People

Dr. Mariana Carrasco-Teja received her PhD from the Mathematics Department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) (Vancouver, BC).  Her dissertation involved modeling and simulating the primary cementing of oil and gas wells, a crucial step to ensure a safe and efficient extraction of oil and gas.  After receiving her PhD, she continued her work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Complex Fluids Laboratory in UBC until she moved to Ann Arbor to join the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan. She was named MICDE Assistant Director in July 2015, and MICDE Associate Director in September 2019.

Soheil Akbari research interests include experimental studies in fluid mechanics (utilizing high-speed image processing, LIF, UDV, and PIV techniques), the rheology of thixotropic elasto-visco-plastic materials,  and numerical modeling of complex fluids and soft matter. Currently at UBC, he is focusing on the energy-efficiency analysis of geothermal wells, as well as studying complex fluid and multiphase flows.

Prior to joining UBC, he served as a postdoctoral researcher and laboratory manager at the Complex Flows Research Lab within the Chemical Engineering Department at Université Laval. During his time there, he conducted his Ph.D. research on the injection of complex fluids in confined mediums. He holds a Master’s degree in Chemical Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology, and a Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from Petroleum University of Technology.

Hossein Rahmani completed his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering at the Laboratory of Complex Fluids Research (LCFR) at the Université Laval, working on the viscoplastic flow modeling in superhydrophobic channels. He also did his Master’s studies in Mechanical Engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic) with a focus on turbulent flows modeling. He joined the Complex Fluids Group at UBC in January 2024 and since then has been working on modeling of viscoplastic flow networks. He is interested in physics of fluid flows with a focus on non-Newtonian viscoplastic flows and interfacial phenomena. He is passionate about developing mathematical and numerical models to address complex flow systems. During his Ph.D., he studied the complex flows of viscoplastic materials over superhydrophobic surfaces by developing mathematical models, numerical simulations, and conducting stability analyses. As a postdoc at UBC, his research includes study of the viscoplastic flows in porous media through developing network models. Apart from his academic life, he is a music enthusiast who loves playing piano, and a fan of sport activities such as soccer, volleyball, ping pong, hiking etc.

Marzieh joined Complex Fluids group in September 2022. She did her previous studies in Mechanical Engineering at Shiraz University in Iran. Her current research is focused on wall irregularities effects on laminar displacement flows in eccentric annuli. She’s working on both numerical simulations as well as experimental studies of wall irregularities.

Fatemeh joined the Complex Fluids Group in January 2023. She completed her Masters degree at the University of Calgary. She is currently working on the displacement of Herschel-Bulkley fluids. When a viscoplastic fluid displaces another viscoplastic fluid in a narrow space at a high Peclet number, the thickness of a diffusive layer becomes negligible, and the advective dispersion dominates. This is of relevance to the primary cementing of wells, where the in-situ drilling mud must be removed with the cement slurry. The Hele-Shaw approach or 2-dimensional gap-averaged (2DGA) model is commonly applied to model the displacement process in a narrow gap geometry. In this model, a homogenous concentration profile is considered across the gap, leading to the elimination of the advective dispersion. Fatemeh is using a new approach, namely the dispersive two-dimensional gap averaged (D2DGA) model, to capture the advective dispersion happening in a narrow geometry with various gap distances. In particular, she is extending the Newtonian D2DGA model for two viscoplastic fluids.

B.Sc. Biomedical Engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology;
M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering at University of Tehran;
Phone: +16049065880;
E-mail: zahra.rahmanii087@gmail.com

Yosef, currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia, is conducting his research under the guidance of Professor Ian Frigaard, focusing on the displacement of non-Newtonian fluids with yield stress. His Ph.D. research primarily focuses on the experimental investigation of two-phase displacement flows, where one fluid (cement slurry) displaces the other (drilling mud) in the annular gap between the borehole and the casing (steel pipe) located inside a well. The main purpose of this research is to broaden the industry’s perspective on designing effective cementing jobs, which are vital in the construction of oil and gas wells. Both drilling mud and cement slurry are classified as viscoplastic fluids.