Research Engineer
Ken Dekkers
Department of Engineering Science & Biomedical Engineering
ken.dekkers@auckland.ac.nz
Ken specialises in Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, focusing on inverse modelling, uncertainty quantification, and advanced cloud computing.
About
Ken is a Research Engineer at the Geothermal Institute and the Department of Engineering Science at the University of Auckland. His initial work was a master’s thesis on inverse modeling and uncertainty quantification of an updated Rotorua model. The outcome of his thesis was an improved, calibrated Rotorua model, including an uncertainty analysis of its steady-state, production, and future states. This work evolved into an uncertainty quantification framework that is applicable for all geothermal modelling projects.
At present, Ken is responsible for maintaining the cloud computing infrastructure that enables fast, parallel reservoir simulations, as well as integrating the uncertainty quantification framework into other reservoir models. Using this framework, we have also developed a new method for greenfield resource assessment. The framework for greenfield resource assessment and uncertainty quantification combines data and expert knowledge to constrain the ensemble of models, providing robust reservoir forecast results where uncertainty quantification is crucial for improved decision-making.
Professional Experience
2020 - Present
Geothermal Reservoir Engineer
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Ken is working as a geothermal reservoir engineer doing work on inverse modelling, data analysis, post-processing and uncertainty quantification of numerical models and model predictions. As well as maintaining cloud computing infrastructure for fast and parallel reservoir simulations.
Qualifications
2017 - 2021
Master Mechanical Engineering
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Inverse modelling and uncertainty quantification of a computational model of the Rotorua geothermal field. The project was a collaboration with the University of Auckland.
2014 - 2017
Bachelor Mechanical Engineering
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Oil recovery using sub-critical water.
Highlighted Papers
2023
Dekkers, K., Croucher, A., Gravatt, M., Renaud, T., Nicholson, R., Maclaren, O., O’Sullivan, J., O’Sullivan, M. (2023). An instruction to use cloud computing for complex geothermal simulations using parallel software Waiwera. Proceedings 45th New Zealand Geothermal Workshop, Auckland, New Zealand.
2022
Dekkers, K., Gravatt, M., Renaud, T., de Beer, A., Power, A., Maclaren, O., Nicholson, R., O’Sullivan, M., Riffault, J., O’Sullivan, J. (2022). Resource Assessment: Estimating the Potential of an African Rift Geothermal Reservoir. Proceedings 9th African Rift Geothermal Conference, Djibouti, Tanzania.
2022
Dekkers, K., Gravatt, M., Maclaren, O., Nicholson, O., O’Sullivan, J., O’Sullivan, M. (2022). Data-worth analysis: Designing a monitoring plan for Rotorua that reduces uncertainty. Proceedings 43rd New Zealand Geothermal Workshop, Wellington, New Zealand.
2022
Dekkers, K., Maclaren, O., Nicholson, R., Nugraha, R., O’Sullivan, M., Riffault, J., O’Sullivan, J. (2022). Resource Assessment: Estimating the Potential of a Geothermal Reservoir. PROCEEDINGS, 47th Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering Stanford University, Stanford, California, February 7-9, 2022.
2020
Dekkers, K., van Vlijmen, M., O’Sullivan, J., Gravatt, M., Popineau, J., O’Sullivan, M. (2020). An updated computer model of the Rotorua geothermal field. Proceedings 42nd New Zealand Geothermal Workshop, Waitangi, New Zealand.
Recent Collaborations
Address
L4, 70 Symonds St, Grafton, Auckland
New Zealand