Porosity, permeability, and their relationship in granite, basalt, and tuff

Technical Report · 01 April 1983

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6116963· OSTI ID:6116963

This report discusses the porosity, storage, and permeability of fractured (mainly crystalline) rock types proposed as host rock for nuclear waste repositories. The emphasis is on the inter-relationships of these properties, but a number of reported measurements are included as well. The porosity of rock is shown to consist of fracture porosity and matrix porosity; techniques are described for determining the total interconnected porosity through both laboratory and field measurement. Permeability coefficient, as obtained by experiments ranging from laboratory to crustal scale, is discussed. Finally, the problem of determining the relationship between porosity and permeability is discussed. There is no simple, all encompassing relationship that describes the dependence of permeability upon porosity. However, two particular cases have been successfully analyzed: flow through a single rough fracture, and flow through isotropic porous rock. These two cases are discussed in this report.

• Research Organization: INTERA Environmental Consultants, Inc., Houston, TX (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 6116963
• Report Number(s): ONWI-458; ON: DE83011519
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052002 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Disposal & Storage
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
58 GEOSCIENCES
580300* -- Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics-- (-1989)
BASALT
FAILURES
FLUID FLOW
FRACTURES
GRANITES
IGNEOUS ROCKS
PERMEABILITY
PLUTONIC ROCKS
POROSITY
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
ROCKS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
TUFF
VOLCANIC ROCKS