ARMA HFC 2025 Series, Prof. Herbert Einstein, January 23, 2025

Laboratory Experimentation on Hydraulic Fracturing Abstract The seminar will start with a brief review of the history of hydraulic fracturing (HF). It will then describe the equipment used for the laboratory experimentation. Specifically, this equipment makes use of high-speed and high-resolution visual observations together with the recording of acoustic emissions. Results of HF experiments on granite and shale will then be presented, in essence representing the major application areas of HF namely EGS and unconventional gas extraction. Importantly, the visual and AE observation and the granite and shale results will be compared. A few comments on analytical modeling of these processes will conclude the presentation. Biography Herbert H. Einstein is a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, conducting research in rock mechanics, engineering geology, and underground construction, spanning a wide range of studies from field measurements to laboratory experiments to numerical and analytical models. Since 1973, this research work has resulted in thirty-nine Ph.D. dissertations and over three hundred authored and co-authored professional publications on the mechanical properties of soils and rocks; analysis, design, and project management of underground structures; risk analysis of landslides; and probabilistic methods in rock engineering and engineering geology. Professor Einstein teaches courses in rock mechanics, engineering geology, and underground construction at MIT. Herbert Einstein received the 2014 Outstanding Educator Award of the Underground Construction Association of SME, the 2006 Outstanding Contributions to Rock Mechanics Award from the American Rock Mechanics Association and the 1999 Müller Lecture Award from the International Society for Rock Mechanics as well as numerous teaching awards at MIT. He has degrees of Dipl, Bauing. and Sc.D. from ETH-Zürich.