Jack Li - Geophysicist

About Me

I am a geophysicist specializing in laboratory seismic and acoustic wave experimentation for understanding rock deformation, fracture, and failure in geothermal and other subsurface energy systems.

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh, where I work on laboratory-based rock physics experiments, with a particular focus on the software, data-processing, and numerical-modelling components that support experimental interpretation.

My current research focuses on:

Laboratory studies of rock deformation and fracture relevant to geothermal reservoirs and induced seismicity.

Triaxial rock deformation experiments combining active ultrasonic monitoring, passive acoustic emission/microseismic monitoring, and synchrotron X-ray imaging.

Software development for real-time velocity monitoring, acoustic event detection, fracture-process analysis, and experimental data management.

Processing and interpretation of large laboratory seismic, acoustic emission, and X-ray tomography datasets.

Numerical modelling and digital-twin simulations of seismic/acoustic wave propagation in laboratory-scale experimental systems.

Multi-scale physical and numerical modelling to connect laboratory observations with geothermal reservoir processes.

Education

PhD in Geophysics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland - Thesis: Elastic immersive wave experimentation (2018–2022)

MSc in Geophysics, Colorado School of Mines, United States - Thesis: A unified interpretation of nonlinear elasticity in granular solids (2016–2018)

BSc (Hons) in Geophysics, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom (2014–2016)

BSc in Geology, Nanjing University, China (2012–2014)

Research Stories

Immersive Wave Experimentation (IWE): Cloaking, Holography, and Cloning

Mixed‑reality acoustics setup that removes wall echoes, hides objects, creates sound illusions, and makes one object sound like another.

$Rosemanowes HDR: induced seismicity, fractures, and stress field$

Induced Seismicity (Rosemanowes HDR)

What 5,000+ microearthquakes taught us about a UK geothermal experiment: for their timing and locations showing how pressure diffuses through the fracture network

Nonlinear Elasticity in Resonance Experiments

How tiny cracks opening and closing during vibration make the resonance curve differ for up vs down sweeps, recover slowly after shaking, and sometimes jump suddenly (“cliff”).

Immersive Wavefield Modelling

Recompute seismic wavefields after local model changes by simulating only a target zone, while an immersive boundary restores the missing exterior response—including long-range interactions.

Publications

Li, X., Robertsson, J., and van Manen, D-J. Elastic immersive wave experimentation, Geophysical Journal International, 2023.

Li, X., Robertsson, J., Curtis, A., and van Manen, D-J. Internal absorbing boundary conditions for closed-aperture wavefield decomposition in solid media with unknown interiors, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2022.

Li, X., Koene, E., van Manen, D-J., Robertsson, J., and Curtis, A. Elastic immersive wavefield modelling, Journal of Computational Physics, 2022.

Li, X., Becker, T., Ravasi, M., Robertsson, J., and van Manen, D-J.Closed-aperture unbounded acoustics experimentation using multidimensional deconvolution, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2021.

Li, X., Robertsson, J., Curtis, A., and van Manen, D-J. Compensating for source directivity in immersive wave experimentation, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2019.

Li, X., Sens-Schönfelder, C., and Snieder, R. Nonlinear elasticity in resonance experiments, Physical Review B, 2018.

Li, X., Main, I., and Jupe, A. Induced seismicity at the UK ‘hot dry rock’ test site for geothermal energy production, Geophysical Journal International, 2018.

Müller, J., Becker, T. S., Li, X., Aichele, J., Serra-Garcia, M., Robertsson, J. O. A., van Manen, D-J., Acoustic cloning, Physical Review Applied, 2023.

Becker, T. S., van Manen, D-J., Haag, T., Bärlocher, C., Li, X., Bösing, N., Curtis, A., Serra-Garcia, M., and Robertsson, J. Broadband acoustic invisibility and illusions, Science Advances, 2021.

van Manen, D-J., Li, X. (Corresponding author) , Vasmel, R., Broggini, F., and Robertsson, J. Exact extrapolation and immersive modelling with finite-difference injection, Geophysical Journal International, 2020.

Sens-Schönfelder, C., Snieder, R., and Li, X. A model for nonlinear elasticity in rocks based on internal friction and contact aging, Geophysical Journal International, 2019.

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ORCID Profile

Jack (Xun) Li