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TCGA Overview

Three Cliffs Geomechanical Analysis (TCGA) was formed by Tony Crook in 2008 with the primary motivation of research and development of new techniques for large-scale finite element modelling of multi-field/multi-scale coupled problems with complex physics. 

The early years focused on development of a parallel computational framework based on modern software design paradigm that would accommodate the specialised needs of modelling coupled thermo-hydro-geomechanical evolution over geological timeframes, with all the complexities resulting from

Geometry changes due to finite strain and the localisation of deformation into faults and fractures

Constitutive behaviour evolving from depositional sediment to cemented rock via mechanical and chemically induced processes

Overpressure generation and fluid migration through the evolving system

Very large-scale models necessitating large element counts (10s of million) and requiring efficient solution of parallel architecture

The early years focused on development of a parallel computational framework (ParaGeo) based on modern software design paradigms that accommodates the specialised needs of modelling coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) evolution over geological timeframes, with all the complexities resulting from:

  • Geometry changes due to finite strain and the localisation of deformation into faults and fractures​

  • Constitutive behaviour evolving from depositional sediment to cemented rock via mechanical and chemically induced processes

  • Overpressure generation and fluid migration through the evolving system

  • Very large-scale models necessitating large element counts (10s of million) and requiring efficient solution on parallel architecture

The targeted R&D is at the forefront of the current state-of-the-art, and although a private limited company funded directly by industrial sponsors, TCGA has strong collaborations with several academic research institutions (i.e. sponsored Post-Doc and Ph.D. projects with Swansea University, Shape project with Leeds, Bristol, Liverpool and Newcastle Universities, GeoPOP3 and GeoPOP4 projects with Newcastle and Durham Universities). 

More recently, focus has switched to enriching this framework with functionality widening the range of applicability of ParaGeo, including current-day MEM analysis and coupled geomechanical-reservoir flow analysis. This functionality includes importing data from 3rd party sources (Abaqus, Eclipse, Zmap, FracMan, etc.), specialised procedures for coupled geomechanical restoration/forward analysis, an inverse analysis module for automated optimisation and history matching, homogenisation and upscaling. This research is ongoing and progressing rapidly thanks to the help and investment of our sponsors and the contributions of our University collaborators. 

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