Li LiPhD · Ottawa, Canada
Computational geoscience & engineering

Understanding
what lies
beneath.

I’m Li Li, a subsurface modelling and simulation specialist working at the intersection of geoscience, engineering, and data science. I combine physics-based simulation with data analysis, optimization, and visualization to understand subsurface systems and address practical engineering challenges.

Explore my workAbout me
SUBSURFACE ENGINEERINGMODEL SECTION
SECTION A–ACONCEPTUAL MODELGROUND SURFACEWELL 01WELL 02CAPROCKRESERVOIRBASE LAYERNO-FLOW BOUNDARYxz
Finite-element mesh · Boundary conditionsSection schematic
Focus Subsurface energy & storageApproach Physics-based numerical modellingFoundation PhD, Civil Engineering
Expertise

From physical processes
to useful models.

Connecting geological understanding, numerical methods, data analysis, and practical engineering questions.

Subsurface flow & transport

Modelling fluid migration, pressure response, heat transfer, and solute transport in porous and fractured media for CO₂ storage, groundwater, and other subsurface systems.

Multiphase flowHeat transferGroundwaterFracture transport

Geomechanics

Numerical analysis of rock deformation, stress response, and coupled flow–mechanical behaviour in subsurface systems, including natural gas storage and compressed air energy storage.

FLAC3DRock mechanicsCoupled modelling

Salt caverns

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling of salt dissolution, density-driven flow, and moving boundaries to investigate the evolving geometry of solution-mined caverns.

CFDSalt dissolutionSolution miningCOMSOL

Scientific software & optimization

Computational tools for scientific data analysis, curve fitting, workflow automation, visualization, and optimization of engineering design options.

Scientific computingOptimizationParaView
Selected work

Questions below the surface.

A selection of modelling and research themes. Expand a project to explore its methods.

CO₂ storage / Multiphase flow

Understanding CO₂ storage
from mechanisms to field-scale models

Combining full-scale three-dimensional multiphase flow simulations with an understanding of CO₂ storage mechanisms to investigate plume migration, pressure evolution, and storage performance.

Field-scale simulationMultiphase flowTrapping mechanismsCapacity & optimization
Methods & focus

Physics-based models examine CO₂–brine flow, buoyancy, dissolution, and structural, residual, and solubility trapping. Full-scale simulations support assessment of injection scenarios, plume behaviour, and pressure response. Reduced-dimensional models and multi-well optimization complement this work by exploring storage capacity, injection layouts, and dynamic storage efficiency under pressure and spacing constraints.

Salt caverns / Moving boundaries

Modelling the evolution
of solution-mined caverns

Investigating how dissolution, density-driven flow, and changing boundaries shape cavern development.

SCI-FIECavern geometryFlow coupling
Methods & focus

A moving-boundary modelling approach examines evolving salt surfaces and flow patterns, including the processes that contribute to irregular cavern shapes.

Fracture networks / Transport

Connecting fracture geometry
to flow and transport

Building workflows from curved fracture geometry and network meshing to property mapping and flow visualization.

dfnWorksPFLOTRANAdaptive meshing
Methods & focus

Workflow development connects geometry clipping, intersection-aware meshing, boundary identification, property mapping, and post-processing in ParaView.

Natural gas storage / Geomechanics

Evaluating subsurface
storage behaviour

Using flow and geomechanical models to investigate pressure response and rock behaviour in natural gas storage systems.

TOUGH2FLAC3DPressure response
Methods & focus

Large numerical models support comparisons across injection scenarios and interpretation of pressure behaviour at observation locations.

Scientific software

Tools that support the science.

Software development grows from the practical needs of modelling, data preparation, and interpretation.

SOLUTION MINING & CAVERN EVOLUTION

SCI-FIE

A solution-mining model that investigates salt cavern development through moving boundaries, dissolution, and density-driven flow.

Explore how evolving salt surfaces and internal flow patterns contribute to irregular cavern geometry.

Solution miningMoving boundariesDensity-driven flowCavern geometry
STORAGE CAPACITY & OPTIMIZATION

CO2Cap

A CO₂ storage capacity and injection design tool that uses reduced-dimensional pressure modelling to refine capacity estimates.

Explore the distribution of storage capacity within an area of interest, assess pressure constraints and dynamic storage efficiency, and track well-placement optimization through real-time plots.

CO₂ storage capacityMulti-well optimizationPressure constraints
PLATFORM DEVELOPMENT

GeoPlatform

A geoscientific pre- and post-processing platform in development, with a common data model for mesh topology, properties, persistence, and model exchange.

Mesh & field dataNative persistenceGeneric I/O
DATA WORKFLOWS

GeoForge

A desktop toolkit for curve fitting, data capture, colour-map extraction, table digitization, and unit conversion.

Curve fittingDigitizationScientific desktop tools
Selected publications

Research in leading journals.

Selected papers on subsurface energy storage, cavern development, and coupled numerical modelling.

Journal impact factors shown are those displayed on the linked publisher pages, checked 30 September 2026; they are journal metrics, not article citation counts or publication-year metrics.

All publications on Google Scholar
Research

Engineering questions.
Research depth.

My work connects computational methods with applied questions in subsurface storage and rock engineering.

  • Solution mining & cavern developmentMoving boundaries, dissolution, and density-driven flow.
  • CO₂ storage capacity & injection designReduced-dimensional modelling, pressure constraints, and optimization.
  • Fractured rock flow & transportDiscrete fracture networks, mesh quality, and numerical workflows.
  • Research communicationConference contributions include ROCKENG 2025 and IEC 2026, with a focus on solution-mining research.
About

Li Li, PhD

I’m based in Ottawa, Canada, and work as a numerical and computational geomechanical modeller at Geofirma Engineering Ltd.

My work brings together subsurface physics, numerical simulation, data science, and software development. I develop computational workflows to process scientific datasets, fit models, explore patterns, and visualize results, with optimization methods that help evaluate engineering design options. I’m particularly interested in making complex modelling and data workflows easier to use, inspect, and build upon.

LinkedIn
Education
PhD in Civil Engineering

University of Waterloo

Working across

Geoscience · Engineering · Data science · Research software

Shared interests

Subsurface problems worth exploring.

CO₂ storage, salt caverns, fractured rock, and the computational tools that help us understand them.

Revisit selected work