Calculation of Gas Migration in Fractured Rock - a Continuum Approach

摘要

A study of gas migration from low level radioactive repositories in which the fractured rock mass was conceptualized as a continuum, was carried out by the aid of a computer program based on a finite difference numerical method of solution to the equations of flow. The calculations are intended to correspond to the prevailing in the Forsmark low level repository area where radioactive waste repository caverns are planned to be located at a depth of about 50 metres below the sea level. Calculations were worked out for a constant gas flow rate equivalent to a gas production of 20 000 normal cubic metres per year. The investigated flow domain was a vertical cross-section passing through the repository. The results show that in the empty cavern the gas formed in the cavern moves almost instantaneously upward amd accumulates below the roof of the cavern. (ERA citation 13:045728)