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，而核能发电并非没有问题。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;大多数处置计划都倾向于将高放射性、发热废物深埋在岩石中形成的储存库中。 所有深层处置概念都必须依靠若干工程和天然屏障来阻止放射性核素从处置库迁移到地圈。申请人在过去15年的研究集中在岩石热-水-力学行为建模的综合方法上，考虑到建模、实验和计算的发展。岩石中的损伤演化，以裂纹和空隙的成核、扩展和合并的形式发生在颗粒水平上;这揭示了地质处置概念的功效。由于岩石中的地下水运输从处置库释放的放射性核素，因此，由于热效应和机械效应，岩石运输特性的任何改变都是至关重要的。 流体迁移的研究需要先进的设备，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10 000年的时间尺度上的长期行为。 如果实验结果不可靠，计算机建模的预测能力就会受到怀疑。麦吉尔地质力学实验室现有的泵，对进行精确的流体输送实验至关重要，已经老化，并已被证明不可靠。地质力学的研究人员需要更换泵，否则计算机模型所依赖的研究的重要实验阶段将不得不终止。申请资金的实验设施是多方面的，该小组计划利用这些设施研究各种问题，包括受到高围压的断裂岩石中的流动、膨润土乳液在断裂中的运动以及土地开垦工作的内部侵蚀。从这个意义上说，这些设备将被整合到精心策划的，正在进行的研究中，具有很高的国家重要性，并在国内和国际上取得了成功。

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.