Tianjia Huang

Tianjia Huang

Postdoctoral Researcher, Petroleum Engineering

Texas A&M University

Email: huangtj@tamu.edu

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Education

  • Texas A&M University, College Station, USA
    PhD, Petroleum Engineering (08/2020 - 05/2025)
    Advisor: Dr. George Moridis and Dr. Thomas Blasingame
    Dissertation: Parallelization of T+RealGasBrine for coupled processes in brine and real gas mixtures in geologic media, and particle transport extension of T+Hydrate for sand production analysis in gas-producing hydrate deposits
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
    M.Eng, Mechanical Engineering (08/2017 - 08/2020)
    Advisor: Dr. Yu Zhang and Dr. Xiaosen Li
  • University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
    Non-Degree Coursework, Mechanical Engineering (08/2017 - 08/2018)
  • Xian Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
    B.Eng, Building Environmental and Energy Application Engineering (08/2013 - 08/2017)

Research Interests

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at Texas A&M University focused on solving subsurface energy challenges through high-performance computing. My research bridges theoretical numerical modeling and real-world applications for the energy transition. I develop parallelized simulation tools that extend the TOUGH software suite to model thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical (THMC) dynamics. This work supports sustainable technologies including underground hydrogen storage, geologic carbon sequestration, nuclear waste disposal, and geothermal energy. By optimizing these simulations with MPI, I aim to make large-scale, high-fidelity modeling practical for the next generation of energy engineering.

  1. Numerical modeling of coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical (THM) dynamics in subsurface environments
    • Underground hydrogen storage in aquifers and depleted hydrocarbon reservoirs
    • Geologic carbon storage in saline formations and natural gas reservoirs
    • Geologic disposal of spent nuclear fuel
    • Extraction of geologic hydrogen from rocks
  2. Chemical rock-fluid interactions in geothermal systems
    • Mineral scaling and dissolution in enhanced geothermal systems
    • Three-dimensional discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling
    • Sensitivity analysis of reactive transport in fractured geothermal reservoirs
  3. Numerical modeling of particle transport within porous media
    • Sand production modeling in gas hydrate-bearing sediments
    • Particulate flow modeling using the Discrete Element Method (DEM)
  4. High-performance computing for complex simulations in petroleum science
    • Code parallelization using MPI, OpenMPI, and CUDA
    • Parallel performance analysis using the TAU performance system
    • Code development and numerical simulation using TOUGH2, TOUGH+, and TOUGH+FLAC3D

Work Experience

  • Postdoctoral Researcher at Texas A&M University, USA (07/2025 - Present)
    Advisor: Dr. Birol Dindoruk and Dr. Russell Johns
  • Affiliate Student Intern at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA (08/2024 - Present)
    Advisor: Dr. Jonny Rutqvist
  • Graduate Research Assistant at Texas A&M University, USA (08/2021 - Present)
    Advisor: Dr. George Moridis and Dr. Thomas Blasingame
  • Ingenuity Internship at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA (06/2024 - 08/2024)
    Advisor: Dr. Jonny Rutqvist
  • Graduate Teaching Assistant at Texas A&M University, USA (01/2024 - 06/2024)
    Advisor: Dr. Thomas Blasingame
  • Ingenuity Internship at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, USA (06/2023 - 08/2023)
    Advisor: Dr. Jonny Rutqvist
  • Internship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, KSA (06/2022 - 08/2022)
    Advisor: Dr. Bicheng Yan
  • Research Assistant at Peking University, China (09/2020 - 06/2021)
    Advisor: Dr. Ke Xu