Mesoscale Physics
Dept Applied Mathematics, RSPE
Understanding and predicting properties of complex materials via imaging,
visualisation, theoretical and computational modelling.
 A decade of collaborative work
with 30 researchers
 Chemists, physicists,
mathematicians and engineers
 motivation: to study flow in
porous and granular materials
 Also: bone mineralisation,
composites structure, paper/ink
interactions, biological tissue
structure…..
 The Consortium has included; Saudi Aramco, ExxonMobil, Shell, Chevron, BP,
Total, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Abu Dhabi Onshore, Maersk, Petronas,
PetroBras, Japan Oil & Gas, ONGC (India), BHP, BG
ANU/UNSW spun-out company, Digitalcore, to provide a service for reservoir
evaluation.
The group aims to;
 start a consortium in the mining sector
 make software available to publicly funded research
 develop a JV to develop scanning technology
The X-ray micro-Tomography Facility
Micro-focus
X-ray source
Rock
specimen
Double helical trajectory (patented) means extremely
high fidelity data from micron to centimetre scale for
arbitrarily long samples. First of it’s kind.
We must manage our hydrocarbon resources efficiently
Physical Parameters Reservoir Descriptors
Electrical Conductivity Oil Saturation
Dielectric Permittivity
Water Saturation
Neutron
Gas Saturation
Borehole Pressure Porosity
Sound Velocity
Permeability
NMR Response
Gamma-ray x-section
Capillary Pressure
Instead of a single
data point we can
extract 100’s from
How does fluid permeability correlate to other observables ?
a single core
1 mm3 sandstone showing simulated flow lines
bacterium
1 micron
encapsulates
Red blood cell
Technetium is
shrink-wrapped
in graphite
Size of gGlobulin
protein
Transmission Electron Micrograph
of FibrinLite particle cluster compared
with a common blood protein
The chief advantage of a radio-particle over a
radio-labelled drug is huge increase in specific
acitivity. A drug might have only one
radioactive atom per molecule – a radioparticle
might have 10,000 to a million !
Transmission Electron Micrograph
of FibrinLite
Artist’s impression
Sirtex Pty Ltd is an Australian company with a rapidly growing
international business in the Liver Therapy (See October 2011
QANTAS In-Flight magazine).
Their SIR-Spheres are delivered directly into the diseased liver where
the 30 micron beads lodge and ablate the tumours using the isotope
Yttrium-90. This product is in wide spread use around the world for
the palliative treatment of secondary liver carcinoma.
The Department of Applied Mathematics has teamed up with Sirtex to
develop new nanoparticle-based therapies with improved diagnostic
imaging capabilities. Several clinical trials are planned for the new
year.
Human hair
SIR-Sphere
Red blood cell
.
bacterium FibrinLite
CT image of rabbit liver showing the distribution of SIR-Spheres.