factors of extensive landslide activities in the Three Gorges area of the Yangtze River in China. Although the triggers for these major landslide events can be technically detected, predicting and mitigati...

In Germany, 70 % of the drinking water demand is met by groundwater, for which the quality is the product of multiple physical–chemical and biological processes. As healthy groundwater ecosystems help to provide clean drinking water, it is necessary to assess their ecological conditions. This is particularly true for densely populated urban areas,...

Zusammenfassung Der saisonale Versatz von Angebot und Nachfrage im Wärmesektor kann über Speicherlösungen ausgeglichen werden. Für die jahreszeitliche Speicherung von Wärme und Kälte sind Aquiferspeicher (ATES) als vielversprechende Lösung vermehrt in den Fokus gerückt. Mit derzeit jeweils nur einem betriebenen Niedrigtemperatur- (NT) und Hochtempe...

Realistic modelling of tightly coupled hydro-geomechanical processes is relevant for the assessment of many hydrological and geotechnical applications. Such processes occur in geologic formations and are influenced by natural heterogeneity. Current numerical libraries offer capabilities and physics couplings that have proven to be valuable in many...

Cooling supply is expected to be the fastest growing energy consumer of buildings. However, the majority of both comfort and industrial cooling supply is still based on costly and CO2-intensive supply technologies such as compression chillers (CC). At the same time, only sparse information exists on the spatial distribution and installed cooling ca...

Construction of cavities in the subsurface is always accompanied by excavation damage. Especially in the context of deep geological nuclear waste disposal, the evolving excavation damaged zone (EDZ) in the near field of emplacement tunnels is of utmost importance concerning safety aspects. As the EDZ differs from the intact host rock due to enhance...

The reliability of temperature measurements in open and closed geothermal systems is closely related to their design, quality control and performance evaluation. Thus, wireless and miniaturized probes, which provide highly resolved temperature profiles in borehole heat exchangers (BHEs), experience a growing interest in research. To ensure quality...

Thermal use of the shallow subsurface and its aquifers (< 400 m) is steadily increasing. Currently, more than 2800 aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) systems are operating worldwide alongside more than 1.2 million ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems in Europe alone. These rising numbers of shallow geothermal energy (SGE) systems will put addi...

Landslide-induced tsunamis may cause fatalities, damages and financial losses. In the Three Gorges Reservoir Area of China, several large landslides are still unstable and persistently creeping toward the Yangtze River. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of landslide-induced tsunamis in the Three Gorges Reservoir by using a hybrid numerical...

Computer X-ray microtomography (µXCT) represents a powerful tool for investigating the physical properties of porous rocks. While calculated porosities determined by this method typically match experimental measurements, computed permeabilities are often overestimated by more than 1 order of magnitude. This effect increases towards smaller pore siz...

The objective of this study is to estimate hydraulic conductivities and biodegradation rate constants in a coal-tar contaminated aquifer by compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA) and tracer-based (³H³He) groundwater dating (TGD). In two observation wells downgradient from the contaminant source in situ biodegradation of o-xylene, toluene and nap...

Borehole leakage is a common and complex issue. Understanding the fluid flow characteristics of a cemented area inside a borehole is crucial to monitor and quantify the wellbore integrity as well as to find solutions to minimise existing leakages. In order to improve our understanding of the flow behaviour of cemented boreholes, we investigated exp...

The groundwater response to Earth tides and atmospheric pressure changes can be used to understand subsurface processes and estimate hydraulic and hydro-mechanical properties. We develop a generalised frequency domain approach to disentangle the impacts of Earth and atmospheric tides on groundwater level responses. By considering the complex harmon...

Hydraulic fracture apertures predominantly control fluid transport in fractured rock masses. Hence, the objective of the current study is to investigate and compare three different laboratory-scale methods to determine hydraulic apertures in fractured (Fontainebleau and Flechtinger) sandstone samples with negligible matrix permeability. Direct meas...

The storage of heat in aquifers, also referred to as Aquifer Thermal Energy Storage (ATES), bears a high potential to bridge the seasonal gap between periods of highest thermal energy demand and supply. With storage temperatures higher than 50 °C, High-Temperature (HT) ATES is capable to facilitate the integration of (non-)renewable heat sources in...

Decarbonising the heating sector is crucial for reducing CO2 emissions. This is in particular true for Central European cities such as Vienna, where 28% of the total CO2 emissions are caused by the energy supply for buildings. One promising option for environmental friendly heat supply is the use of shallow geothermal energy. To determine whether s...

Groundwater is an important global resource and its sustainable use faces major challenges. New methods and advances in computational science could lead to much improved understanding of groundwater processes and subsurface properties. A closer look at current groundwater monitoring practice reveals the need for updates with a special focus on the...

Computer microtomography (µXCT) represents a powerful tool for investigating the physical properties of porous rocks. While calculated porosities determined by this method typically match experimental measurements, computed permeabilities are often overestimated by more than one order of magnitude. This effect increases towards smaller pore sizes,...

The fluvial-aeolian Upper Rotliegend sandstones from the Bebertal outcrop (Flechtingen High, Germany) are the famous reservoir analog for the deeply buried Upper Rotliegend gas reservoirs of the Southern Permian Basin. While most diagenetic and reservoir quality investigations are conducted on a meter scale, there is an emerging consensus that sign...

The groundwater response to Earth tides and atmospheric pressure changes can be used to understand subsurface processes and estimate hydraulic and hydro-mechanical properties. We develop a generalised frequency domain approach to disentangle the impacts of Earth and atmospheric tides on groundwater level responses. By considering the complex harmon...

Abstract. Hydraulic fracture apertures predominantly control fluid transport in fractured rock masses. Hence, the objective of the current study is to investigate and compare three different laboratory scale methods to determine hydraulic apertures in fractured (Fontainebleau and Flechtinger) sandstone samples with negligible matrix permeability. D...

Abstract. In Germany 70 % of the drinking water demand is met by groundwater, whose quality is the product of manifold physical-chemical and biological cleaning processes. As healthy groundwater ecosystems help to provide clean drinking water, it is necessary to assess the ecological conditions of these ecosystems. This is particularly true for den...

Standard thermal response tests (TRT) are typically carried out to evaluate subsurface thermal parameters for the design and performance evaluation of borehole heat exchangers (BHE). Typical interpretation methods apply analytical or numerical solutions, which assume that the ground is homogeneous, isotropic and infinite. However in reality, the un...

The number of worldwide installed groundwater heat pump (GWHP) systems is approaching one million units. This increase in GWHP systems creates an increasing competition for groundwater use. Thus, we have simulated the long-term thermal impacts of such open-loop geothermal systems with numerical heat transport models, by studying the role of flow an...

Abstract The objective of the present study is to analyse the economic and environmental performance of ATES for a new building complex of the municipal hospital in Karlsruhe, Germany. The studied ATES has a cooling capacity of 3.0 MW and a heating capacity of 1.8 MW. To meet the heating and cooling demand of the studied building, an overall pumpin...

In this study, the historical and technical development and the current status of distributed (DTRT) and enhanced (ETRT) thermal response tests (TRT) are reviewed. The different test setups of these advanced TRT are critically assessed and future research questions are outlined. Advanced TRT use specific temperature measurement techniques for the d...

As groundwater is competitively used for drinking, irrigation, industrial and geothermal applications, the focus on elevated groundwater temperature (GWT) affecting the sustainable use of this resource increases. Hence, in this study GWT anomalies and their heat sources are identified. The anthropogenic heat intensity (AHI), defined as the differen...

Hydraulic head and gradient measurements underpin practically all investigations in hydrogeology. There is sufficient information in the literature to suggest that head measurement errors can impede the reliable detection of flow directions and significantly increase the uncertainty of groundwater flow rate calculations. Yet educational textbooks c...

Raw data to support manuscript figures.

Ground source heat pump (GSHP) systems play a key role in the exploitation of shallow geothermal energy as a renewable energy source. In clay-sulfate rocks, however, rock swelling is a major threat to the success of GSHP projects that may require extensive and costly countermeasures to mitigate the effects. Swelling is in these cases triggered by w...

An increasing awareness of the cost of landslides on the global economy and of the associated loss of human life has led to the development of various global landslide databases. However, these databases typically report landslide events instead of individual landslides, i.e., a group of landslides with a common trigger and reported by media, citiz...