Dr. Debanjan Chandra is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at IISER Berhampur. His research focuses on rock mechanics, engineering geology, and reservoir geomechanics, with particular emphasis on subsurface energy and geoengineering applications including carbon capture and storage (CCS), hydrogen storage, geothermal systems, and enhanced hydrocarbon recovery.
Dr. Chandra completed his Ph.D. in Earth Sciences from IIT Bombay, where his research focused on unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, shale and coal geomechanics, and gas storage behavior. Prior to joining IISER Berhampur, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at TU Delft, Netherlands and later at NTNU, Norway. His international research experience spans multidisciplinary projects on CO₂ storage, thermo-poro-mechanics of reservoir rocks and caprocks, acoustic monitoring of deformation and failure processes, and time-lapse geophysical monitoring of subsurface operations.
His research integrates laboratory rock deformation experiments, geophysics, petrophysics, geochemistry, and computational modeling to understand the coupled mechanical and fluid-flow behavior of geological formations. He has worked extensively on stress-induced changes in seismic and ultrasonic properties of rocks, acoustic emission monitoring, and deformation mechanisms in porous sandstones, shales, and coal-bearing formations relevant to sustainable subsurface engineering. Dr. Chandra has authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific articles and has co-authored the book Unconventional Hydrocarbon Reservoirs: Coal and Shale.
At IISER Berhampur, he aims to develop interdisciplinary research programs to address challenges associated with energy transition and sustainable subsurface utilization. He has active collaborations with academia, industry, and national research laboratories, and welcomes skilled and motivated Ph.D students and postdoctoral researchers.
1. Chandra, D., Naderloo, M., Grande, L., Griffiths, L., & Barnhoorn, A. (2026). Linking Ultrasonic Velocity and Microseismic Monitoring During Laboratory Triaxial Deformation of Reservoir Sandstones from a North Sea CO2 Storage Site. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 1-24.
2. Chandra, D., & Barnhoorn, A. (2025). Ultrasonic response of a brine-saturated reservoir rock during coupled stress and fluid perturbation during liquid-CO2 injection. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 147, 104498.
3. Chandra, D., Alghannam, L., & Barnhoorn, A. (2025). Applicability of ultrasonic measurements to monitor and forecast stress change in subsurface storage applications. Engineering Geology, 108421.
4. Heimisson, E. R., Naderloo, M., Chandra, D., & Barnhoorn, A. (2025). Applying and validating Coulomb rate-and-state seismicity models in acoustic emission experiments. Tectonophysics, 895, 230574.
5. Kumar, K. R., Honorio, H., Chandra, D., Lesueur, M., & Hajibeygi, H. (2023). Comprehensive review of geomechanics of underground hydrogen storage in depleted reservoirs and salt caverns. Journal of energy storage, 73, 108912.
6. Vishal, V., & Chandra, D. (2022). Mechanical response and strain localization in coal under uniaxial loading, using digital volume correlation on X-ray tomography images. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 154, 105103.
7. Chandra, D., Vishal, V., Bahadur, J., Agrawal, A. K., Das, A., Hazra, B., & Sen, D. (2022). Nano-scale physicochemical attributes and their impact on pore heterogeneity in shale. Fuel, 314, 123070.
8. Chandra, D., Bakshi, T., Bahadur, J., Hazra, B., Vishal, V., Kumar, S., ... & Singh, T. N. (2023). Pore morphology in thermally-treated shales and its implication on CO2 storage applications: A gas sorption, SEM, and small-angle scattering study. Fuel, 331, 125877.
9. Chandra, D., Vishal, V., Bahadur, J., & Sen, D. (2020). A novel approach to identify accessible and inaccessible pores in gas shales using combined low-pressure sorption and SAXS/SANS analysis. International Journal of Coal Geology, 228, 103556.
10. Vishal, V., Chandra, D., Singh, U., & Verma, Y. (2021). Understanding initial opportunities and key challenges for CCUS deployment in India at scale. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 175, 105829.
