3D-observation of heterogeneous transport and comparison to Lattice-Boltzmann modelling

This thesis is located at the Institute of Radiochemistry, FZD Research Site Leipzig for Interdisciplinary Isotope Research, Reactive Transport Division (FWRT). The main focus of this division is the investigation of transport processes in geosystems by means of radiotracer applications. The main topic of the thesis is the visualization of transport processes in geologic material by means of the in-house development of the GeoPET-method. This work is conducted as part of the scientific joint venture: „Dynamik abgesoffener oder gefluteter Salzbergwerke und ihres Deckgebirgsstockwerks“ („Dynamic of drowned or flooded salt mines and their overburden“), coordinated by the Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR).

Since the late 19. century drowned salt mines cause severe mining damages in the city of Stassfurt (Saxony-Anhalt). Sink hole depressions and subsidence of the surface below the groundwater table destroyed large parts of the down town. The general causation was lack of experience with salt mines and mining in gypsum karst in the 19. century. The causation in detail why and how exactly salt rock has washed out is more complicated to identify, as streaming mechanisms at the small scale level are partly still unclear; the general fluid dynamics at small scales is partly unknown.

To reveal these processes and mechanisms the behaviour of salt brines at the millimetre scale in drilling cores of the different geological units of the salt rock and its surrounding is examined by three-dimensional visualization of the distribution of radioactive labelled water measured with PET. Mechanisms at millimetre scale control mechanisms at the kilometre scale and are of utmost importance for the principal understanding of fluid dynamics. In the laboratory you can have „a look into the rock“. In the field this is not possible this way.

Combining PET data with high resolution CT-scans of the samples (conducted by the cooperation partners JGU Mainz and BAM Berlin) allows an alignment of processes of the fluid flow and its associated hydraulic pathway structures. This matching is important for understanding and for generalized conclusion about ongoing processes and is a necessary preparatory work for computer modelling.

Lattice-Boltzmann-simulations of velocity fields and streaming patterns based on CT-data are compared with PET-data derived from the same samples. This comparison of the flow patterns is done by means of geostatistic methods that allows scale independant spatial correlation of the patterns and therefore provide scale indpendant parameters like correlation lengths that are a necessity for upscaling.

Short term objective is the improvement and validation of parameters and fluid flow concepts derived from small scale simulations. Long term objective is the improvement of upscaling of parameters and concepts to the field scale and a better understanding and prediction of mining damages and groundwater behaviour.