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TOUGH Short Courses

To receive information about the TOUGH Symposia and Short Courses, please add your name to the TOUGH Email List or email Troy Cortez, TCortez@lbl.gov.

** SAVE THE DATE to attend the 2023 TOUGH Short Courses: Fall 2023 **
Visit this page for schedule, registration, and additional information.

The next set of courses will be scheduled this Fall 2023. These will all be in-person courses, held at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Mark your calendars: Registration will open by mid-late April.
* Each course requires a minimum number of participants to avoid canceling the course. *
* There will also be a maximum number of seats available for each course. *

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TOUGH Beginner’s Short Course for Scientists and Engineers

Agenda

This course provides an introduction to TOUGH code, a simulation program for non-isothermal, multiphase flow of multicomponent fluids. The focus is on enabling users to prepare input data for setting up and solving flow problems. Some of the sample problems presented in the TOUGH user’s guide is used, emphasizing their role as prototypes and templates for creating new applications. A survey on the interested physical processes or applications is sent out and hands-on examples might be adjusted based on participants’ interests. We use TOUGH2 code in the course because the input files for the sample problems in this beginning course are the same for TOUGH2 and TOUGH3. However, we provide a session to highlight the capability enhancement of TOUGH3 over TOUGH2.

View a sample agenda from our March 28-April 1, 2022 TOUGH Beginner’s Course (pdf)(Note: This agenda was based on a 5-day online course. The Fall 2023 course will be condensed into a 2.5-day in-person schedule.)

Purpose

The TOUGH family of codes is used for simulating multiphase fluid and heat flow and transport in porous and fractured media. The suite of TOUGH simulators has been applied to a wide range of studies involving the geological disposal of nuclear waste, geological CO2 sequestration, geothermal energy development, oil and gas production, environmental remediation and unsaturated zone hydrology. While ongoing development of TOUGH continues to expand modeling capabilities and incorporate increasingly complex processes, such as those associated with reactive chemistry (TOUGHREACT) and gas-hydrate dissociation (TOUGH+Hydrate), knowledge of the basic TOUGH modeling concepts serves as an important foundation. The goals of the TOUGH2 part of the training course are to (1) review fundamentals of multiphase fluid and heat flow, (2) present the design and input/output features of TOUGH, and (3) provide hands-on training for application of TOUGH to a variety of flow problems.

Material Covered
  • Introduction to the TOUGH family of codes and applications
  • Underlying physics, numerical approaches, and program structure
  • Explanation of input and output files
  • Hands-on development of TOUGH models, including grid generation, specification of boundary conditions, initialization, and the use of program options
  • The most common equation-of-state (EOS) modules will be discussed for a variety of applications and levels of complexity (ranging from isothermal problems with a single component and phase, to non-isothermal problems with multiple components and phases)
Prerequisites
  • Knowledge of the physics of fluid and heat flow and transport in porous and fractured media
  • Basic understanding of numerical methods for solving partial differential equations
  • Familiarity with basic text editors in the PC environment (Notepad or WordPad) and with the DOS Command Prompt (the course will be conducted on PC computers)
Material to be Distributed for the Course

Course attendees will be provided with the necessary course materials, including handouts of presentations and a User’s Manual. The material will be sent by an email link before the course starts. Participants are expected to bring their own laptop (pc preferred) and to run the example problems on their own computer; needed simulation software and input files will be provided. Note that a separate TOUGH3 software license (TOUGH2 is replaced by TOUGH3 and no longer supported) is required if TOUGH will be used after the training course at the participants’ home institution. Such a license can be obtained from the Berkeley Lab Marketplace.

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TOUGHREACT Short Course for Scientists and Engineers

TOUGHREACT is a numerical simulation program for chemically reactive non-isothermal flows of multiphase fluids in porous and fractured media. The program was developed by introducing reactive chemistry into the multiphase flow code TOUGH2 V2. Interactions between mineral and fluids can occur under local equilibrium or kinetic rates. Multiple gas species can be transported and undergo equilibrium gas-water reactions. Porosity, permeability, and capillary pressure changes can be coupled to mineral precipitation and dissolution reactions.

A comprehensive user’s guide is available, including worked sample problems addressing geothermal reservoirs and hydrothermal systems, nuclear waste isolation, groundwater quality, sequestration of carbon dioxide in saline aquifers, and supergene copper enrichment.

Agenda

This course will provide an introduction to TOUGHREACT V4.13-OMP, a parallel simulation program for non-isothermal, chemically reactive flow of multiphase fluids. The focus will be on enabling users to prepare input data for setting up and solving flow problems. Some of the sample problems presented in the TOUGHREACT user’s guide will be used, emphasizing their role as prototypes and templates for creating new applications. The course will also include a survey of the physical and chemical processes modeled, and of the mathematical and numerical approaches used. Participants are welcome during any time of the course to bring up their own topics.

View sample/2020 TOUGHREACT Course Agenda (pdf).

Purpose

The course will cover the physical and chemical processes modeled by TOUGHREACT V4.13-OMP, will summarize the mathematical and numerical methods used, and will provide in-depth discussion and guidance for applying TOUGHREACT to a variety of reaction-transport problems. Preparation of input data and interpretation of simulation results will be discussed for problems in groundwater quality, nuclear waste isolation, production from and injection into geothermal reservoirs, and geologic sequestration of greenhouse gases. The goal of the course is to provide hands-on computing experience to enable participants to become active TOUGHREACT users.

Prerequisites

We will assume that participants have some familiarity and experience with multiphase flow in general and TOUGH2 in particular, as well as numerical modeling experience for batch geochemistry in geologic media. People interested in TOUGHREACT who do not have prior TOUGH2 experience are strongly urged to register for Part 1 as well.

Material to be Distributed during the Course

Course attendees will be provided with the necessary course materials, including handouts of presentations and a User’s Manual. Participants are required to bring their own laptop; needed simulation software and input files will be provided. Note that a separate TOUGHREACT software license is required if TOUGHREACT will be used after the training course at the participants’ home institution. Such a license can be obtained from the Berkeley Lab Marketplace.

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iTOUGH2 Inverse Modeling Short Course for Scientists and Engineers

The training course provides the participants with the theoretical background and practical knowledge needed to solve inverse problems in geosciences and engineering. The lectures cover all aspects related to automatic model calibration using nonlinear parameter estimation methods, including sensitivity, data-worth, error and uncertainty propagation analyses. The lectures are complemented with computer exercises using the iTOUGH2 simulation-optimization code.

View sample/2020 iTOUGH2 Course Agenda (pdf).

Course Outline

The introductory lectures will discuss the process of parameter estimation by automatic calibration of numerical models used in geosciences. Parameterization of the forward model, selection of calibration data and their incorporation into an objective function are essential issues, as they determine whether a well-posed inverse problem can be formulated. Multiple optimization algorithms suitable to minimize the objective function will be presented. The need and usefulness of performing formal sensitivity, residual, error, and uncertainty analyses will be emphasized. In addition to the lectures, which provide the theoretical background, computer exercises using the iTOUGH2 simulation-optimization code will provide hands-on experience in solving practical inverse problems. Moreover, the course participants may be asked to work on a small project (either individually or in small groups), in which they formulate a tractable optimization problem and solve it using iTOUGH2. The combination of lectures, computer exercises, and project work will provide the attendees with solid knowledge in inverse modeling and initial experience in the use of iTOUGH2 for solving a variety of parameter estimation and optimization problems.

Prerequisites

Understanding and experience in numerical simulation and modeling; good knowledge of the TOUGH2 nonisothermal multiphase flow simulator or completion of the TOUGH Beginner’s Course.

Material to be Distributed during the Course

Participants are required to bring their own laptop. Course attendees will be provided with hard copies of the lecture notes. Electronic copies of the lecture notes, all relevant manuals, as well as input files used during the course will be made available. The software will be made available for installation on the participants’ laptop computers used during the Short Course. Course participants need a valid license to use the software after the course. For more information, please visit our TOUGH website, iTOUGH2 website, and/or Berkeley Lab Marketplace.

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TReactMech Short Course

View sample/2020 TReactMech Course Agenda (pdf).

Course Description

TReactMech V1.0 is a new 3-D coupled thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical (THMC) code that solves the continuum geomechanical stress and failure equations using a finite element formulation coupled to non-isothermal, multiphase/multicomponent fluid flow, heat transport, aqueous and gaseous species advection-diffusion, and equilibrium/kinetic water-gas-rock reactions. TReactMech combines a new geomechanics approach with the latest TOUGHREACT V4.13-OMP multiphase reactive-transport capabilities. Notable applications of TReactMech V1.0 are in the simulation of coupled THMC processes in Enhanced Geothermal Systems, geological CO2 sequestration, hydraulic fracturing in unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, nuclear waste isolation, injection/production-induced uplift/subsidence, and other subsurface problems involving geomechanical, hydrological, and geochemical processes. A wide range of spatial and temporal scales can be modeled from fracture deformation in lab experiments, hydraulic fracturing at scales of tens of meters around injection wells, to complex kilometer-scale problems involving hydrological, mineralogical, and chemical heterogeneity and crustal heat and fluid flow over geologic time scales. The course will focus on the basic formulations used in TReactMech, including poroelasticity, Mohr-Coulomb failure, and coupling of geomechanics to fluid pressure, heat transport, and fracture permeability changes. Hands-on example problems will focus on the set-up of hydro-geomechanical problems, stress-strain simulations involving poroelasticity, injection-induced fracture shear and tensile failure, and simple reactive-transport coupling. Pre-requisites include prior experience or courses in TOUGH2 or TOUGHREACT.

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Previous Short Courses

  • Short Courses via ZOOM:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course (March 28 – April 1, 2022; April 11 – 15, 2022; April 25 – 29, 2022)
    • iTOUGH2 Short Course (postponed… Dates and Agenda not yet available)
    • TOUGHREACT Short Course (postponed… Dates and Agenda not yet available)
    • TReactMech Short Course (postponed… Dates and Agenda not yet available)
    • TOUGH+RealGasBrine/TOUGH+Hydrates (postponed… Dates and Agenda not yet available)
  • Short Courses, February 13-21, 2020, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
      • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course (February 13-15, 2020)
      • iTOUGH2 Short Course (February 17-19, 2020)
      • TOUGHREACT Short Course (February 17-19, 2020)
      • TReactMech Short Course (February 19-21, 2020)
  • Short Courses, October 2018, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course (October 1 -3, 2018)
    • iTOUGH2 Short Course (October 3 – 5, 2018)
    • TOUGHREACT Short Course (October 3 – 5, 2018)
    • TOUGREACTMECH Short Course (October 10 – 12, 2018)
  • Short Courses, October – November 2016, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course (October 31 – November 2, 2016)
    • iTOUGH2 Short Course (November 2 – 4, 2016)
    • TOUGHREACT Short Course (November 2 – 4, 2016)
    • TOUGREACTMECH Short Course (November 7-9, 2016)
  • Short Courses, September 2015, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course (September 23 – 25, 2015)
    • iTOUGH2 Short Course (October 1 – 3, 2015)
    • TOUGHREACT Short Course (October 1 – 2, 2015)
  • Short Courses, September 2014, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course, September 15-17, 2014
    • TOUGH+RealGasBrine Short Course, September 15-17, 2014
    • TOUGH+Hydrate Short Course: September 17-19, 2014
    • TOUGHREACT Short Course: September 17-19, 2014
    • iTOUGH2 Short Course: September 17-19, 2014
  • Short Course, September 2013, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course, September 9-11, 2013
  • Short Courses, September 2012, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course, September 12-14, 2012
    • TOUGH+Hydrate Short Course: September 12-14, 2012
    • TOUGHREACT Short Course: September 20-22, 2012
    • iTOUGH2 Short Course: September 20-22, 2012
  • Short Courses, September 2011, at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, U.S.A.:
    • TOUGH2 Beginner’s Course: September 12-14, 2011
    • iTOUGH2 Short Course: September 15-17, 2011

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Training Material

The following is a collection of training material used in various short courses.

TOUGH2
T2VOC
TOUGHREACT
iTOUGH2