Bio

I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Energy Science & Engineering department. My current research is focused on understanding how subsurface heterogeneity can be exploited to increase the amount of CO2 that is residually trapped. This increases storage security and minimizes the spread of the CO2 plume. This research makes up part of the GeoCquest consortium with Melbourne University, Cambridge University and CO2CRC. My supervisors are Prof. Hamdi Tchelepi and Prof. Sally Benson.

I obtained my PhD from Imperial College London in 2021. My PhD thesis "Intermittent flow pathways for multiphase flow in porous media: a pore-scale perspective" explored how flow phenomena not included in the framework of Darcy's law extended to multiphase flow influence the propagation and trapping of fluids. My supervisors were Prof. Sam Krevor and Prof. Martin Blunt. My research was funded by the President's PhD scholarship at Imperial.

Honors & Awards

  • Ernest Edward Glorney Award, Imperial College London (2017)
  • Undergraduate prize for achievement in the study of geophysics, British Geophysical Association (2015)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

  • Committee member - Young Academy, Interpore (2023 - Present)
  • Committee member, Porous Media Tea Time Talks (2020 - Present)

Professional Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Imperial College of London (2021)
  • Master of Science, Imperial College of London (2017)
  • Bachelor of Science, Imperial College of London (2017)
  • PhD, Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London (2021)
  • MSci, Department of Earth Science & Engineering, Imperial College London, Geophysics (2017)

Stanford Advisors

Contact

  • Academic
    cspurin@stanford.edu
    University - Scholar Department: Department of Energy Science and Engineering Position: Postdoctoral Scholar

Additional Info

Links

2024-25 Courses

All Publications

  • The role of injection method on residual trapping: Insights into bridging scales and heterogeneity ADVANCES IN WATER RESOURCES Spurin, C., Ellman, S., Bultreys, T., Kurotori, T., Benson, S., Tchelepi, H. A. 2025; 197

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.advwatres.2025.104913

    View details for Web of Science ID 001427851100001

  • Python Workflow for Segmenting Multiphase Flow in Porous Rocks TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA Spurin, C., Ellman, S., Sherburn, D., Bultreys, T., Tchelepi, H. A. 2024

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s11242-024-02136-2

    View details for Web of Science ID 001346631200001

  • A Statistical Analysis of Fluid Interface Fluctuations: Exploring the Role of Viscosity Ratio. Entropy (Basel, Switzerland) Heijkoop, S., Rieder, D., Moura, M., Rucker, M., Spurin, C. 2024; 26 (9)

    Abstract

    Understanding multiphase flow through porous media is integral to geologic carbon storage or hydrogen storage. The current modelling framework assumes each fluid present in the subsurface flows in its own continuously connected pathway. The restriction in flow caused by the presence of another fluid is modelled using relative permeability functions. However, dynamic fluid interfaces have been observed in experimental data, and these are not accounted for in relative permeability functions. In this work, we explore the occurrence of fluid fluctuations in the context of sizes, locations, and frequencies by altering the viscosity ratio for two-phase flow. We see that the fluctuations alter the connectivity of the fluid phases, which, in turn, influences the relative permeability of the fluid phases present.

    View details for DOI 10.3390/e26090774

    View details for PubMedID 39330107

  • The role of injection method on residual trapping at the pore-scale in continuum-scale samples INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GREENHOUSE GAS CONTROL Spurin, C., Ellman, S., Bultreys, T., Tchelepi, H. A. 2024; 131

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ijggc.2023.104035

    View details for Web of Science ID 001147306900001

  • Pore-Scale Fluid Dynamics Resolved in Pressure Fluctuations at the Darcy Scale GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS Spurin, C., Roberts, G. G., O'Malley, C. B., Kurotori, T., Krevor, S., Blunt, M. J., Tchelepi, H. 2023; 50 (18)

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2023GL104473

    View details for Web of Science ID 001066651600001

  • The FluidFlower Validation Benchmark Study for the Storage of CO2 TRANSPORT IN POROUS MEDIA Flemisch, B., Nordbotten, J. M., Ferno, M., Juanes, R., Both, J. W., Class, H., Delshad, M., Doster, F., Ennis-King, J., Franc, J., Geiger, S., Glaeser, D., Green, C., Gunning, J., Hajibeygi, H., Jackson, S. J., Jammoul, M., Karra, S., Li, J., Matthaei, S. K., Miller, T., Shao, Q., Spurin, C., Stauffer, P., Tchelepi, H., Tian, X., Viswanathan, H., Voskov, D., Wang, Y., Wapperom, M., Wheeler, M. F., Wilkins, A., Youssef, A. A., Zhang, Z. 2023

    View details for DOI 10.1007/s11242-023-01977-7

    View details for Web of Science ID 001051223900002

  • Pore-Scale Imaging of Multiphase Flow Fluctuations in Continuum-Scale Samples WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Wang, S., Spurin, C., Bultreys, T. 2023; 59 (6)

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2023WR034720

    View details for Web of Science ID 001012098900001

  • Dynamic mode decomposition for analysing multi-phase flow in porous media ADVANCES IN WATER RESOURCES Spurin, C., Armstrong, R. T., McClure, J., Berg, S. 2023; 175

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.advwatres.2023.104423

    View details for Web of Science ID 001026035200001

  • Red Noise in Steady-State Multiphase Flow in Porous Media WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH Spurin, C., Rucker, M., Moura, M., Bultreys, T., Garfi, G., Berg, S., Blunt, M. J., Krevor, S. 2022; 58 (7)

    View details for DOI 10.1029/2022WR031947

    View details for Web of Science ID 000825342800001

  • Determination of the spatial distribution of wetting in the pore networks of rocks. Journal of colloid and interface science Garfi, G., John, C. M., Rucker, M., Lin, Q., Spurin, C., Berg, S., Krevor, S. 1800; 613: 786-795

    Abstract

    HYPOTHESIS: The macroscopic movement of subsurface fluids involved in CO2 storage, groundwater, and petroleum engineering applications is controlled by interfacial forces in the pores of rocks. Recent advances in modelling these systems has arisen from approaches simulating flow through a digital representation of the complex pore structure. However, further progress is limited by difficulties in characterising the spatial distribution of the wetting state within the pore structure. In this work, we show how observations of the fluid coverage of mineral surfaces within the pores of rocks can be used as the basis for a quantitative 3D characterisation of heterogeneous wetting states throughout rock pore structures.EXPERIMENTS: We demonstrate the approach with water-oil fluid pairs on rocks with distinct lithologies (sandstone and carbonate) and wetting states (hydrophilic, intermediate wetting, and heterogeneously wetting).FINDINGS: Fluid surface coverage the within rock pores is a robust signal of the wetting state across varying rock types and wetting states. The wetting state can be quantified and the resulting 3D maps can be used as a deterministic input to pore scale models. These may be applied to multiphase flow problems in porous media ranging from soil science to fuel cells.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jcis.2021.12.183

    View details for PubMedID 35074705

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2396-8498