FY2022 Progress on Imbibition Testing in Containment Science

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2022

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1889335· OSTI ID:1889335

Kuhlman, Kristopher L. ^[1]; Good, Forest T. ^[1]; LaForce, Tara ^[1]; Heath, Jason E. ^[1]

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1. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)

Estimation of two-phase fluid flow properties is important to understand and predict water and gas movement through the vadose zone for agricultural, hydrogeological, and engineering applications, such as for vapor-phase contaminant transport and/or containment of noble gases in the subsurface. In this second progress report of FY22, we present two ongoing activities related to imbibition testing on volcanic rock samples. We present the development of a new analytical solution predicting the temperature response observed during imbibition into dry samples, as discussed in our previous first progress report for FY22. We also illustrate the use of a multi-modal capillary pressure distribution to simulate both early- and late-time imbibition data collected on tuff core that can exhibit multiple pore types. These FY22 imbibition tests were conducted for an extended period (i.e., far beyond the time required for the wetting front to reach the top of the sample), which is necessary for parameter estimation and characterization of two different pore types within the samples.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
• DOE Contract Number: NA0003525
• OSTI ID: 1889335
• Report Number(s): SAND2022-13014; 710194
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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42 ENGINEERING