Numerical Modeling of Water and Gas Transport in Compacted GMZ Bentonite under Constant Volume Condition

During deep geological disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste, underground water erosion into buffer materials, such as bentonite, and gas production around the canister are unavoidable. Therefore, understanding water and gas migration into buffer materials is important when it come...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geofluids 2021, Vol.2021, p.1-16
Main Authors: Liu, Jiang-Feng, Cao, Xu-Lou, Ni, Hong-Yang, Zhang, Kai, Ma, Zhi-Xiao, Ma, Li-Ke, Pu, Hai
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Bentonite
Boundary conditions
Buffers
Downstream effects
Experiments
Gas flow
Gas pressure
Gas production
Gases
Geology
Groundwater
Humidity
Laboratories
Laboratory experiments
Natural gas
Oil and gas production
Permeability
Pressure
Pressure effects
Radioactive waste disposal
Radioactive wastes
Saturation
Sealing
Transport
Water
Water erosion
Water flooding
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Summary:During deep geological disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste, underground water erosion into buffer materials, such as bentonite, and gas production around the canister are unavoidable. Therefore, understanding water and gas migration into buffer materials is important when it comes to determining the sealing ability of engineered barriers in deep geological repositories. The main aim of our study is to provide insights into the water/gas transport in a compacted bentonite sample under constant volume conditions. The results of our study indicate that water saturation is obtained after 450 hours, which is similar to experimental results. Gas migration testing shows that the degree of water saturation in the samples is very sensitive to the gas pressure. As soon as 2 MPa or higher gas pressure was applied, the water saturation degree decreased quickly. Laboratory experiments indicate that gas breakthrough occurs at 4 MPa, with water being expelled from the downstream side. This indicates that gas pressure has a significant effect on the sealing ability of Gaomizozi (GMZ) bentonite.
ISSN:1468-8115
1468-8123
DOI:10.1155/2021/4290426