A comparative analysis of numerical approaches for the description of gas flow in clay-based repository systems: From a laboratory to a large-scale gas injection test

IF 3.7 2区工程技术 Q3 ENERGY & FUELS

Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment Pub Date : 2025-02-22 DOI:10.1016/j.gete.2025.100654

E. Tamayo-Mas , J.F. Harrington , I.P. Damians , J.T. Kim , E. Radeisen , J. Rutqvist , C. Lee , B.S. Noghretab , R.J. Cuss

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

There is nowadays a consensus among many countries that geological disposal is a favourable solution for the long-term management. Although different host formations and different barrier systems are under consideration around the world, clay-based materials form an important component for waste isolation in most national programmes. Hence, a good comprehension of the effect of gas flow on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of clay-based soils is essential, both at laboratory and field scale. Task B under the international cooperative project DECOVALEX-2023 has recently shown that, after some enhancement, models can be employed to reproduce laboratory scale tests, even with different sample geometries³⁷. However, further work is required to understand whether they can be applied to simulate a large-scale experiment. Up-scaling of models for the advective transport of gas through clay-based low permeable material presents a number of problems related to the difficulty in obtaining consistent hydrogeological parameters and constitutive relationships at both laboratory and field scale. Based on a unique dataset from a large-scale gas injection test (Lasgit) performed at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (Sweden), Task B within DECOVALEX-2023 has explored the refinement of these numerical strategies applied to the simulation of gas flow. Work performed within the task reveals that codes do not need to be substantially modified from the laboratory models to reproduce full-scale tests: indeed, model parameters calibrated and validated at laboratory scale have been applied to predict field scale gas flow at Lasgit, including peak gas pressure and injected cumulative gas volume. By means of (1) the introduction of interfaces between blocks to reflect the experimental configuration and the (2) adjustment of some parameters (e.g., higher permeability), the updated models are able to represent most of the key features observed in the experimental data, even at a large scale.

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粘土基储气库系统中气体流动描述数值方法的比较分析：从实验室到大规模注气试验

目前许多国家一致认为，地质处置是长期管理的有利办法。虽然世界各地正在考虑不同的寄主形成和不同的屏障系统，但在大多数国家方案中，粘土基材料是废物隔离的重要组成部分。因此，在实验室和现场尺度上，很好地理解气体流动对粘土基土壤的水力学行为的影响是必不可少的。国际合作项目DECOVALEX-2023下的任务B最近表明，经过一些改进后，模型可以用于再现实验室规模的测试，即使样品几何形状不同。然而，要了解它们是否可以应用于模拟大规模实验，还需要进一步的工作。气体通过粘土基低渗透材料的平流输运模型的放大提出了许多与在实验室和现场尺度上难以获得一致的水文地质参数和本构关系相关的问题。基于在Äspö Hard Rock实验室（瑞典）进行的大规模注气测试（Lasgit）的独特数据集，DECOVALEX-2023中的任务B探索了这些应用于气体流动模拟的数值策略的改进。在任务范围内进行的工作表明，不需要对实验室模型的代码进行大量修改，即可重现全尺寸测试：实际上，在实验室规模上校准和验证的模型参数已用于预测Lasgit的现场规模气体流量，包括峰值气体压力和注入的累积气体体积。通过(1)引入区块之间的界面来反映实验配置，(2)调整一些参数（如更高的渗透率），更新后的模型能够代表实验数据中观察到的大部分关键特征，即使在大尺度下也是如此。

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来源期刊

Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment Earth and Planetary Sciences-Geotechnical Engineering and Engineering Geology

CiteScore

5.90

自引率

11.80%

发文量

期刊介绍： The aim of the Journal is to publish research results of the highest quality and of lasting importance on the subject of geomechanics, with the focus on applications to geological energy production and storage, and the interaction of soils and rocks with the natural and engineered environment. Special attention is given to concepts and developments of new energy geotechnologies that comprise intrinsic mechanisms protecting the environment against a potential engineering induced damage, hence warranting sustainable usage of energy resources. The scope of the journal is broad, including fundamental concepts in geomechanics and mechanics of porous media, the experiments and analysis of novel phenomena and applications. Of special interest are issues resulting from coupling of particular physics, chemistry and biology of external forcings, as well as of pore fluid/gas and minerals to the solid mechanics of the medium skeleton and pore fluid mechanics. The multi-scale and inter-scale interactions between the phenomena and the behavior representations are also of particular interest. Contributions to general theoretical approach to these issues, but of potential reference to geomechanics in its context of energy and the environment are also most welcome.