Modeling heterogeneous unsaturated porous media flow at Yucca Mountain
- Spectra Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Geologic systems are inherently heterogeneous and this heterogeneity can have a significant impact on unsaturated flow through porous media. Most previous efforts to model groundwater flow through Yucca Mountain have used stratigraphic units with homogeneous properties. However, modeling heterogeneous porous and fractured tuff in a more realistic manner requires numerical methods for generating heterogeneous simulations of the media, scaling of material properties from core scale to computational scale, and flow modeling that allows channeling. The Yucca Mountain test case of the INTRAVAL project is used to test the numerical approaches. Geostatistical methods are used to generate more realistic representations of the stratigraphic units and heterogeneity within units is generated using sampling from property distributions. Scaling problems are reduced using an adaptive grid that minimizes heterogeneity within each flow element. A flow code based on the dual mixed-finite-element method that allows for heterogeneity and channeling is employed. In the Yucca Mountain test case, the simulated volumetric water contents matched the measured values at drill hole USW UZ-16 except in the nonwelded portion of Prow Pass.
- Research Organization:
- American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY (United States); American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 60993
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-940553--Vol.4
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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