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Axial flow hydraulic pulse testing of an argillaceous limestone

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Abstract

Lindsay Limestone is an argillaceous limestone encountered in Southern Ontario, Canada. The Lindsay formation is regarded as a suitable geologic medium for the construction of a Deep Geologic Repository for storing low to intermediate level nuclear waste. The Lindsay Limestone is a nodular argillaceous rock with very low permeability, requiring the use of hydraulic pulse tests for the measurement of its permeability characteristics. The paper describes the triaxial testing facility, the theoretical basis for the test and the procedures used to analyze the experimental results for estimating the permeability of the Lindsay Limestone. The results are compared with the data available in the literature.

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Acknowledgments

The work described in this paper was supported by a Strategic Research Grant awarded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to the senior author. The authors are grateful to Mr. Mark Jensen and Dr. Ben Belfadhel of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, Toronto, ON, for their interest in the research and to Dr. S. Stroes-Gascoyne for allowing access to results of MIP tests conducted at the AECL Laboratories, Pinawa, Man. The technical assistance of Mr. J. Bartczak, of the Environmental Geomechanics Laboratory at McGill University in developing the uses of the Sika sealant technique is acknowledged. The assistance of Mr. Nick Papanicolaou, Quarry Coordinator, St. Mary’s Cement, Bowmanville, ON, for providing the research program with the block samples of the Lindsay Limestone is also gratefully acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, McGill University, 817 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC, H3A 2K6, Canada

    A. P. S. Selvadurai, A. Letendre & B. Hekimi

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  1. A. P. S. Selvadurai
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  2. A. Letendre
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  3. B. Hekimi
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Correspondence to A. P. S. Selvadurai.

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Selvadurai, A.P.S., Letendre, A. & Hekimi, B. Axial flow hydraulic pulse testing of an argillaceous limestone. Environ Earth Sci 64, 2047–2058 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1027-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-011-1027-7

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