Mechanisms of gas transport in clay barriers

Laboratory experiments show that preferential paths develop through saturated impervious clay bodies. A procedure to integrate gas transmission discontinuities into a general THM formulation is described. The technique has been incorporated into a general purpose FE THM code (CODE_BRIGHT) and it has...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Alonso Pérez de Agreda, Eduardo|||0000-0003-2472-3951, Olivella Pastallé, Sebastià|||0000-0003-3976-4027, Arnedo Gaute, Diego
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2006
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/2223
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/2223
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Natural gas -- Migration
Clay soils
Soil permeability
Fracture mechanics
Finite element method
Gas migration
Clay buffers
Gas -- Transport
Sòls argilosos
Permeabilitat
Fractures, Mecànica de
Elements finits, Mètode dels
Code-bright
Descripción
Sumario:Laboratory experiments show that preferential paths develop through saturated impervious clay bodies. A procedure to integrate gas transmission discontinuities into a general THM formulation is described. The technique has been incorporated into a general purpose FE THM code (CODE_BRIGHT) and it has been used to reproduce gas transmission experiments in specimens. The experimentally observed peaks in gas pressure and flow rates, when breakthrough conditions are reached, are reproduced. The paper discusses also the role of local heterogeneity in gas migration. A computational experiment, inspired in the conditions prevailing on the “in situ” large scale GMT test, has been preformed. All the elements of the discretization include an embedded discontinuity. The analysis shows that small variability in buffer properties enhances the development of preferential paths.