Precision pump facilities for environmental geomechanics research

全球气候变化的证据重新引起了人们对核能发电的兴趣，核能发电并不是没有问题。包括加拿大在内的许多国家正在研究高放射性废物的安全处置；大多数处置方案倾向于将高放射性、释放热量的废物深埋在岩石形成的储存库中。所有深部处置概念都必须依赖几个工程和自然屏障，以阻止放射性核素从储存库向地质圈的迁移。申请人在过去15年中的研究重点是对岩石的热-水-力学行为进行建模的综合方法，考虑到建模、实验和计算发展。岩石中的损伤演化，以裂隙和空洞的形核、扩展和合并的形式在颗粒水平上发生；这揭示了地质处理概念的有效性。由于岩石中的地下水传输从储存库中释放出来的放射性核素，因此由于热和机械效应，岩石的输运性质的任何变化都是至关重要的。流体传输的研究需要复杂的设备，这些实验的结果被用于储存库的计算机模型，以预测它们在超过1万年的时间尺度上的长期行为。即使实验结果不可靠，计算机建模的预测能力也会受到怀疑。位于麦吉尔的岩土力学实验室现有的泵，对于进行准确的流体传输实验至关重要，已经老化，已经被证明不可靠。地质力学的研究人员需要更换水泵，否则计算机模型所依赖的关键实验阶段的研究将不得不终止。正在申请资金的实验设备是多方面的，该小组计划将这些设备用于研究各种问题，包括高围压下裂隙岩石中的流动、裂隙中膨润土乳剂的运动以及土地开垦努力的内部侵蚀。从这个意义上说，这些设备将被整合到计划良好的、正在进行的具有高度国家重要性的研究中，并在国内和国际上展示了成功。

Evidence of global climate change has renewed interest in nuclear power generation, which is not without problems. Safe disposal of highly radioactive waste is being investigated by many countries including Canada; most disposal schemes favour deep geological 'burial' of the high level, heat-emitting waste in repositories formed in rock.  All deep disposal concepts have to rely on several engineered and natural barriers to inhibit the migration of radionuclides from repository to geosphere. The applicant's research over the past fifteen years has focused on an integrated approach to modelling of thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of rocks, considering modelling, experimentation and computational developments. Damage evolution in rock, in the form of nucleation, extension and coalescence of cracks and voids occurs at the grain level; this sheds light on the efficacy of geological disposal concepts. Since groundwater in rock transports radionuclides released from the repository, any alteration in the transport properties of a rock due to thermal and mechanical effects is critical.  The study of fluid transport requires sophisticated equipment, and the results from these experiments are used in computer models of repositories to predict their long-term behaviour at time scales in excess of 10,000 years.  If the experimental results are unreliable, the predictive capability of computer modelling becomes suspect. The existing pumps in the Geomechanics Laboratories at McGill, crucial for conducting accurate fluid transport experiments, are aging and have already proved unreliable. The researchers in geomechanics need replacements pumps, otherwise the vital experimental phase of the research that the computer models rely on, will have to be terminated. The experimental facilities for which the funds are being requested are multi-faceted and the group plans to use these in the study of a variety of problems, including flow in fractured rocks subjected to high confining stress, movement of bentonite emulsions in fractures and internal erosion of land reclamation endeavours. In this sense, the equipment will be integrated into well-planned, on-going research with a high national importance and demonstrated success both nationally and internationally.