Gas tracer transport through a heterogeneous fracture zone under two phase flow conditions: Model development and parameter sensitivity

[EN] Large amounts of gas can result from anaerobic corrosion of metals and from chemical and biological degradation of organic substances in underground repositories for radioactive waste. Gas generation may lead to the formation of a gas phase bubble and to the migration of radioactive gaseous spe...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Jódar, Jorge, Medina, Agustín, Carrera, Jesús
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión enviada para evaluación y publicación
Fecha de publicación:2009
País:España
Recursos:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/414738
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/414738
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/61349195011
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Partitioning tracer
Fracture
Gas migration
Gas tracer Test
Multiphase conditions
Descrição
Resumo:[EN] Large amounts of gas can result from anaerobic corrosion of metals and from chemical and biological degradation of organic substances in underground repositories for radioactive waste. Gas generation may lead to the formation of a gas phase bubble and to the migration of radioactive gaseous species. Transport occurs in, at least, in two forms: (1) gas bubble, migration is controlled by advection, dispersion and diffusion in the gas phase, and (2) within water pockets, the dissolved species migrate mainly by diffusion. We consider a two-dimensional system representing an isolated heterogeneous fractured zone. A dipole gas flow field is generated and gas tracers are injected. The delay in the breakthrough curves is studied. A simple method is used to solve the gas species transport equations in multiphase conditions. This method is based on a formal analogy between the equations of gas transport in a two phase system and the equations of solute tracer transport in water saturated systems. We perform a sensitivity analysis to quantify the relevance of the various transport mechanisms. We find that gas tracer migration is very sensitive to gas tracer solubility, which affects gas tracer transport of both mobile and immobile zones, and shows high sensitivity to diffusion in the gas phase, to heterogeneity and to gas pressure, but the largest sensitivity was observed with respect to injection borehole properties, i.e. borehole volume and water filled fraction.