Tijana Voake defended her PhD thesis 22 January, and is now ready for new challenges.
Voake was the 10th PhD candidate examinated from the National IOR Centre of Norway at University of Stavanger.
In his speech to Tijana Voake, main supervisor Anders Nermoen said that becoming a doctor is a superpower. To celebrate Tijana's work, he even made a coffe mug with the quote.
Tijana Voake's PhD project is called "Thermal properties of reservoir rocks, role of pore fluids, minerals and diagenesis. A comparative study of two differently indurated chalks". The purpose has been to investigate how temperature variations in chalk reservoir induced by the injection of cold water and cross flow may affect the mechanical strength of chalk.
To mimic the reservoir
Voake explains how she has been working to bridge the gap between the known and the unknown:
«The effects of temperature changes have only been investigated by comparing mechanical properties at two or more different temperatures. However, the effect of temperature cycling has not been studied and this is a scenario that more accurately mimics the nature of a reservoir rock that has undergone oil production and fluid injection.»
Thorough committee
The committee consisted of Professor Rune Holt, NTNU and Dr. Ole Vejbæk, Hess Denmark. Assistant Professor Carita Augustsson led the committee.
Holt started his questioning by pointing out the extensive experimental work Tijana Voake has done.
Anders Nermoen (NORCE) has been main supervisor, and Ida Lykke Fabricius has been co-supervisor.
The PhD defence was lead by head of Department of Energy Resources, Alejandro Escalona.
Text and photo: Kjersti Riiber