Longtime ERL Researcher Dr. Yves Bernabé Retires

July 15, 2019

Congratulations to longtime ERL researcher, Dr. Yves Bernabé, on his recent retirement. During a distinguished research career, Yves focused his work on the interrelationships among fluid transport, water-rock interactions, and mechanical behavior. This knowledge is essential for evaluating the risks and benefits of technologies including hydrofracking, geothermal energy, and carbon sequestration. After receiving a third-cycle doctorate from the University of Paris in 1977, Bernabé spent a brief interlude at the Volcanological Observatory of La Guadeloupe, in the West Indies. He then matriculated to MIT, working with Prof. William Brace and Dr. Joe Walsh in the EAPS rock physics lab, and significantly improved our understanding of the effective stress law, a model for understanding the systematic effects of fluid pressure within individual pores, and lithostatic pressure in solid constituents of the rock on the transport properties of the formation. Following his PhD from EAPS, he applied his expertise in rock physics to engineering applications for Chevron Oil, before accepting an appointment as Professor of Geophysics at the University Louis Pasteur. In Strasbourg, Professor Bernabé was the head of the Laboratory of Physics of Materials and director of the Geophysical Engineering School. During this time, Yves maintained research collaborations with MIT scientists, and in 2007, he returned to EAPS as a full-time research scientist within ERL. Since then he has continued to enhance our knowledge of subsurface porosity, fluid transport, and rock physics, and has broadened his investigations to include the effects of fluid-rock reactions on fluid transport, the influence of changing topology of porosity networks, and the kinetics of pressure-solution processes in porous, fluid-filled rocks. Although Dr. Bernabé has retired, he will retain affiliate status and will be a valued resource for scientists within ERL.

A list of Dr. Bernabé's publications can be found in his profile on the ERL website.