Description
Efficient isolation of waste disposal sites represents one of the crucial problems of environmental engineering. The main objective of the project is to improve the quality of landfills’ barriers constructed from soil mixtures by applying results of experimental measurements and computational methods. We propose to use the modern computations-based approaches to modeling flows in porous media at pore scale. Simulations will be performed on geometries provided by X-ray computed microtomography images of soil samples. From the point of view of engineering geology we expect to get a new insight into the design of isolation barriers. From the point of view of computational modeling of flows at pore scale we expect to achieve developments in the overall computational procedure along with its validation based on experimental data. In a general sense, setting up an interdisciplinary cooperation will result in further development of knowledge in the two disciplines.
Summary of project results
Isolation of landfills by means of sealing barriers prevents pollutants to infiltrate into the groundwater flow system and thus represents an important task for environmental engineering. The main objective of this project was to propose new developments in quality assessment methodology for sealing layers composed of mixtures of soils exploiting computational approaches. The project was interdisciplinary in its concept and assumed a two-way transfer of competence and knowledge between engineering geology and computational sciences communities. As a result, advanced computational methods combined with microimaging data were developed and validated. Along the project implementation, a range of samples of clay and sand mixtures in different fractions have been produced from geological material. The samples were imaged with the use of X-ray computed microtomography. As a next step, 3D voxel-based reconstructions of pore-scale structures were obtained to serve as data for performing numerical simulations of the flows through the samples. Based on simulation results and upscaling approaches, isolating properties of the samples could be evaluated. As the main output of the project, we consider the development of the methodology and software constituting a virtual laboratory, a computational counterpart of experimentally performed permeability measurements. Such an approach enables a new-level characterization of geological systems. The results were presented during several conferences and seminars. Two papers have been published; more papers are under preparation. A collaboration linking environmental geology and scientific computing has proved rewarding. As the most important outcome of the project, a growing awareness of the power of mathematical and computational modelling on one side, and the importance of measurement data and practice-originating problems on the other can be considered.
Summary of bilateral results