2012 Team Energy ‘Simple Concepts’ Contest Winners Announced
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November 27, 2012
This past fall, the PGE department hosted a contest for a simple demonstration of a physical concept relevant to any aspect of flow through subsurface, and mechanics of rocks and soils.
With a total of 13 entries, picking the winners was not easy. The top three prizes went to contestants who scored high on the following criteria:
1. Relevance to subsurface engineering.
2. Simplicity of the idea shown—it is easily understood by the public?
3. Ubiquity— does it use everyday materials?
Bonus points were given for ease and repeatability of the experiments.
In 1st Place, with the most original idea:
Maryam Mirabolghasemi, PGE Graduate Student
“Sweet Fractures: H(on)ydraulic Fracturing”
Description: In this simple concept experiment, the experimenter induces fractures in watermelon by injecting honey into it.
In 2nd Place, with the most engaging experiment (students were directly involved in a competition):
Ayaz Mehmani, PGE Graduate Student
“Grain Packing”
Description: Porosity does not depend on grain size when the grains are all spheres of equal size. A larger grain size distribution equates to less porosity. This occurs because the smaller grains fit in-between the larger grains.
In 3rd Place:
Omar El-Batouty, PGE Senior
“Gas/Liquid Separation and Artificial Lift”
Description: These are simple ways to demonstrate simple petroleum reservoir and production engineering concepts. One concept serves to show gas/liquid separation in primary recovery, the other serves to show a simple concept for artificial lift.
All experiments will be shown at Explore UT in March 2013, but you are welcome to try these simple concepts out for yourself! Visit the Team Energy website for more information.
We are looking forward to seeing YOUR submission next year!
Maša Prodanović
Assistant Professor, PGE
