Collaborative Research: Coupled Flow Phenomena in Unsaturated Clay Barriers

该项目致力于推进与废物控制系统中耦合非饱和流动的建模和评估相关的最新技术。这样的系统对于确保全国各地的核废料、危险废料和城市废料的安全至关重要。如果成功，新的模型将解决目前无法解释的行为，并被物理上不准确的简化近似。这项合作战略性地利用每个机构的优势来解决实验和理论目标。本研究的目标是评估非饱和粘土中化学渗透和膜行为的存在和意义。将采用合作的实验和理论方法来实现这一目标。总体目标是：(1)开发和评估用于测量非饱和粘土中的膜行为和量化流体和化学耦合运移的创新仪器；(2)阐明控制流体和化学通量的直接和耦合驱动力；(3)在代表实际问题的条件下测量非饱和土壤上的控制参数；(4)开发包含膜行为的非饱和条件下的溶质运移模型；以及(5)量化耦合作为土壤中饱和程度和典型屏障材料中溶质浓度的函数的重要性。

This project seeks to advance the state of the art as it relates to modeling and evaluating coupled unsaturated flow in waste containment systems. Such systems are vital to securing nuclear, hazardous and municipal waste throughout the country. If successful, the new models will address behavior that is currently unaccounted for and approximated with physically inaccurate simplifications. The collaboration strategically leverages the strengths at each institution to address experimental and theoretical objectives.The goal of this research is to evaluate the existence and significance of chemico-osmosis and membrane behavior in unsaturated clays. A collaborative experimental and theoretical approach will be employed to achieve this goal. The overall objectives are: (1) to develop and evaluate an innovative apparatus for measuring membrane behavior and quantifying coupled fluid and chemical transport in unsaturated clays; (2) to clarify the direct and coupled driving forces governing fluid and chemical fluxes; (3) to measure governing parameters on unsaturated soils under conditions representing practical problems; (4) to develop a model for solute transport under unsaturated conditions that incorporates membrane behavior, and (5) to quantify the importance of coupling as a function of the degree of saturation and solute concentration in soils typical of barrier materials.