Modeling spatial heterogeneity of thermal conductivity using a surrogate property
- Sandia National Lab., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Design of potential high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, requires modeling of the thermal response of the geologic system to imposed heat loads. Predicting the thermal profiles produced by alternate design configurations requires input models of thermal and bulk properties. We have used geostatistical techniques to create geologically reasonable, two-dimensional models of thermal conductivity from surrogate, measured porosity data obtained from several drill holes and multiple regression relationships among porosity, saturation level, initial temperature and thermal conductivity. The resulting models of thermal conductivity and bulk density appear to be reasonable numerical representations of the layered sequence of welded and nonwelded tuffs. Successful comparison of the resulting thermal profiles against independently generated thermal profiles modeled directly from averaged thermal conductivity data appears to justify the use of porosity data as a surrogate for spatially limited thermal conductivity measurements.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Laboratory
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 127102
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9504179--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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