Overview
Background
Biography:
Christopher Leonardi is an Associate Professor within the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering and an Advance Queensland Industry Research Fellow (Mid-Career). Dr Leonardi completed his PhD in computational mechanics at The University of Wales, Swansea, and his BE(Hons) in mechanical engineering at James Cook University, where he graduated with First Class Honours and a University Medal. Christopher’s PhD thesis resulted in the development of a computational approach to modelling complex fluid-particle suspensions and demonstrated its application in the context of underground mining. Prior to joining UQ, Christopher spent three years as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked on computational modelling of fluid-solid interaction problems in the context of oil and gas production.
Dr Leonardi has published more than 40 scientific papers in international journals, 30 conference papers (most in collaboration with industry partners), and one book chapter. He has graduated four PhD students as principal advisor and a further three as associate advisor. In addition to his academic pursuits, Christopher spent five years working as an engineering consultant with Rockfield Technologies Australia, where he applied advanced computational analysis tools to problems in bulk materials handling, structural design, and geomechanics.
Research:
Associate Professor Leonardi’s research is focused on the development and application of computational models of complex fluid-solid interactions, including suspension transport, porous media flow, multiphase flows, and poromechanics. The outputs of his work are applied to provide insight into the complex characteristics of subsurface fluid and solid mechanics in gas production from unconventional reservoirs (e.g. coal seams) and mineral extraction from challenging orebodies. Current and recent projects include studies on hydraulic fracturing and proppant transport in coal seam gas (CSG) reservoirs, surface movement within and adjacent to CSG tenements, counter-current two-phase flow in CSG wells, in situ recovery of minerals from low-permeability rocks, and bubble-particle interaction in hydrogen formation via methane pyrolysis.
Christopher and his group of postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students possess expertise in a range of computational techniques, including the lattice Boltzmann, discrete element, finite element, and finite difference methods. His team collaborates closely with national computing facilities, such as Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, to development, implement, and apply these techniques to large-scale engineering problems.
Teaching and Learning:
Associate Professor Leonardi is Director of Teaching and Learning in the School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering where he coordinates and lectures the course, MECH3780 Computational Mechanics, and lectures the first-year course, ENGG1001 Programming for Engineers. Christopher was awarded a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education from UQ in 2015 and received Citations for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning from the Australian Awards for University Teaching (AAUT) in 2019 and UQ in 2018.
Availability
- Dr Christopher Leonardi is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Engineering, James Cook University
- Doctor of Philosophy, Swansea University
Works
Search Professor Christopher Leonardi’s works on UQ eSpace
2016
Conference Publication
Transient heat transfer modelling at straight and curved interfaces of disparate media using DDF-TLBM
McCullough, Jon W.S., Leonardi, Christopher R., Jones, Bruce D., Aminossadati, Saiied M. and Williams, John R. (2016). Transient heat transfer modelling at straight and curved interfaces of disparate media using DDF-TLBM. Thirteenth International Conference for Mesoscopic Methods in Engineering and Science, Hamburg, Germany, 18-22 July, 2016.
2016
Conference Publication
Characterising the Behaviour of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids via Direct Numerical Simulation
Leonardi, Christopher , Regulski, Wojciech, McCullough, Jon W. S., Wang, Duo, Mitchell, Travis R., Jones, Bruce D. and Williams, John R. (2016). Characterising the Behaviour of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluids via Direct Numerical Simulation. SPE Asia Pacific Oil & Gas Conference and Exhibition, Perth, Australia, 25-27 October 2016. Richardson, TX, United States: Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi: 10.2118/182458-MS
2016
Conference Publication
Current developments and challenges of underground mine ventilation and cooling methods
Kamyar, Amin, Aminossadati, Saiied Mostafa, Leonardi, Christopher and Sasmito, Agus (2016). Current developments and challenges of underground mine ventilation and cooling methods. 2016 Coal Operators' Conference, Wollongong, Australia, 10-12 Feb 2016. Wollongong, Australia: The University of Wollongong Printery.
2016
Conference Publication
Characterisation of proppant transport in hydraulic fractures using the coupled lattice Boltzmann method and discrete element method
Wang, Duo, Leonardi, Christopher and Aminossadati, Saiied M. (2016). Characterisation of proppant transport in hydraulic fractures using the coupled lattice Boltzmann method and discrete element method. Thirteenth International Conference for Mesoscopic Methods in Engineering and Science, Hamburg, Germany, 18-22 July, 2016.
2015
Journal Article
Multiphase lattice Boltzmann simulations for porous media applications: a review
Liu, Haihu, Kang, Qinjun, Leonardi, Christopher R., Jones, Bruce D., Schmieschek, Sebastian, Narvaez, Ariel, Williams, John R., Valocchi, Albert J. and Harting, Jens (2015). Multiphase lattice Boltzmann simulations for porous media applications: a review. Computational Geosciences, 20 (4), 1-29. doi: 10.1007/s10596-015-9542-3
2015
Journal Article
Characterizing flow in oil reservoir rock using SPH: absolute permeability
Holmes, David W., Williams, John R., Tilke, Peter G. and Leonardi, Christopher (2015). Characterizing flow in oil reservoir rock using SPH: absolute permeability. Computational Particle Mechanics, 3 (2), 141-154. doi: 10.1007/s40571-015-0038-7
2015
Conference Publication
Simulation of particle suspensions using a coupled lattice boltzmann and discrete element method
Jones, B. D., Williams, J. and Leonardi, C. R. (2015). Simulation of particle suspensions using a coupled lattice boltzmann and discrete element method. 49th U.S. Rock Mechanics/Geomechanics Symposium, San Francisco, CA, United States, 29 June - 1 July 2015. Alexandria, VA, United States: The American Rock Mechanics Association.
2015
Conference Publication
Application of Thermal Lattice Boltzmann Methods at Fluid-Solid Interfaces
McCullough, J. W. S., Leonardi, C. R. and Aminossadati, S. M. (2015). Application of Thermal Lattice Boltzmann Methods at Fluid-Solid Interfaces. Australasian Conference on Computational Mechanics, Brisbane, QLD, Australia, 30 November - 1 December 2015.
2015
Journal Article
Electromagnetic excitation of particle suspensions in hydraulic fractures using a coupled lattice Boltzmann-discrete element model
Leonardi, Christopher R., McCullough, Jon W. S., Jones, Bruce D. and Williams, John R. (2015). Electromagnetic excitation of particle suspensions in hydraulic fractures using a coupled lattice Boltzmann-discrete element model. Computational Particle Mechanics, 3 (2), 125-140. doi: 10.1007/s40571-015-0035-x
2015
Conference Publication
Thermal and hydraulic performance of a heat exchanger operated with ice slurry as refrigerant
Kamyar, Amin, Aminossadati, Saiied M. and Leonardi, Christopher R. (2015). Thermal and hydraulic performance of a heat exchanger operated with ice slurry as refrigerant. IAHR International Conference on Cooling Tower and Heat, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia, 7-11 September 2015. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland.
2013
Conference Publication
Simulation of complex particle suspensions using coupled lattice Boltzmann-discrete element methods
Leonardi, Christopher R., Jones, Bruce D., Holmes, David W. and Williams, John R. (2013). Simulation of complex particle suspensions using coupled lattice Boltzmann-discrete element methods. 6th International Conference on Discrete Element Methods (DEM6), Golden, CO, United States, 5-6 August, 2013. Golden, CO, United States: Colorado School of Mines.
2012
Conference Publication
A multicore numerical framework for assessing the permeability of reservoir rocks
Tilke, P. G., Leonardi, C. R., Holmes, D. W. and Williams, J. R. (2012). A multicore numerical framework for assessing the permeability of reservoir rocks. 4th International Conference on Porous Media and Their Applications in Science, Engineering and Industry (ICPM 2012), Potsdam, Germany, 17-22 June, 2012.
2012
Journal Article
Simulation of fines migration using a non-Newtonian lattice Boltzmann-discrete element model Part I: 2D implementation aspects
Leonardi, C. R., Owen, D. R. J. and Feng, Y. T. (2012). Simulation of fines migration using a non-Newtonian lattice Boltzmann-discrete element model Part I: 2D implementation aspects. Engineering Computations, 29 (3-4), 366-391. doi: 10.1108/02644401211227617
2012
Journal Article
Simulation of fines migration using a non-Newtonian lattice Boltzmann-discrete element model Part II: 3D extension and applications
Leonardi, C. R., Owen, D. R. J. and Feng, Y. T. (2012). Simulation of fines migration using a non-Newtonian lattice Boltzmann-discrete element model Part II: 3D extension and applications. Engineering Computations, 29 (3-4), 392-418. doi: 10.1108/02644401211227635
2011
Journal Article
An efficient framework for fluid–structure interaction using the lattice Boltzmann method and immersed moving boundaries
Owen, D. R. J., Leonardi, C. R. and Feng, Y. T. (2011). An efficient framework for fluid–structure interaction using the lattice Boltzmann method and immersed moving boundaries. International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 87 (1-5), 66-95. doi: 10.1002/nme.2985
2011
Journal Article
Numerical rheometry of bulk materials using a power law fluid and the lattice Boltzmann method
Leonardi, C. R., Owen, D. R. J. and Feng, Y. T. (2011). Numerical rheometry of bulk materials using a power law fluid and the lattice Boltzmann method. Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics, 166 (12-13), 628-638. doi: 10.1016/j.jnnfm.2011.02.011
2011
Conference Publication
Large in-memory cyber-physical security-related analytics via scalable coherent shared memory architectures
Williams, John R., Herrero, Sergio, Leonardi, Christopher, Chan, Stephen, Sanchez, Abel and Aung, Zeyar (2011). Large in-memory cyber-physical security-related analytics via scalable coherent shared memory architectures. IEEE Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Cyber Security (CISC2011), Paris, France, 11-15 April 2011. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/CICYBS.2011.5949414
2011
Book Chapter
Multi-field coupling strategies for large scale particle-fluid problems
Owen, D. R. J., Feng, Y. T., Han, K. and Leonardi, C. R. (2011). Multi-field coupling strategies for large scale particle-fluid problems. Recent Developments and Innovative Applications in Computational Mechanics. (pp. 239-248) edited by Dana Mueller-Hoeppe, Stefan Loehnert and Stefanie Reese. Berlin Heidelberg, Germany: Springer - Verlag. doi: 10.1007/978-3-642-17484-1_27
2011
Conference Publication
A Multi-Core Numerical Framework for Characterizing Flow in Oil Reservoirs
Leonardi, Christopher, Holmes, David W., Williams, John R. and Tilke, Peter G. (2011). A Multi-Core Numerical Framework for Characterizing Flow in Oil Reservoirs. 19th High Performance Computing Symposium (HCP2011), Boston USA, 4-7 april, 2011. San Diego, CA United States: Society for Computer Simulation International.
2009
Conference Publication
Fluid/structure coupling in fracturing solids and particulate media
Owen, D. R. J., Feng, Y. T., Labao, M., Han, K., Leonardi, C. R., Yu, J. and Eve, R. (2009). Fluid/structure coupling in fracturing solids and particulate media. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis. doi: 10.1080/17486020902767370
Funding
Current funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Christopher Leonardi is:
- Available for supervision
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Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Quantifying the mechanical properties of myocardium in cases of heart failure by preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF)
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Travis Mitchell
-
Doctor Philosophy
Use of Differential InSAR for Monitoring Surface Deformation in the Surat Basin
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Phil Hayes
-
Doctor Philosophy
Modelling and fabrication of optimal fiber-based filter for effective air-borne fine-particle capture
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Travis Mitchell
-
Doctor Philosophy
Development of a computational framework for the dynamic interaction of fluids and solids during resource extraction
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Travis Mitchell, Dr Lukasz Laniewski-Wollk
-
Doctor Philosophy
Integrating hydrogen from methane pyrolysis into the iron and steel industry
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Travis Mitchell, Associate Professor Simon Smart
-
Doctor Philosophy
Improving Gas Recovery in Low-Permeability Coals by Deployment of Multi-stage Indirect Hydraulic Fractures
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Zhongwei Chen, Professor Ray Johnson
-
Doctor Philosophy
Computational Simulation of a high-efficiency refrigeration system for underground mines
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
Doctor Philosophy
Controlling microenvironments to enable green fuels and scalable electrolysis
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Tom Rufford, Dr Travis Mitchell
-
Doctor Philosophy
Overcoming roadblocks in mammalian cell biomanufacturing
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Justin Cooper-White
-
Doctor Philosophy
Smart Grid monitoring with Artificial Intelligence
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
Completed supervision
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Investigating the transport of proppant and micro-proppant in fracture networks via direct numerical simulation of particle-laden flows
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati, Professor Ray Johnson
-
2022
Doctor Philosophy
Computational modelling of nanofluids under solar radiation in a CPV/T collector
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Development of a multiphase lattice Boltzmann model for high-density and viscosity ratio flows in unconventional gas wells
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Mahshid Firouzi
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Direct Numerical Simulation of Coupled Fluid-Particle Flow in Hydraulic Fractures
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Numerical investigation of conjugate heat transfer and temperature-dependent viscosity in non-Brownian suspensions with application to hydraulic fracturing
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Integrated Numerical Model for Examining the Performance of Magnetorheological Plastomer Dampers: Magnetorheological Plastomer Dampers
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
2023
Doctor Philosophy
Impact of preconditioning fracturing on fluid accessibility of chalcopyrite ores
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Italo Onederra
-
2023
Master Philosophy
ADVANCED MODELLING OF FLOOR DISRUPTION BLASTING TO IMPROVE LOW-WALL STABILITY IN COAL MINING
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Italo Onederra
-
2020
Doctor Philosophy
Performance simulation of Hollow-Core Photonic Crystal Fibre as a gas sensor for industry applications
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Mehmet Kizil, Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
2019
Doctor Philosophy
Numerical and Experimental Investigations of Thermo-hydrodynamic Characteristics of Ice Slurry in Helical Heat Exchangers
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
2018
Doctor Philosophy
Development and Investigation of Integrated Reservoir-Wellbore Flow Model
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Zhongwei Chen, Associate Professor Saiied Aminossadati
-
2018
Master Philosophy
Detonation performance of novel hydrogen peroxide and nitrate-based hybrid explosives
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Italo Onederra
-
2017
Master Philosophy
Investigating the application of linear shaped charges in wall control practices
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Italo Onederra
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Christopher Leonardi directly for media enquiries about:
- Complex fluid dynamics
- Computational modelling
- Oil and gas production
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