Geothermal modeling of soil or mine tailings with concurrent freezing and deposition

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
JF (Derick) Nixon ◽  
Nick Holl
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Mine Tailings ◽  
Frozen Soil ◽  
Freezing And Thawing ◽  
Frozen Ground ◽  
Geothermal Model ◽  
Winter Time ◽  
Upper Boundary ◽  
Good Agreement

A geothermal model is described that simulates simultaneous deposition, freezing, and thawing of mine tailings or sequentially placed layers of embankment soil. When layers of soil or mine tailings are placed during winter subfreezing conditions, frozen layers are formed in the soil profile that may persist with time. The following summer, warmer soil placement may not be sufficient to thaw out layers from the preceding winter. Remnant frozen soil layers may persist for many years or decades. The analysis is unique, as it involves a moving upper boundary and different surface snow cover functions applied in winter time. The model is calibrated based on two uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan. The Rabbit Lake scenario involves tailings growth to a height of 120 m over a period of 24 years. At Key Lake, tailings increase in height at a rate of 1.3 m/year. Good agreement between the observed position of frozen layers and those predicted by the model is obtained. Long-term predictions indicate that from 80 to 200 years would be required to thaw out the frozen layers formed during placement, assuming 1992 placement conditions continue. Deposition rates of 1.5-3 m/year give the largest amounts of frozen ground. The amount of frozen ground is sensitive to the assumed snow cover function during winter.Key words: geothermal, model, tailings, freezing, deposition.

scholarly journals Calculation scheme of ground freezing depth in Terskol

2021 ◽  
Vol 135 (2) ◽  
pp. 7-13
Author(s):  
D.M. Frolov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Phase Transition ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Calculation Scheme ◽  
Frozen Ground ◽  
Ground Freezing ◽  
Geotechnical Structures ◽  
Freezing Depth ◽  
Layer Medium ◽  
The Heat Balance

During the construction of avalanche-retaining geotechnical structures in mountainous areas comes up the problem of fixing and stability of these structures in conditions of seasonal and/or long-term freezing of the ground. This paper evaluates the influence of snow cover and air temperature on the depth of freezing and soil stability based on the developed calculation scheme for the winter seasons 2015/16-2019/20 in the Elbrus region. The calculation scheme was based on the problem of thermal conductivity of a three-layer medium (snow, frozen, and thawed soil) with a phase transition at the boundary. The heat balance equation included the energy of the phase transition, the inflow of heat from the thawed ground and the outflow to the frozen ground, and, in the presence of snow cover, through it to the atmosphere.

scholarly journals Model of the influence of snow cover on soil freezing

2000 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 417-421 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. I. Osokin ◽  
R. S. Samoylov ◽  
A.V. Sosnovskiy ◽  
S. A. Sokratov ◽  
V. A. Zhidkov
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Soil Depth ◽  
Negative Temperature ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Frozen Soil ◽  
Soil Freezing ◽  
Soil Frost ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Freezing Depth ◽  
Good Agreement

AbstractA mathematical model of snow-cover influence on soil freezing, taking into account the phase transition layer, water migration in soil, frost heave and ice-layer formation, has been developed. The modeled results are in good agreement with data observed in natural conditions. The influence of a possible delay between the time of negative temperature establishment in the air and the beginning of snow accumulation, and possible variations of the thermophysical properties of snow cover in the wide range previously reported were investigated by numerical experiments. It was found that the delay could change the frozen-soil depth up to 2–3 times, while different thermophysical characteristics of snow changed the resulting freezing depth 4–5 times.

scholarly journals Characteristics of ground freezing and thawing under snow cover based on long-term observation

2009 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 241-251
Author(s):  
Yusuke HARADA ◽  
Fujio TSUCHIYA ◽  
Kazuo TAKEDA ◽  
Toshimi MUNEOKA
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Freezing And Thawing ◽  
Ground Freezing ◽  
Long Term Observation

scholarly journals Soil-frost-enabled soil-moisture–precipitation feedback over northern high latitudes

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Hagemann ◽  
Tanja Blome ◽  
Altug Ekici ◽  
Christian Beer
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Frozen Soil ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Soil Processes ◽  
High Latitudes ◽  
Cold Region ◽  
Max Planck ◽  
Freezing And Thawing ◽  
Frozen Ground

Abstract. Permafrost or perennially frozen ground is an important part of the terrestrial cryosphere; roughly one quarter of Earth's land surface is underlain by permafrost. The currently observed global warming is most pronounced in the Arctic region and is projected to persist during the coming decades due to anthropogenic CO2 input. This warming will certainly have effects on the ecosystems of the vast permafrost areas of the high northern latitudes. The quantification of such effects, however, is still an open question. This is partly due to the complexity of the system, including several feedback mechanisms between land and atmosphere. In this study we contribute to increasing our understanding of such land–atmosphere interactions using an Earth system model (ESM) which includes a representation of cold-region physical soil processes, especially the effects of freezing and thawing of soil water on thermal and hydrological states and processes. The coupled atmosphere–land models of the ESM of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, MPI-ESM, have been driven by prescribed observed SST and sea ice in an AMIP2-type setup with and without newly implemented cold-region soil processes. Results show a large improvement in the simulated discharge. On the one hand this is related to an improved snowmelt peak of runoff due to frozen soil in spring. On the other hand a subsequent reduction in soil moisture enables a positive feedback to precipitation over the high latitudes, which reduces the model's wet biases in precipitation and evapotranspiration during the summer. This is noteworthy as soil-moisture–atmosphere feedbacks have previously not been the focus of research on the high latitudes. These results point out the importance of high-latitude physical processes at the land surface for regional climate.

scholarly journals STRUCTURAL DEFORMATION OF FUEL AND CHEMICAL REFINER OBJECTS IN SEASONAL SOIL FREEZING

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 187-199
Author(s):  
V. V. Fursov ◽  
G. I. Tayukin ◽  
M. V. Balyura
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Waste Treatment ◽  
Frozen Soil ◽  
Soil Freezing ◽  
Structural Deformation ◽  
Freezing And Thawing ◽  
Freezing Soil ◽  
Treatment Facilities ◽  
Soil Foundation

The paper presents the analysis of deformation caused by seasonal freezing and thawing of clay foundation soils during the construction of construction industry bases, waste treatment facilities and others, etc. The deformation generation and development during a single freezingthawing cycle and long-term cycles are discussed depending on the foundation depth of seasonally freezing soil, foundation pressure and other factors. It is shown that soil setting during thawing of the frozen soil significantly exceeds its bulging during freezing. Recommendations are given on the reduction and prevention of inadmissible deformations, and structural restoration and reinforcement. The advantages of pile foundations are shown against the natural foundations in seasonal soil freezing conditions.

Anthropologic Relationships among Prehistoric Northeastern Amerindians

1980 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-159
Author(s):  
Edward F. Harris ◽  
Nicholas F. Bellantoni
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Gene Flow ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
New England ◽  
Cultural Barriers ◽  
Group Differences ◽  
Phenetic Analysis ◽  
Trade Relationships ◽  
Good Agreement

Archaeologically defined inter-group differences in the Northeast subarea ate assessed with a phenetic analysis of published craniometric information. Spatial distinctions in the material culture are in good agreement with those defined by the cranial metrics. The fundamental dichotomy, between the Ontario Iroquois and the eastern grouping of New York and New England, suggests a long-term dissociation between these two groups relative to their ecologic adaptations, trade relationships, trait-list associations, and natural and cultural barriers to gene flow.

scholarly journals Semi-Analytical Solution to Assess CO2 Leakage in the Subsurface through Abandoned Wells

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 2452
Author(s):  
Tian Qiao ◽  
Hussein Hoteit ◽  
Marwan Fahs
Keyword(s):  
Analytical Solution ◽  
Storage Site ◽  
Co2 Leakage ◽  
Transient Pressure ◽  
Flow Paths ◽  
Abandoned Wells ◽  
Diffusivity Equation ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
Good Agreement

Geological carbon storage is an effective method capable of reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at significant scales. Subsurface reservoirs with sealing caprocks can provide long-term containment for the injected fluid. Nevertheless, CO2 leakage is a major concern. The presence of abandoned wells penetrating the reservoir caprock may cause leakage flow-paths for CO2 to the overburden. Assessment of time-varying leaky wells is a need. In this paper, we propose a new semi-analytical approach based on pressure-transient analysis to model the behavior of CO2 leakage and corresponding pressure distribution within the storage site and the overburden. Current methods assume instantaneous leakage of CO2 occurring with injection, which is not realistic. In this work, we employ the superposition in time and space to solve the diffusivity equation in 2D radial flow to approximate the transient pressure in the reservoirs. Fluid and rock compressibilities are taken into consideration, which allow calculating the breakthrough time and the leakage rate of CO2 to the overburden accurately. We use numerical simulations to verify the proposed time-dependent semi-analytical solution. The results show good agreement in both pressure and leakage rates. Sensitivity analysis is then conducted to assess different CO2 leakage scenarios to the overburden. The developed semi-analytical solution provides a new simple and practical approach to assess the potential of CO2 leakage outside the storage site. This approach is an alternative to numerical methods when detailed simulations are not feasible. Furthermore, the proposed solution can also be used to verify numerical codes, which often exhibit numerical artifacts.

scholarly journals Modeling cesium migration through Opalinus clay: a benchmark for single- and multi-species sorption-diffusion models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús F. Águila ◽  
Vanessa Montoya ◽  
Javier Samper ◽  
Luis Montenegro ◽  
Georg Kosakowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Discretization ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Opalinus Clay ◽  
Sorption Behavior ◽  
Diffusion Experiment ◽  
Modeling Tools ◽  
Cesium Sorption ◽  
Code Performance ◽  
Good Agreement

AbstractSophisticated modeling of the migration of sorbing radionuclides in compacted claystones is needed for supporting the safety analysis of deep geological repositories for radioactive waste, which requires robust modeling tools/codes. Here, a benchmark related to a long term laboratory scale diffusion experiment of cesium, a moderately sorbing radionuclide, through Opalinus clay is presented. The benchmark was performed with the following codes: CORE2DV5, Flotran, COMSOL Multiphysics, OpenGeoSys-GEM, MCOTAC and PHREEQC v.3. The migration setup was solved with two different conceptual models, i) a single-species model by using a look-up table for a cesium sorption isotherm and ii) a multi-species diffusion model including a complex mechanistic cesium sorption model. The calculations were performed for three different cesium boundary concentrations (10−3, 10−5, 10−7 mol / L) to investigate the models/codes capabilities taking into account the nonlinear sorption behavior of cesium. Generally, good agreement for both single- and multi-species benchmark concepts could be achieved, however, some discrepancies have been identified, especially near the boundaries, where code specific spatial (and time) discretization had to be improved to achieve better agreement at the expense of longer computation times. In addition, the benchmark exercise yielded useful information on code performance, setup options, input and output data management, and post processing options. Finally, the comparison of single-species and multi-species model concepts showed that the single-species approach yielded generally earlier breakthrough, because this approach accounts neither for cation exchange of Cs+ with K+ and Na+, nor K+ and Na+ diffusion in the pore water.

scholarly journals Comparison of numerical and standard sarnat grading using the NICHD and SIBEN methods

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian H. Walsh ◽  
Chelsea Munster ◽  
Hoda El-Shibiny ◽  
Edward Yang ◽  
Terrie E. Inder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Predictive Ability ◽  
Roc Curves ◽  
Cerebral Injury ◽  
Neonatal Encephalopathy ◽  
Minimum Threshold ◽  
Term Outcome ◽  
Long Term Outcome ◽  
Grading Systems ◽  
Good Agreement

Abstract Objective The NICHD and SIBEN assessments are adapted from the Sarnat grade, and used to determine severity of neonatal encephalopathy (NE). We compare NICHD and SIBEN methods, and their ability to define a minimum threshold associated with significant cerebral injury. Study design Between 2016 and 2019, 145 infants with NE (77-mild; 65-moderate; 3-severe) were included. NICHD and SIBEN grade and numerical scores were assigned. Kappa scores described agreement between methods, and ROC curves their ability to predict MR injury. Results Good agreement existed between grading systems (K = 0.86). SIBEN defined more infants as moderate, and less as mild, than NICHD (p < 0.001). Both numerical scores were superior to standard grades in predicting MR injury. Conclusion Despite good agreement between methods, SIBEN defines more infants as moderate NE. Both numerical scores were superior to standard grade, and comparable to each other, in defining a minimum threshold for cerebral injury. Further assessment contrasting their predictive ability for long-term outcome is required.

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