Yves Méheust, PhD HdR

Affiliation:

Géosciences Rennes, Université de Rennes 1

Email:

Direct phone:

(33)2.23.23.62.51

See also my references in the addressbook of "Université Rennes 1"

I have been an Associate Prof. of Quantitative Hydrogeology at UR1 since september 2006.
In 2019 I was upgraded by a national committee (CNU -- "Conseil National des Universités", section 35 "Structure and evolution of the Earth") to Distinguished Associate Professor. This is different from a promotion to Full Professor, which in the French system is a recruitment to a new position, managed locally.
You can read more about my background here.

Between January 2022 and December 2024 I was in charge of research team TERA ("Fluids, Transport and Reactivity"), after having been for two years (dec. 2019-dec. 2021) in charge of team DIMENV ("Dynamics, Imaging and Modeling of Environmental Systems") and for 4 (2017-2021) years in charge of the Hydrology group within DIMENV. See here the presentation (pdf) of the team's activity for the period 2016-2020, which I prepared and gave at the occasion of the HCÉRES audit of Géosciences Rennes in March 2021.

I have also been in charge for some years of the Analog Lab for Experiments in Hydrology, which in 2022 was included into the new OSU platform IMAGEO for experimental imaging of hydro-bio-geophysical systems. See here the presentation (pdf) of the lab's activity for the period 2016-2020, which I prepared and gave for the aforementioned audit (it is also available as a video on youtube here).

My scientific interests include the couplings between flow (including two-phase flow and the flow of non-Newtonian fluids), solute mixing and transport (including reactive), and biological activity, in porous and fractured media, as well as the physics of clay minerals (swelling, water diffusion, complex fluids made of clay suspensions). Applicative contexts include soil remediation and underground storage of CO₂. I combine laboratory experiments (table-top setups and synchrotron experiments), numerical simulations and theoretical analyses (when possible). My research page will tell you a bit more.
My publications are listed here.

Over the years I have taught various aspects of transfers in the subsurface, hydrogeology (including modeling), and of catchment hydrology (including hydrological risks), as well as classical fluid mechanics. Between September 2008 and August 2012 I was responsible for the environmental course of the Master program "Systèmes Complexes Naturels et Industriels" of Université Rennes 1.
See here to know more about my teaching.

Last updated on April 29^th 2025.

Professional experience:

2024-2029

Senior member of the IUF (Academic Institute of France)

2019-

Distinguished Associate Professor (Maître de Conférence Hors Classe), Géosciences Rennes, UR1 (Rennes, France)

2006-2019

Assistant/Associate Professor (Maître de Conférence), Géosciences Rennes, UR1 (Rennes, France)

2004-2006

Research Scientist (Forsker), Physics Department, NTNU (Trondheim, Norway)

2002-2004

Postdoctoral Fellow (Postdok), Physics Department, NTNU (Trondheim, Norway)

2001-2002

Research and Teaching Assistant, Laboratoire de Géologie, ENS (Paris, France)

1998-2001

Teaching Assistant, U. Paris-Sud (Orsay, France)

1994-1998

Civil servant student, ENS-Lyon (Lyon, France)

Academic background:

2016

Habilitation à diriger les recherches (HdR), Université de Rennes 1: "Complex fluids and complex flows: application to transfers in subsurface environments"

1998-2002

PhD in Hydrogeology, Laboratoire de Géologie, ENS (Paris, France): "Flows in rough fractures"

1997-1998

MSc in Statistical Physics and Nonlinear Phenomena, ENS-Lyon (Lyon, France)

1994-1997

Undergraduate studies in fundamental Physics (with minor in Chemistry), ENS-Lyon (Lyon, France)

Language skills:

French

Mother tongue

English

Read, written, spoken fluently

Brasilian portuguese

Read, written, spoken with decent fluency

Norwegian

Read (bokmål and nynorsk), written (bokmål), spoken with waning fluency

German

Read, written, spoken

A more detailed short CV (pdf format) is available here

Last updated on April 29^th 2025.

Research topics over the years:

Coupling between flows and heat transport in fractured media (2019- )
Convective dissolution of CO$_2$ in deep saline aquifers (2017- )
Link between electrical transport and (reactive) solute transport by subsurface flows (2014- )
Lubrication-based electro-hydrodynamics in rough fractures (2016- )
Flow of non-Newtonian fluids (foams, emulsions, polymer solutions) in porous and fractured media (2011- )
(Reactive) transport and mixing of solutes in the unsaturated zone (2011-)
Physical properties of smectite clays: hydration, clay-based complex fluids (2002- )
Free surface flow of thixotropic clayey soils; application to liquefaction and landslides (20018-2010 and 2018- )
Impact of fracture wall roughness on single phase and two-pahse flows in fractured media (1998-2001 and 2009-)

Current funded projects of which I am PI of Co-PI:

MSCA (EU) HeatSIM (Co-PI): heat transport in fractured media
CEFIPRA (France-India) Reactive mixing in porous media (PI on French side)
IUF StoCO2 (PI): stockage souterrain du CO₂
CNRS (MITI) CO2dissoTrapH (PI): dissolution convective du CO₂
ANR IMAGE (Co-PI): induced-polarization-monitored biodegradation of a NAPL
ANR 2PhlowFrac (PI): two-phase flow in rough fractures and application to the residual trapping of CO$_2$ in fractured aquifers

Current projects in which I am participating:

ANR INFLOW (PI Khalil Hanna, École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Rennes): coupling of pore scale reactant transport and heterogeneous reactions in porous media.
ERC Starting CONCRETER (PI Maria Klepikova, Géosciences Rennes): Control of the thermal dynamics of the Earth's critical zone by groundwater flow.

Past funded projects:

Bienvenüe (EU-Région Bretagne) COsmerysh (Supervisor): joint CO₂ storage and methane recovery in shales
MSCA (EU) project ExpeCO2SolTrap (Supervisor): dissolution trapping of CO₂
CNRS MITI CO2seqVel (2021-2022): pore scale velocity during convective dissolution
Supervisor of MSCA (EU) project UnsatPoreMix (2019-2021): solute mixing in insaturated porous media
Supervisor of MSCA (EU) project GeoElectricMixing (2017-2019): coupling between solute transport and electrical transport
Co-PI of ANR project CO2-3D (2017-2022): Solubility trapping of CO2 in deep aquifers
PI of Région-Bretagne project CO2seq3D (2018-2019): Rayleigh-Darcy instability in porous media
ITN (EU) ENIGMA (2017-2021, PIs Philippe Davy et Tanguy Le Borgne): innovative methods for imaging process dynamics in subsurface hydrosystems
ERC Consolidator (EU) ReactiveFronts (2016-2020, PI Tanguy Le Borgne)
ANR Subsurface Mixing and Reactions (2014-2017, PI Tanguy Le Borgne)

Experimental techniques/tools:

Table-top 3D flow and transport experiments in permeable media
Millifluidics and microfluidics to study two-phase flows, mixing and (reactive) transport of solutes by flow
Wide and small angle X-ray scattering (in particular at synchrotrons)
Rheometry
Image analysis (flow images, X-ray diffractograms)

Numerical simulations:

Simulations of single-phase or two-phase fluid flow, possibly involving non-Newtonian rheologies, and solute (reactive) transport configurations, by finite differences (own codes), finite volume (OpenFOAM) or finite elements (Freefem++), in 2D or 3D. In the last years I have tried to focus on OpenFOAM.

In particular, I am using the Volume of Fluid (VoF) method for two-phase flows, and through the years I (in collaboration with others) have proposed various depth-integrated (i.e. lubrication-based) 2D models, including with electrohydrodynamic coupling, shear-thinning rheologies, and two-phase flow.

Last updated on April 29^th 2025.

Supervision of young researchers (current):

PhD students:
- Co-supervisor of Arwa Rashed (2023-2026, main supervisor Maria Klepikova, co-supervisor Benoît Fond -- ONERA): optical thermometry for heat transport characterization in porous media.
- Main supervisor of Amin Rezaei (2012-2025, co-supervisor Insa Neuweiler, Univ. Hannover): residual trapping of CO$_2$ in fracture media.
- Co-supervisor of Rahul Krishna (2021-2025, main supervisor Insa Neuweiler, Univ. Hannover): residual trapping of CO$_2$ in fracture media.
Postdoctoral fellows:
- Supervisor of Shuo Yang (2024-2026): joint optical and SIP characterization of bioremediation in microfluidic porous media.
- Co-supervisor of Lisa Ringel (2024-2027, main supervisor Maria Klepikova): heat transport in fractured media.

Past supervisions:

PhD students:

Co-supervisor of Alessandro Lenci (2019-2022, main supervisor Vittorio de Federico, Univ. Bologna): polymer flow in geological fractures.
Alessandro is now a Global MSCA fellow at Stanford University.
Co-supervisor of Antoine Hubert (2019-2022, main supervisor Tanguy Le Borgne): shear-thinning flow in geological fractures.
Antoine is now Data Scientist in a company.
Main supervisor of Régis Turuban (2012-2017, co-supervisor Tanguy Le Borgne): Numerical and experimental studies of mixing in two-dimensional and three-dimensional porous media.
Régis is now a postdoc at ISSA in Trieste (Italy)
Supervision of the experimental work of Pietro de Anna (2010-2012), supervisors Philippe Davy et Tanguy Le Borgne): solute mixing in porous media.
Pietro is now Associate Professor at ISTE, Univ. Lausanne (Switzerland).
Co-supervisor of Jérémy Bouquain (2008-2012, main supervisor Philippe Davy): impact of gravitational and inertial effects on solute transport.
Jérémy is now a high school teacher.
Co-supervisor of Laure Michel (2006-2009, mais supervisor Jean de Bremond d'Ars): solute transport by fracture flow and interaction with the matrix.
Laure is now an hydrogeological engineer in a private company.
Co-supervisor of Davi de Miranda Fonseca (2003-2008, main supervisor Jon Otto Fossum): phase separation and orientational ordering of clay particles in saline aqueous suspensions.
Davi is now a research engineer, in charge of an academic research laboratory at NTNU Trondheim (Norway).
Co-supervisor of Kanak Pal Singh Parmar (2002-2006, main supervisor Jon Otto Fossum): electrorheological structures of nano-layered silicates.
Kanak is now an Associate Professor at UPES (India).

Postdoctoral fellows:

Manab Mukherjee (2022-2024): joint CO$_2$ storage and methane recovery in shales.
Manab is now a postdoctoral fellow at IIT Kanpur.
Shabina Ashraf (2021-2023): dissolution trapping of CO$_2$.
Shabina is now an Assistant Professor at NIT Calicut (India).
Oshri Borgman (2019-2022): solute mixing in unsaturate porous media and by two-phase flow.
Oshri is now a group leader at MIGAL - Galilee Research Institute, Tel Hai College (Israel).
Jayabrata Dhar (2018-2020): dissolution trapping of CO$_2$.
Jayabrata is now an assistant professor at BITS Pilani, Hyperabad (India).
Uddipta Ghosh (2016-2018): link between reactive transport and electrical transport in porous media.
Uddipta is now an assistant professor at IIT Gandhinagar (India).
Joris Heyman (2016-2018, main supervisor Tanguy Le Borgne): chaotic advection in 3D porous media.
Joris is now a CNRS research scientist in our team.
Baudouin Géraud (2016-2017), solute mixing in porous media.
Baudouin is now a Principal Physicist at Cambridge Consultants (UK).
Aditya Bandopadhyay (2015-2016, main supervisor Tanguy Le Borgne), reactive mixing in porous media.
Aditya is now an assistant professor at IIT Kharagpur.
Joaquin Jimenez (2010-2014, co-supervision with Tanguy Le Borgne), solute transport and mixing in unsaturated porous media.
Joaquin is now a research scientist/group leader at EAWAG and lecturer at ETH Zürich (Switzerland).
Baudouin Géraud (2013-2014, main supervisor Isabelle Cantat, IPR UR1), foam flow in porous media.
Baudouin is now a Principal Physicist at Cambridge Consultants (UK).
Siân Jones (2012-2013, main supervisor Isabelle Cantat), IPR UR1), foam flow in porous media.
Siân is now a researcher at TU Delft (Netherlands).

Collaborations:

Current:
- At Geosciences Rennes: Tanguy Le Borgne, Maria Klepikova, Joris Heyman.
- In other French institutions: Patrice Meunier (IRPHE, Univ. Aix-Marseille), Hervé Tabuteau (Institut de Physique de Rennes - IPR, Rennes), François Nadal (CEA Bordeaux, France), Damien Jougnot (METIS, Sorbonne Univ.), Sylvie Collin (METIS, Sorbonne Univ.).
- Abroad: Vittorio di Federico (Univ. Bologna, Italy), Insa Neuweiler (Leibniz Universität (Hannover, Germany), Marco Dentz (UPC, Barcelona, Spain), Daniel Tartakovsky (Stanford Univ., USA), Zhibing Yang (Wuhan Univ., China), Jon Otto Fossum (NTNU, Trondheim, Norway), Daniel Bonn (University of Amsterdam), Alex Hansen (NTNU, Trondheim), Joaquín Jiménez-Martínez (ETH Zürich, Switerland), Daniel Lester (CISCO Melbourne, Australia), Knut Jørgen Måløy (UiO, Oslo, Norway).
Past:
- At Geosciences Rennes: Philippe Davy, Jean-Raynald de Dreuzy, Jean de Bremond d'Ars.
- In other French institutions: Isabelle Cantat (Institut de Physique de Rennes - IPR, Rennes), Benjamin Dollet (IPR, Rennes), Bloen Metzger (IUSTI, Univ. Aix-Marseille), Henri Lhuissier (IUSTI, Univ. Aix-Marseille), Renaud Toussaint (IPG Strasbourg), Jean Schmittbuhl (IPG Strasbourg).
- Abroad: Pietro de Anna (then MIT, USA), Nima Shokri (Univ. Manchester, UK), Diogo Bolster (Notre Dame, USA), Niklas Linde (Univ. Lausanne, Switzerland), Clément Roques (Univ. Neuchâtel, Suisse), Marcio Carvalho (PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Sidnei Paciornik (PUC-Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Kenneth Knudsen (IFE, Kjaeller, Norway), Grunde Løvoll (UiO, Oslo, Norway), Ivan Lunati (Univ. Lausanne, Switzerland), Lirong Zhong (PNNL, Richland, USA), Bjørnar Sandnes (Univ. Swansea, UK), Geraldo José da Silva (UnB, Brasilia, Brazil).

Last updated on April 29^th 2025.

Lectures:

Like most academics in France, I teach about 192 hours (in the class room or on the field) a year. I had the change to have a reduced teaching load during 6 years, though.
Most of my lectures are given in the first (M1) or second (M2) year of M.Sc., that is, the 4^th or 5^th year of university. But I have also given lectures in the third year of B. Sc. (L3) in Earth and Environmental Sciences, as well as (20 years ago) in the firs and second year of B. Sc. (L1 and L2).
The M.Sc. programs of Université Rennes 1 in which I teach have been mostly Hydro3 and Systèmes Complexes Naturels et Industriels.

Current teaching (2024-2025, reduced teaching load):

Hydrogeological modeling (M2)
Transport processes in complexe subsurface permeable media (M2)
Two-phase flows in porous media (M2)
Flow and transport in heterogeneous media: at the fracture scale (M2)

Past teaching at Univ. Rennes 1:

Catchment Hydrology field trip (M1)
Fundamentals of hydrogeology (M1)
Practicals of hydrogeological modeling (M1)
Hydological measurements (L3)
Classical Fluid Mechanics (M1, for Physics or Water Sciences students)
Fluid Mechanics for hydrologeologists (M1)
Introduction to statistics and statistical data treatment for hydrologists (M1)
Environmental risks (for physics students, M1)
Statistics applied to the prediction of environmental risks (M1)
Solute transport in geological fractures (M2)
Hydrological risks (M1)
Hydrogeology field trip (M1)
Geological materials (M1 in Material Science)
Dynamics of the Atmosphere (L3)

Old teaching (before 2006):

Practicals of Geodynamics (L3 in Earth Sciences, at École Normale Supérieure)
Mathematics for Geologists (L1 and L2 in Earth Sciences, at Univ. Paris-Sud Orsay)
Polymer dynamics (M1 in Physics, at NTNU Trondheim)

Responsabilities:

Between 2016 and 2023 I was responsible for the sub-program MTH (Modeling of Hydrological Transfers) of the Hydro3 M. Sc. program.

Between September 2008 and August 2012 I was responsible for the environmental course of the Systèmes Complexes Naturels et Industriels M. Sc. program at Université Rennes 1, which I helped set up with colleagues at the Institute of Physics of Rennes and ECOBIO institute.

Last updated on April 29^th 2025.

See the full list of my publication below.
If you want to see a searchable list of my publications (by year, type of publication or keyword), click here.