A-TOUGH: A multimedia fluid-flow/energy-transport model for fully-coupled atmospheric-subsurface interactions
- Multimedia Environmental Technology, Inc., Newport Beach, CA (United States)
- Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Co., Inc., Las Vegas, NV (United States)
- Department of Energy, Las Vegas, NV (United States)
Modeling the extreme thermodynamic conditions encountered in the near-ground surface atmosphere-soil boundary in desert environments requires a robust code that is capable of simulating fully-coupled flow and transports of water liquid, water vapor, and heat in porous and fractured media - where flow is usually laminar, and the atmosphere - where flow is usually turbulent. A-TOUGh (Atmospheric TOUGH) is developed to simulate the transport of air, vapor, and heat through an atmospheric boundary layer coupled with the transport of moisture, an air-vapor mixture, and heat through porous or fractured media. The three-dimensional nature of the code allows simulation of rough terrain and heterogeneous subsurface conditions encountered at site such as Yucca Mountain. The allowable range of temperatures (-50{degrees}C to 200{degrees}C) and relative humidities (0 to 100 percent) for this new code permits the simulation of complex processes such as condensation in fractures during the winter season. A-TOUGH can also be used to predict the effect that ventilation shafts and tunnels in underground facilities have on moisture conditions in the host fractured rocks over extended periods of time. A-TOUGH has been tested with several simple and complicated problem sets, including a two-dimensional low-level radioactive waste trench with a layered cap. This paper: (1) summarizes the physical and mathematical approach used by previous investigators and the current study to simulate near-surface unsaturated flow processes, (2) briefly describes the numerical procedures incorporated in A-TOUGH, and (3) presents the results of a calibration simulation based on published field data.
- Research Organization:
- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), New York, NY (United States); American Nuclear Society (ANS), La Grange Park, IL (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 60965
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940553-Vol.4; TRN: 94:010821-0071
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International high-level radioactive waste management conference, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 22-26 May 1994; Other Information: PBD: 1994; Related Information: Is Part Of High Level Radioactive Waste Management: Proceedings of the fifth annual international conference. Volume 4; PB: 1048 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
99 MATHEMATICS
COMPUTERS
INFORMATION SCIENCE
MANAGEMENT
LAW
MISCELLANEOUS
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
AIR-BIOSPHERE INTERACTIONS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
WATER VAPOR
ENERGY TRANSFER
TURBULENT FLOW
LAMINAR FLOW
FLOW MODELS
COMPLEX TERRAIN
BOUNDARY LAYERS
COMPUTER CODES
Yucca Mountain Project