Characterization of gas flow through low-permeability claystone: laboratory experiments and two-phase flow analyses
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Published:January 01, 2014
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CiteCitation
Rainer Senger, Enrique Romero, Alessio Ferrari, Paul Marschall, 2014. "Characterization of gas flow through low-permeability claystone: laboratory experiments and two-phase flow analyses", Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement, S. Norris, J. Bruno, M. Cathelineau, P. Delage, C. Fairhurst, E. C. Gaucher, E. H. Höhn, A. Kalinichev, P. Lalieux, P. Sellin
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Abstract
For the characterization of gas migration through a low-permeability clay host rock for deep underground repositories, a comprehensive understanding of the relevant phenomena of gas and fluid flow through low-permeability clay is required. The National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) in Switzerland has developed a comprehensive programme to characterize gas flow in low-permeability Opalinus Clay through laboratory tests and detailed numerical analyses for developing appropriate constitutive models.
Laboratory tests were performed on cores by two different laboratories, the Laboratory for Soil Mechanics at EPFL and the Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences at UPC. Loading tests...
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Contents
Clays in Natural and Engineered Barriers for Radioactive Waste Confinement

This Special Publication contains 43 scientific studies presented at the 5th conference on ‘Clays in natural and engineered barriers for radioactive waste confinement’ held in Montpellier, France in 2012. The conference and this resulting volume cover all the aspects of clay characterization and behaviour considered at various temporal and spatial scales relevant to the confinement of radionuclides in clay, from basic phenomenological process descriptions to the global understanding of performance and safety at repository and geological scales. Special emphasis has been given to the modelling of processes occurring at the mineralogical level within the clay barriers.
The papers in this Special Publication consider research into argillaceous media under the following topic areas: large-scale geological characterization; clay-based concept/large-scale experiments; hydrodynamical modelling; geochemistry; geomechanics; mass transfer/gas transfer; mass transfer mechanisms.
The collection of different topics presented in this Special Publication demonstrates the diversity of geological repository research.