Coupled multiphase flow and elasto-plastic modelling of in-situ gas injection experiments in saturated claystone (Mont Terri Rock Laboratory)

2013 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 55-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
W.J. Xu ◽  
H. Shao ◽  
J. Hesser ◽  
W. Wang ◽  
K. Schuster ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Multiphase Flow ◽  
Gas Injection ◽  
Rock Laboratory ◽  
Mont Terri ◽  
Mont Terri Rock Laboratory

CO2 data on gas and pore water sampled in situ in the Opalinus Clay at the Mont Terri rock laboratory

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. S54-S60 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vinsot ◽  
C.A.J. Appelo ◽  
C. Cailteau ◽  
S. Wechner ◽  
J. Pironon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pore Water ◽  
Opalinus Clay ◽  
Rock Laboratory ◽  
Mont Terri ◽  
Mont Terri Rock Laboratory

Tiltmeter Measurements at the Underground Rock Laboratory in Mont Terri

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothee Rebscher
Keyword(s):  
Decadal Variability ◽  
Opalinus Clay ◽  
Earthquake Activity ◽  
Rock Laboratory ◽  
In Situ Experiments ◽  
First Results ◽  
Mont Terri ◽  
Mont Terri Rock Laboratory

<p>Mont Terri rock laboratory, located in the Swiss Jurassic Mountains, was established with the focus on the investigation and analysys of the properties of argillaceous formations. The scope of Opalinus Clay as a safe, potential option for nuclear waste disposal was broaden, as the behaviour of claystone is of high interest also in the context of caprocks, and hence, for many dynamical processes in the subsurfaces. Extensive research has been performed already for more than 20 years by the partners of the Mont Terri Consortium. These close cooperations cover a broad range of scientific aspects using numerical modelling, laboratory studies, and last not least in-situ experiments. Here, included in the long-term monitoring programme, new investigations apply tiltmeters. Since April 2019, platform tiltmeters have been installed at various locations within the galleries and niches of Mont Terri. The biaxial instruments have resolutions of 1 nrad and 0.1 µrad, respectively (Applied Geomechanics and Lippmann Geophysikalische Messgeräte). The tilt measurements are embedded within various experiments contributing to specific, multiparametrical studies. However, the growing tilt network as a whole will also provide novel information of the rock laboratory. The different time-scales of interest include long-term observations of yearly and decadal variability. So far tilt signals were identified due to excavations during the recent enlargement of the laboratory, earthquake activity (Albania), and local effects. First results of these quasi-continuous recordings will be presented.</p>

In situ measurements at the Mont Terri rock laboratory to study argillaceous rocks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothee Rebscher ◽  
Thies Beilecke ◽  
Stephan Costabel ◽  
Markus Furche ◽  
Jürgen Hesser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Saturation Pressure ◽  
Opalinus Clay ◽  
Knowledge Gain ◽  
Rock Laboratory ◽  
Federal Institute ◽  
Argillaceous Rocks ◽  
Fruitful Cooperation ◽  
Mont Terri ◽  
Mont Terri Rock Laboratory

<p>Safe as well as sensible economic uses of the subsurface demand both the comprehensive knowledge of the present state of a system and the understanding of the relevant dynamical processes. In order to facilitate these requirements, adequate characterisation, sufficient monitoring, and conclusive experiments have to be performed. Following this directive, the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has developed, adapted, and successfully employed methods to prospect Opalinus Clay in the Swiss Mont Terri rock laboratory. These methods encompass geoscientific in situ characterisations as well as investigation techniques as part of long-term monitoring programmes from the complementing fields of e.g. micro-seismics, Electrical Resistivity Tomography, micro-structural petrography, geohydrology, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. With this expertise, BGR has contributed numerous experiments, which are embedded and coordinated in the long-standing and fruitful cooperation with the partners of the Mont Terri Consortium.</p><p>The knowledge gain, based on now almost 25 years of BGR's engagement in the Mont Terri Project, offers comparison and evaluation of different, complementing methods determining present values and their evolution in time of e.g. moisture, saturation, pressure, deformation, the characterisation of parameter variability, and localisation of heterogeneities. It provides information allowing for programme optimisation of in situ measuring methods concerning penetration, resolution, effort, time, or feasibility. Therefore, the research results can be used for decision-making to refine investigation endevours in regards to specific demands of a certain site or a particular scientific problem not only for Opalinus Clay but also other claystone formations, and in some cases even for non-argillaceous rocks.</p>

In-situ experiments on bentonite-based buffer and sealing materials at the Mont Terri rock laboratory (Switzerland)

2017 ◽  
Vol 110 (1) ◽  
pp. 253-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Wieczorek ◽  
Irina Gaus ◽  
Juan Carlos Mayor ◽  
Kristof Schuster ◽  
José-Luis García-Siñeriz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rock Laboratory ◽  
In Situ Experiments ◽  
Mont Terri ◽  
Mont Terri Rock Laboratory ◽  
Sealing Materials

scholarly journals Large-scale testing of a sandwich shaft-sealing system at the Mont Terri rock laboratory

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 133-135
Author(s):  
Klaus Wieczorek ◽  
Katja Emmerich ◽  
Rainer Schuhmann ◽  
Jürgen Hesser ◽  
Markus Furche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pore Pressure ◽  
Host Rock ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Excavation Damaged Zone ◽  
Rock Laboratory ◽  
Custom Made ◽  
Damaged Zone ◽  
Mont Terri ◽  
Mont Terri Rock Laboratory

Abstract. Shaft-sealing systems for nuclear waste repositories are constructed to limit fluid inflow from the adjacent rock during the early stage after closure of the repository and to delay the release of possibly contaminated fluids from the repository at later stages. Current German concepts of shaft seals contain the hydraulic sandwich sealing system as a component of the lower seal in host rock (Kudla and Herold, 2021). The KIT-developed sandwich sealing system consists of alternating sealing segments (DS) of bentonite and equipotential segments (ES) that are characterized by a high hydraulic conductivity. Within the ES, fluid is evenly distributed over the cross section of the seal. Water bypassing the seal via the excavation-damaged zone or penetrating the seal inhomogeneously is contained, and a more homogeneous hydration and swelling of the DS is obtained. The functionality of such a system was proven in laboratory and semi-technical-scale experiments (Schuhmann et al., 2009). After a joint international pre-project (Emmerich et al., 2019) dedicated to the planning of a large-scale in situ test that demonstrates the feasibility and effectiveness of the sandwich shaft-sealing system in interaction with the host rock, the large-scale experiment was launched at the Mont Terri rock laboratory in July 2019 with partners from Germany, Switzerland, Spain, UK, and Canada. It consists of two experimental shafts of 1.18 m diameter and 10–12.6 m depth, constructed using a core drilling technique with a custom-made drill rig in a new niche in the sandy facies of the Opalinus Clay. The seal in shaft 1 consists of four DS (calcigel) of 1 m thickness and five ES (fine-grained quartz sand), each 30 cm thick (Fig. 1). Shaft sinking began in August 2020 and was completed in November 2020. In the following months, the sealing system and instrumentation of shaft 1 were installed. The sealing system is saturated from a pressure chamber located at the shaft bottom via an inclined lateral feeding borehole. Hydration of the system started in May 2021. Shaft 2 will host a slightly modified system emplaced 1–1.5 years later, in order to integrate experience obtained during the early operation phase of shaft 1. In contrast to shaft 1, the excavation-damaged zone around shaft 2 will have had time to develop. The seals and the surrounding rock are intensely monitored. Measurements in the rock (geophysics, pore pressure, and total stress) were started between August 2019 and March 2020. Characterization of the excavation-damaged zone along the wall of shaft 1 was performed by geophysical and surface packer measurements prior to seal emplacement. Measurements inside the shaft comprise water content, relative humidity, and temperature, pore pressure, stress, and displacements. The in situ work is backed by laboratory testing and model simulation. Data and experience obtained to date will be presented. The sandwich experiment is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy under contract 02E11799.

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