The GeoEnergy Materials & Flow Research Lab (GEM-Flow) was founded by Dr. Yihuai Zhang at the University of Glasgow. GEM-Flow is dedicated to advancing fundamental and applied understanding of how fluids move through complex materials, and how these processes can be harnessed to enable sustainable geo-energy systems and resilient infrastructure on Earth and beyond.

The lab’s mission is to bridge pore-scale physics and real-world engineering applications by integrating advanced imaging, high-pressure experimentation, AI-assisted analysis, and multi-scale numerical modelling. Our research addresses critical challenges in the global energy transition, including carbon dioxide and hydrogen geological storage, geothermal energy, subsurface energy storage, and the development of planetary construction materials for lunar and Martian environments.

GEM-Flow is committed to excellence, openness, and collaboration, fostering a diverse, inclusive, and international research culture. Through close partnerships with national facilities, academia, and industry, the lab aims to deliver scientific insight, technological innovation, and real-world impact for a net-zero and multi-planetary future.

Goodarzi, S., Zhang, Y., Foroughi, S., Bijeljic, B. and Blunt, M.J., 2024. Trapping, hysteresis and Ostwald ripening in hydrogen storage: A pore-scale imaging study. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 56, pp.1139-1151.

Zhang, H., Zhang, Y., Al Kobaisi, M., Iglauer, S. and Arif, M., 2024. Effect of cyclic hysteretic multiphase flow on underground hydrogen storage: A numerical investigation. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 49, pp.336-350.

Moghadasi, R., Goodarzi, S., Zhang, Y., Bijeljic, B., Blunt, M.J. and Niemi, A., 2023. Pore-scale characterization of residual gas remobilization in CO2 geological storage. Advances in Water Resources, 179, p.104499.

Zhang, Y., Bijeljic, B., Gao, Y., Goodarzi, S., Foroughi, S. and Blunt, M.J., 2023. Pore‐scale observations of hydrogen trapping and migration in porous rock: Demonstrating the effect of Ostwald ripening. Geophysical Research Letters, 50(7), p.e2022GL102383.

Jing, Y., Rabbani, A., Armstrong, R.T., Wang, J., Zhang, Y. and Mostaghimi, P., 2022. An image-based coal network model for simulating hydro-mechanical gas flow in coal: An application to carbon dioxide geo-sequestration. Journal of Cleaner Production, 379, p.134647.