Core migration setup
Figure 1: μCT image of a real fracture geometry of a drill core from the MI shear zone in the Grimsel rock laboratory (drill core length 15 cm)
Image: Angewandte Geologie JenaThe multi-disciplinary approach which investigates the coupling/interactions between fluid transport and hydrobiogeochemistry in order to predict possible future states of a system is known as reactive transport. It is a synergy between mathematical models based on pure physics and chemical knowledge, numerical implementation and computational sciences.
Its intrinsic value as a forecasting tool for supporting decision making in several industries (e.g. mining, oil, nuclear waste) and understanding complex systems (e.g. vadose zone, aquifers, fresh-sea water subsurface interfaces) has lead reactive transport to be vastly applied on different topics such as concrete durability, geothermal installations, carbon sequestration, mine tailing and so on. Even though the foundations of the science are established, it undergoes a constant development. Such development is primarily motivated by
a) the integration of new behaviors coupled to the physicochemical system such as the metabolic activity of a biofilm or mechanical deformation due to precipitation/dissolution, and integration of new models such as modeling hysteresis though the introduction of an air-water specific interfacial area,
Core migration setup
Image: Angewandte Geologie Jenab) its discrepancies between numerical simulations, laboratory experiments and field data,
c) upscaling between the different spatial scales (e.g. from pore scale to mesoscale), and
d) computer advancements in hardware (e.g. HPC) or software (e.g. new algorithms provided by machine learning).
The Apllied Geology group works currently in three projects were reactive transport is or will be applied: 1) Kollorado-e3 focussing on the transport of bentonite colloids mobilized by erosion as a radionuclide carrier, 2) TransLARA focusing on biosphere transport of radionuclides from the saturated zone through the vadose zone to the soil surface into cultivated plants and 3) Concert as a prognoses tool of reactive particle interaction to predict rheology in the hydration processes of cement paste.
Associated: Prof. Dr. Thorsten Schäfer, Dr. Saeid Sadeghnejad, Dr. Sarah Hupfer, Ariunzaya Löwe, Anna Kogiomtzidis
Completed projects: KOLLORADO-e3, TransLARA, CONCERT_CCair