Abstract
An unconventional numerical scheme is developed to simulate coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) processes in partially saturated medium. The non-isothermal, unsaturated fluid flow and mechanical processes are sequentially coupled by updating all the state variables using cellular automaton technique and finite difference method on spatial and temporal scale, respectively. A new cellular automaton updating scheme is proposed by introducing a fast successive relaxation index, which greatly improves the computational efficiency in the simulation of THM coupling process. This is implemented in a self-developed numerical system, i.e., an elasto-plastic cellular automaton (EPCA3D), which was used to numerically reproduce the coupled THM behavior of bentonite pellets in a column experiment that was heated up to 140 °C firstly and then was hydrated simulating the resaturation of the backfilling. By using the cellular automaton technique in EPCA3D, the challenging courses of the changing boundary conditions over time and space during the experiment are conveniently implemented. The EPCA3D was able to reproduce the main physical processes of the in laboratory column bentonite experiment within the heating and hydration phase. The modeling results for the evolution of temperature, relative humidity, water uptake and axial pressure are consistent with the experimental data in terms of trends and magnitudes, which verifies the realistic simulation with the developed model and contributes to a deeper understanding of the observed phenomena.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
21 March 2018
The original article has been published inadvertently with an error in the caption of Fig. 1, “Fig. 1 Experimental setup for the column test (Mueller et al. 2012)”. The correct version of the caption should be “Fig. 1 Experimental setup for the column test (Villar et al. 2012)”.
References
Arifin YF (2008) Thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior of compacted bentonite-sand mixtures: an experimental study. Bauhaus-University Weimar, Weimar
Chen G, Ledesma A (2009) Coupled thermohydromechanical modeling of the full-scale in situ test “prototype repository”. J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 135(1):121–132
Chen L, Liu YM, Wang J, Cao SF, Xie JL, Ma LK, Zhao XG, Li YW, Liu J (2014) Investigation of the thermal–hydro–mechanical (THM) behavior of GMZ bentonite in the China-Mock-up test. Eng Geol 172:57–68
Feng XT, Pan PZ, Zhou H (2006) Simulation of the rock microfracturing process under uniaxial compression using an elasto-plastic cellular automaton. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 43(7):1091–1108
Gaus I, Wieczorek K, Schuster K, Garitte B, Senger R, Vasconcelos R, Mayor J (2014) EBS behaviour immediately after repository closure in a clay host rock: HE-E experiment (Mont Terri URL). Geol Soc Lond Spec Publ 400(1):71–91
Gaus I, Garitte B, Senger R, Gens A, Vasconcelos R, Garcia-Sineriz J, Trick T, Wiecozorek K, Czaikowski O, Schuster K (2014) The HE-E experiment: lay-out, interpretation and THM modelling. NAGRA Arbeitsbericht NAB 14–53
Hoffmann C, Alonso E, Romero E (2007) Hydro-mechanical behaviour of bentonite pellet mixtures. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 32(8):832–849
Hökmark H, Ledesma A, Lassabatere T, Fälth B, Börgesson L, Robinet J, Sellali N, Sémété P (2007) Modelling heat and moisture transport in the ANDRA/SKB temperature buffer test. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 32(8):753–766
Johnson L, Niemeyer M, Klubertanz G, Siegel P, Gribi P (2002) Calculations of the temperature evolution of a repository for spent fuel, vitrified high-level waste and intermediate level waste in Opalinus Clay. Nagra, Wettingen
Li L, Liu H (2013) A numerical study of the mechanical response to excavation and ventilation around tunnels in clay rocks. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 59:22–32
Montes HG, Duplay J, Martinez L, Mendoza C (2003) Swelling–shrinkage kinetics of MX80 bentonite. Appl Clay Sci 22(6):279–293
Mueller HR, Weber HP, Koehler S, Vogt T (2012) The full-scale Emplacement (FE) Experiment at the Mont Terri URL. Clays in natural and engineered barriers for radioactive waste confinement—5 international meeting book of abstracts, France, p 923
Pan P, Feng X (2013) Numerical study on coupled thermo-mechanical processes in Äspö Pillar stability experiment. J Rock Mech Geotech Eng 5(2):136–144
Pan PZ, Feng XT, Huang XH, Cui Q, Zhou H (2009a) Coupled THM processes in EDZ of crystalline rocks using an elasto-plastic cellular automaton. Environ Geol 57(6):1299–1311
Pan PZ, Feng XT, Hudson JA (2009b) Study of failure and scale effects in rocks under uniaxial compression using 3D cellular automata. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 46(4):674–685
Pan P-Z, Rutqvist J, Feng X-T, Yan F (2013) Modeling of caprock discontinuous fracturing during CO2 injection into a deep brine aquifer. Int J Greenhouse Gas Control 19:559–575
Pan P-Z, Rutqvist J, Feng X-T, Yan F (2014a) TOUGH–RDCA modeling of multiple fracture interactions in caprock during CO2 injection into a deep brine aquifer. Comput Geosci 65:24–36
Pan P-Z, Rutqvist J, Feng X-T, Yan F (2014b) An approach for modeling rock discontinuous mechanical behavior under multiphase fluid flow conditions. Rock Mech Rock Eng 47(2):589–603
Pan P-Z, Feng X-T, Zheng H, Bond A (2016) An approach for simulating the THMC process in single novaculite fracture using EPCA. Environ Earth Sci 75(15):1150
Philip J, De Vries D (1957) Moisture movement in porous materials under temperature gradients. Trans Am Geophys Union 38:222–232
Rizzi M, Seiphoori A, Ferrari A, Ceresetti D, Laloui L (2011) Analysis of the behaviour of the Granular MX-80 bentonite in THM-processes. Lausanne Swiss Fed Inst Technol Orders 7:928
Rutqvist J, Börgesson L, Chijimatsu M, Kobayashi A, Jing L, Nguyen T, Noorishad J, Tsang CF (2001) Thermohydromechanics of partially saturated geological media: governing equations and formulation of four finite element models. Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 38(1):105–127
Saad Y (1981) Krylov subspace methods for solving large unsymmetric linear systems. Math Comput 37(155):105–126
Sugita Y, Kwon S, Lee C, Massmann J, Pan P, Rutqvist J (2016) DECOVALEX-2015 project Task B2 final report, Stockholm
Tadano H, Sakurai T (2008) On single precision preconditioners for Krylov subspace iterative methods. In: Large-scale scientific computing: 6th international conference, LSSC 2007, Sozopol, Bulgaria, June 5–9, 2007. Revised papers. I. Lirkov, S. Margenov and J. Waśniewski. Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, pp 721–728
Tang A-M, Cui Y-J, Le T-T (2008) A study on the thermal conductivity of compacted bentonites. Appl Clay Sci 41(3–4):181–189
van Genuchten MT (1980) A closed-form equation for predicting the hydraulic conductivity of unsaturated soils. Soil Sci Soc Am J 44(5):892–898
Villar MV, Sánchez M, Gens A (2008) Behaviour of a bentonite barrier in the laboratory: experimental results up to 8 years and numerical simulation. Phys Chem Earth Parts A/B/C 33:S476–S485
Villar MV, Martín PL, Gómez-Espina R, Romero FJ, Barcala JM (2012). THM cells for the HE-E test: setup and first results. PEBS report D2.2.7a. CIEMAT technical report, CIEMAT/DMA/2G210/02/2012, Madrid, p 34
Villar MV, Martín PL, Romero FJ, Iglesias RJ, Gutiérrez-Rodrigo V (2016) Saturation of barrier materials under thermal gradient. Geomech Energy Environ. 8:38–51
Wang X, Shao H, Wang W, Hesser J, Kolditz O (2015) Numerical modeling of heating and hydration experiments on bentonite pellets. Eng Geol 198:94–106
Wieczorek K, Miehe R, Garitte B (2011) Measurement of thermal parameters of the HE-E buffer materials. PEBS Deliv D 2:2–5
Acknowledgements
This work was finically supported by international cooperation project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nos. 115242KYSB20160017, 115242KYSB20160024), and the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences, CAS (No. QYZDB-SSW-DQC029).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This manuscript belongs to the Topical Collection in Environmental Earth Sciences on “DECOVALEX 2015”, guest edited by Jens T. Birkholzer, Alexander E. Bond, John A. Hudson, Lanru Jing, Hua Shao and Olaf Kolditz.
A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-018-7409-3.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pan, PZ., Yan, F., Feng, XT. et al. Study on coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in column bentonite test. Environ Earth Sci 76, 618 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6942-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-6942-9