Dr Domenico Bau
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Senior Lecturer
+44 114 222 0253
Full contact details
Department of Civil and Structural Engineering
Room F115
Sir Frederick Mappin Building (Broad Lane Building)
Mappin Street
Sheffield
S1 3JD
- Profile
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My research helps to prevent water pollution and protect us from contaminants
Dr Domenico Bau
Domenico’s research explores computational methods of modelling the movement of fluids in the subsurface, such as groundwater, oil and gas, contaminant transport (including chemicals within fluids), and the mechanics of soil and fluid formations.
By understanding the characterisation of the area below the surface of the earth, its structure and how it behaves, his work can help prevent water pollution, protect us from contaminants, and reduce uncertainty and risk in the subsurface management.
Domenico has an undergraduate degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Padua, Italy, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Michigan Technological University, USA. For his undergraduate and graduate studies, he developed numerical models to assess the environmental impact associated with the development of gas reservoirs and aquifers, and he designed remediation systems for the cleanup of contaminated groundwater plumes.
In his academic career, he has led research projects focusing on the design of systems for carbon geological storage, management of water supply from integrated aquifer-catchment systems, and characterisation of geomechanical parameters of gas reservoirs using land-surface deformation data.
Domenico joined the Department in 2014. His current research concentrates on subsurface hydrology, with a particular focus on: the development and use of computer models to simulate groundwater flow and reactive contaminant transport, as well as deformation in geologic formations due to fluid extraction.
He also focuses on the development of computational methods for characterising hydrogeological properties using field observations.
- Publications
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Books
- Stochastic Analysis of the Impacts of Rainfall on Groundwater Recharge. VDM Verlag.
Journal articles
- Shallow-Flow Velocity Predictions Using Discontinuous Galerkin Solutions. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 149(5).
- Land subsidence surrogate models for normally consolidated sedimentary basins. Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 100297-100297.
- Well-resolved velocity fields using discontinuous Galerkin shallow water
solutions. View this article in WRRO
- Second-order discontinuous Galerkin flood model: comparison with industry-standard finite volume models. Journal of Hydrology, 125924-125924. View this article in WRRO
- (Multi)wavelets increase both accuracy and efficiency of standard Godunov-type hydrodynamic models. Advances in Water Resources, 129, 31-55. View this article in WRRO
- Discontinuous Galerkin formulation for 2D hydrodynamic modelling: trade-offs between theoretical complexity and practical convenience. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 342, 710-741. View this article in WRRO
- Application of Binary Permeability Fields for the Study of CO2 Leakage from Geological Carbon Storage in Saline Aquifers of the Michigan Basin. Mathematical Geosciences, 50(5), 525-547. View this article in WRRO
- Numerical Validation of Chemical Compositional Model for Wettability Alteration Processes. Open Engineering, 7(1). View this article in WRRO
- Assimilation of historical head data to estimate spatial distributions of stream bed and aquifer hydraulic conductivity fields. Hydrological Processes, 31(7), 1527-1538. View this article in WRRO
- Testing a data assimilation approach to reduce geomechanical uncertainties in modelling land subsidence. Environmental Geotechnics, 3(6), 386-396. View this article in WRRO
- On the importance of the heterogeneity assumption in the characterization of reservoir geomechanical properties. Geophysical Journal International, 207(1), 47-58. View this article in WRRO
- Data assimilation of surface displacements to improve geomechanical parameters of gas storage reservoirs. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 121(3), 1441-1461.
- Detection of potential leakage pathways from geological carbon storage by fluid pressure data assimilation. Advances in Water Resources, 86, 366-384.
- Estimate of a spatially variable reservoir compressibility by assimilation of ground surface displacement data. Proceedings of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, 372, 351-356. View this article in WRRO
- Stochastic injection-strategy optimization for the preliminary assessment of candidate geological storage sites. Hydrogeology Journal, 23(6), 1229-1245. View this article in WRRO
- Stochastic and global sensitivity analyses of uncertain parameters affecting the safety of geological carbon storage in saline aquifers of the Michigan Basin. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 37, 99-214. View this article in WRRO
- An iterative global pressure solution for the semi-analytical simulation of geological carbon sequestration. Computational Geosciences, 19(4), 781-789. View this article in WRRO
- Stochastic and global sensitivity analyses of uncertain parameters affecting the safety of geological carbon storage in saline aquifers of the Michigan Basin. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 37, 99-114. View this article in WRRO
- Ensemble smoothing of land subsidence measurements for reservoir geomechanical characterization. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 39, 207-228. View this article in WRRO
- Estimation of heterogeneous aquifer parameters using centralized and decentralized fusion of hydraulic tomography data from multiple pumping tests. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 11(4), 4163-4208.
- Estimation of heterogeneous aquifer parameters using centralized and decentralized fusion of hydraulic tomography data. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 18, 3207-3223. View this article in WRRO
- Ensemble Kalman filter versus ensemble smoother for assessing hydraulic conductivity via tracer test data assimilation. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 17(4), 1517-1531.
- Multiobjective design of aquifer monitoring networks for optimal spatial prediction and geostatistical parameter estimation. Water Resources Research, 49(6), 3670-3684.
- Estimating spatially-variable rate constants of denitrification in irrigated agricultural groundwater systems using an Ensemble Smoother. Journal of Hydrology, 468-469, 188-202.
- Planning of Groundwater Supply Systems Subject to Uncertainty Using Stochastic Flow Reduced Models and Multi-Objective Evolutionary Optimization. Water Resources Management, 26(9), 2513-2536.
- Estimating geostatistical parameters and spatially-variable hydraulic conductivity within a catchment system using an ensemble smoother. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 16(2), 287-304.
- Multi-objective optimization for the design of groundwater supply systems under uncertain parameter distribution. Pacific Journal of Optimization, 7(3), 407-424.
- Estimating spatially-variable first-order rate constants in groundwater reactive transport systems. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 122(1-4), 104-121.
- Anthropogenic Venice uplift by seawater pumping into a heterogeneous aquifer system. Water Resources Research, 46(11).
- Ensemble smoother assimilation of hydraulic head and return flow data to estimate hydraulic conductivity distribution. Water Resources Research, 46(12).
- Optimal design of pump-and-treat systems under uncertain hydraulic conductivity and plume distribution. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, 100(1-2), 30-46.
- Data-worth analysis for multiobjective optimal design of pump-and-treat remediation systems. Advances in Water Resources, 30(8), 1815-1830.
- Stochastic management of pump-and-treat strategies using surrogate functions. Advances in Water Resources, 29(12), 1901-1917.
- Stochastic poromechanical modeling of anthropogenic land subsidence. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 43(11-12), 3324-3336.
- Surface Flow Boundary Conditions in Modeling Land Subsidence Due to Fluid Withdrawal. Ground Water, 42(4), 516-525.
- Radioactive Marker Measurements in Heterogeneous Reservoirs: Numerical Study. International Journal of Geomechanics, 4(2), 79-92.
- Analysis of the impact of layered soil heterogeneity on optimal policies for groundwater, remediation, 1159-1170.
- Interpretation of Radioactive Marker Measurements To Evaluate Compaction in the Northern Adriatic Gas Fields. SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 6(06), 401-411.
- Basin-scale compressibility of the northern Adriatic by the radioactive marker technique. Géotechnique, 52(8), 605-616.
- Land surface uplift above compacting overconsolidated reservoirs. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 38(46-47), 8155-8169.
- Land Subsidence Spreading Factor of the Northern Adriatic Gas Fields, Italy. International Journal of Geomechanics, 1(4), 459-475.
- Residual land subsidence near abandoned gas fields raises concern over northern Adriatic coastland. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, 81(22), 245-245.
- Water-gas dynamics and coastal land subsidence over Chioggia Mare field, northern Adriatic Sea. Hydrogeology Journal, 8(5), 462-479.
- Waterdrive dynamics and enhanced land subsidence over productive gas fields: Application to Dosso degli Angeli reservoir, Ravenna, Italy.
- Importance of poroelastic coupling in dynamically active aquifers of the Po River Basin, Italy. Water Resources Research, 36(9), 2443-2459.
- Residual Land Subsidence Over Depleted Gas Fields in the Northern Adriatic Basin. Environmental & Engineering Geoscience, V(4), 389-405.
- Residual land subsidence over depleted gas fields in the northern adriatic basin. ENVIRONMENTAL & ENGINEERING GEOSCIENCE, 5(4), 389-405.
- Enhancing in situ biodegradation in groundwater using pump and treat remediation: a proof of concept and modelling analysis of controlling variables. Environmental Science and Pollution Research.
- Ensemble Kalman filter versus ensemble smoother for assessing hydraulic conductivity via tracer test data assimilation. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 9(11), 13083-13115.
Chapters
- Management of Aquifer Systems Connected to Streams Using Semi-Analytical Models, Advances in Water Resources Management (pp. 111-246). Springer International Publishing
Conference proceedings papers
- Ensemble smoothing of land displacements and deep compaction for the geomechanical characterization of hydrocarbon reservoirs. ISRM International Symposium - EUROCK 2016 (pp 1171-1176)
- Ensemble smoothing of land displacements and deep compaction for the geomechanical characterization of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering: From the Past to the Future
- Data assimilation of SAR-based measurements for geomechanical characterization (pp 1229-1234)
- Geomechanical Characterization of Storage Reservoirs by Assimilation of Surface Displacements. Fourth EAGE CO2 Geological Storage Workshop, 22 April 2014 - 24 April 2014.
- INVERSE MODELLING OF HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY DISTRIBUTION BY ASSIMILATION OF RETURN FLOW DATA. PROCEEDINGS OF THE XVIII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL METHODS IN WATER RESOURCES (CMWR 2010) (pp 879-886)
- STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS OF THE VENICE UPLIFT DUE TO SEAWATER INJECTION INTO DEEP AQUIFERS. PROCEEDINGS OF THE XVIII INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COMPUTATIONAL METHODS IN WATER RESOURCES (CMWR 2010) (pp 534-541)
- Under-relaxed iterations for coupled finite element solution to gas and water dynamics in depleted reservoirs. Computational methods in water resources - Volume 1 - Computational methods for subsurface flow and transport (pp 195-200)
Other
- A Model for Fast Estimation of Seawater Intrusion in Coastal Aquifers: Simulating Flow and Land Subsidence.
- Efficient surrogate-based multi-objective optimisation for sustainable island groundwater management.
- Seawater Intrusion Mechanisms in Heterogeneous Coastal Aquifers Subject to Pumping.
Preprints
- Shallow-flow velocity predictions using discontinuous Galerkin solutions, arXiv.
- Second-order discontinuous Galerkin flood model: comparison with
industry-standard finite volume models, arXiv.
- Stochastic Analysis of the Impacts of Rainfall on Groundwater Recharge. VDM Verlag.
- Research group
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Geotechnical Engineering
Groundwater Protection and Restoration
- Grants
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This project is a collaboration between the Universities of Sheffield (UK), Texas at El Paso (USA), and South Florida (USA), and addresses the sustainable management of water resources in coastal regions with diverse geological, hydro-technical and governance settings under treats of climate change, sea level rise (SLR) and seawater intrusion (SWI).
- PhD opportunities
Developing Efficient Model Surrogates For Water Resources And Subsurface Contaminant Management
The goal of this project is to investigate the use of model emulators (surrogates), that is, reduced versions of the full numerical model that require a fraction of its computational cost. Once developed, surrogates can be used to narrow down uncertainties affecting the full model response and derive better calibrated models in relation to the limited knowledge available.
Geomechanical Inverse Modelling And Uncertainty Quantification
The aim of this project is is to develop novel model surrogate techniques within data assimilation frameworks for estimation of the parameters of geomechanical simulators. The focus will be on data-driven surrogates, such as Gaussian process estimators, where the dimension of the parameter space is reduced by projecting it into a smaller subspace using principal component methods, such as the Karhunen-Loeve expansion.
Understanding And Quantifying The Risk Associated With Subsurface Fluid Injection
In this project, the students will learn to use either analytical or semi-analytical flow models, developed to simulate the spatio-temporal distribution of fluid ovepressure induced by CGS and the fluid leakage.
If you're interested in one of these projects, or would like to self-propose a project, please contact Domenico at the above email. Current PhD opportunities in the department can be viewed here.