Dr.-Ing. Felix Weinhardt

Contact / Addess:

E-mail

felix.weinhardt@ufz.de

Phone +49 (0) 341 60253469

Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstrasse 15
04318 Leipzig

Felix Weinhardt

About Felix Weinhardt

Environmental Engineer with a background in experimental and numerical fluidmechanics and research interest in biogeochemical processes in porous media

Since 10/2024 Postdoctoral/Senior Researcher, Deparment Technical Biogeochemistry (TECH), Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ
2022-2024 Post-Doctoral Researcher, Institute of Applied Mechanics (MIB) / Institute for Modelling Hydraulic and Environmental Systems (IWS), University of Stuttgart
Specialization: microfluidics, technical mechanics, fluid mechanics
2018-2022 Dr.-Ing. Environmental Engineering / Simulation Technology, University of Stuttgart
Specialization: Microfluidics, fluid mechanics, numerical simulation
Thesis: Porosity and permeability alterations in processes of biomineralization in porous media - microfluidic investigations and their interpretation
2019 Research stay (3 weeks), Montana State University, Bozeman, USA
Microbiology, microfluidics
2016-2018
 M.Sc. Environmental Engineering, University of Stuttgart
Specialization: Flow and transport in porous media, hydrology, industrial water technology
Thesis: Experimental and numerical investigation of enzymatically induced calcite precipitation in porous media
2012-2016 B.Sc. Environmental Engineering, University of Stuttgart
Specialization: Hydrology, numerical methods, process engineering
Thesis: Algorithm for the time step adaption of the linear elastic model
2014-2015 Semesters abroad (8 months), University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Specialization: Hydrogeology, numerical simulation, fluid mechanics

Engineering applications of biomineralization in porous media

With the background of global warming and the overall aim of reducing CO₂ emissions, biomineralization offers the potential to supplement the use of conventional Portland cement, which currently contributes significantly to global CO₂ emissions. The most widely used method of biomineralization in engineering applications is ureolytic calcium carbonate precipitation, which relies on the hydrolysis of urea and the subsequent precipitation of calcium carbonate. Biomineralization allows for a variety of applications: producing construction materials, stabilizing soils, or creating hydraulic barriers in the subsurface.

Development of microfluidic and numerical methods for subsurface applications 

Microfluidic methods are an emerging tool to study reactive transport in porous media by mimicking a cross-section of the porous medium on a microfluidic chip as a quasi-2D porous medium. This allows for pore-scale observations of processes with high temporal resolution.

Numerical pore-scale simulations are ideal for planning and interpreting microfluidic experimental data. On the other hand, numerical simulations on the scale of a representative elementary volume are ideal for extrapolating experimental results to field-scale applications. With my research, I would like to contribute to the development of microfluidic and numerical methods for subsurface applications.

As lecturer at the University of Stuttgart:

  • Technische Mechanik III - Einführung in die Mechanik der inkompressiblen Fluide (since 2023)
  • Modeling of Hydrosystems (2024)

As Teching Assistant at the University of Stuttgart:

  • Fluidmechanik 1 (2018-2021)

  • Fluidmechanik 2 (2018-2021)

Index:

You could use our publication index for further requests.

2025 (1)

to index

2024 (2)

to index
  • Lee, D., Weinhardt, F., Hommel, J., Piotrowski, J., Class, H., & Steeb, H. (2023). Machine learning assists in increasing the time resolution of X-ray computed tomography applied to mineral precipitation in porous media. Scientific Reports, 13, 10529. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-37523-0
  • Weinhardt, F., Deng, J., Hommel, J., Vahid Dastjerdi, S., Gerlach, R., Steeb, H., & Class, H. (2022). Spatiotemporal Distribution of Precipitates and Mineral Phase Transition During Biomineralization Affect Porosity–Permeability Relationships. Transport in Porous Media, 143(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-022-01782-8
  • Hommel, J., Gehring, L., Weinhardt, F., Ruf, M., & Steeb, H. (2022). Effects of Enzymatically Induced Carbonate Precipitation on Capillary Pressure-Saturation Relations. Minerals, 12(10). https://doi.org/10.3390/min12101186
  • von Wolff, L., Weinhardt, F., Class, H., Hommel, J., & Rohde, C. (2021). Investigation of Crystal Growth in Enzymatically Induced Calcite Precipitation by Micro-Fluidic Experimental Methods and Comparison with Mathematical Modeling. Transport in Porous Media, 137(2). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-021-01560-y
  • Wagner, A., Eggenweiler, E., Weinhardt, F., Trivedi, Z., Krach, D., Lohrmann, C., Jain, K., Karadimitriou, N., Bringedal, C., Voland, P., Holm, C., Class, H., Steeb, H., & Rybak, I. (2021). Permeability Estimation of Regular Porous Structures: A Benchmark for Comparison of Methods. Transport in Porous Media, 138(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-021-01586-2
  • Weinhardt, F., Class, H., Dastjerdi, S. V., Karadimitriou, N., Lee, D., & Steeb, H. (2021). Experimental Methods and Imaging for Enzymatically Induced Calcite Precipitation in a microfluidic cell. Water Resources Research, 57, e2020WR029361. https://doi.org/doi.org/10.1029/2020WR029361
  • Koch, T., Gläser, D., Weishaupt, K., Ackermann, S., Beck, M., Becker, B., Burbulla, S., Class, H., Coltman, E., Emmert, S., Fetzer, T., Grüninger, C., Heck, K., Hommel, J., Kurz, T., Lipp, M., Mohammadi, F., Scherrer, S., Schneider, M., Seitz, G., Stadler, L., Utz, M., Weinhardt, F., Flemisch, B. (2021). DuMux 3 – an open-source simulator for solving flow and transport problems in porous media with a focus on model coupling. Computers & Mathematics with Applications. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.camwa.2020.02.012