Dr. Chaojie Cheng

Research areas

Fluid flow in porous media and rock fractures
Experimental rock mechanics
Deep geothermal energy
Fluid-rock interactions (e.g., pressure solution)
Reactive transport
Underground hydrogen storage

Managed Projects

HyDRA project Title: HyDRA – Diagnostic tools and risk protocols to accelerate underground hydrogen storage
- Our focus: Bio-geochemical reactions on porous rock properties during UHS
- Duration: 01.01.2025 – 28.02.2028
- Funding agency: EU Horizon Europe
- Website HyDRA
- project partners: BGR - Federal Institute of Geosciences and Natural Resources, ESI Earth Sciences New Zealand, IDAEA-CSIC - Institute of Environmental assessment and Water Research at Spanish National Research Council, ISO - Isodetect Umweltmonitoring GmbH, KIT, TU Clausthal, UEDIN - University of Edinburg, UiB - University of Bergen, UNINA - University of Naples Federico II, see Link
Future Field Project stage 2, Title: CO₂ Cycle: Experimentally-informed Simulation Workflows for Injection, Storage, and Utilization in a Circular Economy
- Our focus: Improve and test microstructural see-through porous reaction cells for microbial growth with CO₂
- Duration: 01.01.2025 – 31.12.2026
- Funding agency: KIT
- collaboration partners: Prof. Dr. Britta Nestler (IAM-MMS), Prof. Dr. Anne-Kristin Kaster (IBG 5)
IMAGE project Title: IMAGE – Investigating Microbial Activities in Geological rEservoirs in real-rock micromodels
- Our focus: Develop real-rock micromodels for investigation of fluid-microbe-rock interactions
- Duration: 01.10.2023 – 30.09.2025
- Funding agency: VectorStiftung
SamuH2 project (hydrogen underground storage)
- Our focus: Geochemical batch experimental investigation on fluid-gas-rock interactions, microbial hydrogen consumption and storage integrity
- Duration: 01.01.2022 – 31.12.2025
- Funding agency: BMWK
- Website LINK
- project partners: Prof. Dr. F. Schilling, Dr. B. Müller (AGW-TP), Prof. Dr. P. Blum (AGW-IG), Prof. Dr.-Ing. F. Dehn (MPA), Prof. Dr.-Ing. H. Kutterer, Dr. M. Westerhaus (GIK), Prof. Dr. A. Henk (TU Darmstadt), Prof. Dr.-Ing. H. Würdemann (Hochschule Merseburg HoMe), Gesteinslabor Dr. Eberhard Jahns eK: Dr. E. Jahns, Institut für Gebirgsmechanik GmbH (IfG): Dr. T. Popp, Dyckerhoff GmbH: Dr. M. Paul, SGW: S. Meyer, UNIPER SE: Dr. K. Vosbeck, DGMK – Forschungsvereinigung der Industrie, Piewak & Partner GmbH: Dr. T. Röckel, Fangmann Energy Services GmbH & Co. KG: Dr. N. Lummer

Responsibilities

Manager of ME.Lab (Microstructure-Experimental Lab on rock deformation and rock alteration processes)

Publication overview

Experience

01.2025 – current	Research Scientist and Group Leader of ME.Lab
03.2022 – 12.2024	PostDoc position in the SAMUH2 (Underground storage of hydrogen) project, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
09.2020 – 01.2022	Researcher in the MEET (Multi-sites EGS Demonstration) EU H2020 project, GFZ German Research Centre for Geoscience, Potsdam
11.2019 – 01.2020	Teaching assistant at the University of Potsdam, lectures about “Stress Field of the Earth’s Crust”
10.2016 – 09.2020	Research Assistant, GFZ German Research Centre for Geoscience, Potsdam

Ausbildung

Education

2017 - 2021

Dr. rer. nat. (PhD) in Hydrogeology, University of Potsdam, Germany

Dissertation: Transient permeability in porous and fractured sandstone mediated by fluid-rock interactions

2014 - 2016

M.Sc. in Geotechnical Engineering, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), China

Thesis: Study on the thermo-mechanical properties of concrete and heat transfer behaviours of energy piles

2010 - 2014

B.Sc. in Engineering Geology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), China

Thesis: 3D geological model visualization of underground water-sealed oil storage caverns in Yantai