Analysis of pumping tests of the Culebra Dolomite conducted at the H-3 hydropad at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site
Two pumping tests were conducted in the Culebra Dolomite Member of the Rustler Formation at the H-3 hydropad at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) site. The first test was in 1984, with well H-3b3 pumped for 14 days at an average rate of 4 gpm. The second test, the H-3 multipad test, was in late 1985 and early 1986, with well H-3b2 pumped for 62 days at an average rate of 4.8 gpm. Both tests provided information on the hydraulic properties of the Culebra at the H-3 hydropad. The second test provided information on average Culebra hydraulic properties on a much larger scale, responses were observed up to 8000 ft from the pumping well. The interpretation of these tests had three principal objectives. The first was to determine the most appropriate conceptualization of the nature of the Culebra flow system around the H-3 hydropad. The pumping well responses during the H-3 tests appear to be those of wells completed in a double-porosity medium with unrestricted interporosity flow. In such a system, fractures provide the bulk of the permeability, while matrix pores provide the majority of the storage capacity. The second objective was to quantify the hydraulic properties of the Culebra in the vicinity of the H-3 hydropad. The third objective was to quantify the average hydraulic properties of the Culebra between the H-3 hydropad and more-distant observation wells. Meeting this objective was complicated by the effects of an apparent increase in groundwater leakage from the Culebra into the Waste-Handling Shaft on the data from wells near that shaft, and by water-level/pressure trends already existing at many of the observation wells when the multipad test began.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-76DP00789
- OSTI ID:
- 6402708
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-86-2311; ON: DE87008892
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
580100* -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
DATA ANALYSIS
FUNCTIONAL MODELS
GEOLOGY
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
HYDROLOGY
MONITORING
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PILOT PLANTS
PUMPING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITIES
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
US DOE
US ORGANIZATIONS
WATER
WELLS
WIPP