Every Thursday at 11:30 am during term time, we host seminars at the Institute. These seminars last for an hour, and lunch is offered afterwards, which gives the opportunity for all in attendance to chat with each other and with the speaker.
Upcoming Seminars
Stephane Popinet, Sorbonne University, Paris
A multilayer model for multiscale flows of thin (and not-so-thin) films
Thursday 16 October 2025, 11:30-12:30
We recently proposed a model able to describe both “thin films” and “thick films”, both in the context of large-scale geophysical flows and down to lubrication scales . In this presentation, I will give an overview of the principal properties of this multilayer, semi-discrete approximation of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations with a free-surface and its theoretical and practical connections with previous classical film models.
Herminio Tasinafo Honorio, Delft University of Technology
Modeling and simulation of salt caverns: from lab to field scale
Thursday 23 October 2025, 11:30-12:30
Underground man-made salt caverns are a proven technology for energy storage, and their usage is expected to increase in the coming years, following the current efforts towards energy transition. Upscaling salt caverns (e.g., systems of caverns) also raises concerns about safety and cavern integrity, which requires a careful lifetime assessment of their mechanical stability. In this context, this presentation examines the mechanical behavior and failure mechanisms of salt rocks, as well as methods for identifying situations that could compromise cavern integrity. The importance of a multiscale approach, spanning from laboratory experiments to field-scale simulations, is also discussed. Without diving into the mathematical details, a physical intuition is provided on how to compose a constitutive model to capture the different deformation mechanisms in salt rocks. Finally, the impact of different constitutive model choices and calibrations is analyzed in the light of numerical simulations.
Jon Salkeld, formerly BP
Special Public Seminar: Challenges of Energy Transition
Tuesday 28 October 2025, 17:00-18:00
Ten years ago the Paris COP conference heralded an exceptional meeting of minds to tackle climate change, backed by science, and soon embraced by industry. Much has been achieved, particularly in electrification through the explosive growth of renewables & EVs. However, the optimism that hit a high water mark perhaps 5 years ago, risks stalling in much of the world as the reality of displacing and decarbonising 600 exajoules per annum becomes clear. The reasons lie in the complex intersection of, inter alia, technology, investment economics, policy, human behaviour and geopolitics. It also reflects society’s wider drift from science based consensus, to tribal polarisation played out for social media. How might we recover momentum, and what can we learn from sectors and countries which are succeeding? What does this mean for companies operating in the energy transition, and how might academia play its part?
Jon has recently left bp, where since 2014 he was at the heart of their transition activities; founding their EV charging business, leading their global academic relationships, and running their external advisory committee for technology. This builds on a career in disruptive business & technology innovation at QinetiQ, ICI and Schlumberger. He will offer a personal perspective based on the highs, lows and learning from a decade at the frontline of humanity’s greatest challenge.
Megan Davies Wykes, University of Cambridge
Particle-driven convection
Thursday 30 October 2025, 11:30-12:30
Particle-driven convection occurs when a dense particle-laden layer settles into a layer of clear fluid. This can drive a variation on the classical Rayleigh-Taylor instability, where particles induce the density difference between the two fluids. Variants of this instability occur in many geophysical flows, such as the undersides of volcanic ash clouds, sediment-laden river outflows, and the dynamics of droplets in clouds. This talk will present some new experimental results of Rayleigh-Taylor instability occurring between a particle-laden and fresh-water layers. I will also present some preliminary results that examine the effect of adding salt to the lower layer. For this second case, the initial stratification is stable, but becomes unstable due to particle settling.
Joe Howe, University of Lincoln
Title to be confirmed
Thursday 06 November 2025, 11:30-12:30
Nico Gray, University of Manchester
Title to be confirmed
Thursday 13 November 2025, 11:30-12:30
Mark Symes, University of Glasgow
Decoupling Strategies in Electrochemical Water Splitting
Thursday 20 November 2025, 11:30-12:30
The storage of renewably-generated energy as hydrogen via the electrolysis of water is a fundamental cornerstone of a sustainable hydrogen economy. Conventional electrolysers usually require stable power inputs in order to operate effectively and safely and so may be unsuited to harnessing renewable power, which is often intermittent and diffuse. Decoupled Electrolysis has the potential to overcome some of the challenges surrounding electrolysis using low and/or sporadic power inputs (especially those related to gas crossover) as the decoupling of the two half reactions of water splitting allows the oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions to be performed at different times, in different places and at rates that are not linked to each other. In this talk, we shall give an overview of decoupled electrolysis using liquid redox mediators.
Stephen Skinner, Imperial College London
Title to be confirmed
Thursday 27 November 2025, 11:30-12:30