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Biography Summary
Dr. Robert Gracie is an Associate Professor in the Department of the Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo (UW) and is an expert in Computational and Applied Mechanics. He completed his PhD at Northwestern University in 2009 on multiscale analysis of the deformation and fracture of solids, prior to which he spent two years with Natural Resources Canada conducting analysis of the interactions between ice scours, the seabed soil, and offshore pipelines. He is speaks both French and English and enjoys playing hockey.
At UW, he carries out research on the development of numerical methods to simulate the deformation and fracture of solids, the flow of fluids, and heat transfer in fluids and solids. He’s known for his work on the development and application of the Extended Finite Element Method (XFEM) to fracture and to hydraulic fracturing. He has published research on topics ranging from the methods for the simulation of multi-physics phenomena, for multiscale analysis and upscaling, and for parameter estimation and model calibration under uncertainty. Applications of his work range for oil and gas development and geothermal energy to carbon sequestration. His current research projects focus on developing new technologies for multi-physics simulation of hydraulic fracturing, enhanced geothermal systems, and solution mining for caverns for compressed air energy storage systems.
Research Interests
- Simulation
- Computer Modelling
- Deformation
- Fracture
- Structural Analysis
- Computational Mechanics
- Solid Mechanics
- Poromechanics
- Finite Element Analysis
- Extended Finite Element Method
- Molecular Dynamics
- Numerical Methods
- Hydraulic Fracturing
Education
- 2009, Doctorate, Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern University
- 2002, Bachelor's, Mechanical Engineering, University of Ottawa
- 2002, Bachelor's, Computing Technologies, University of Ottawa
Courses*
- CIVE 221 - Advanced Calculus
- Taught in 2015, 2016, 2017
- CIVE 611 - Finite Element Analysis
- Taught in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
- CIVE 303 - Structural Analysis
- Taught in 2018, 2019
- CIVE 422 - Finite Element Analysis
- Taught in 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019
* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.
Selected/Recent Publications
- Komijani, M and Gracie, R, Nonlinear thermo-electro-mechanical dynamic behaviour of FGPM beams, Composite Structures, 150, 2016, 208 - 218
- Gomez Rodriguez, DM and Dusseault, MB and Gracie, R, Cohesion and Fracturing in a Transparent Jointed Rock Analogue, , 2016
- Ladubec, Chris and Gracie, Robert and Craig, James, An extended finite element method model for carbon sequestration, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, 102(3-4), 2015, 316 - 331
- Sarkarfarshi, Mirhamed and Gracie, Robert, Unscented importance sampling for parameter calibration of carbon sequestration systems, Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 29(3), 2015, 975 - 993
- Ghavam, K and Gracie, R, Simulations of reactions between irradiation induced-loops and mixed dislocation lines in zirconium, Journal of Nuclear Materials, 462, 2015, 126 - 134