Radionuclide Transport Behavior in a Generic Geological Radioactive Waste Repository

We performed numerical simulations of groundwater flow and radionuclide transport to study the influence of several factors, including the ambient hydraulic gradient, groundwater pressure anomalies, and the properties of the excavation damaged zone (EDZ), on the prevailing transport mechanism (i.e., advection or molecular diffusion) in a generic nuclear waste repository within a clay‐rich geological formation. By comparing simulation results, we show that the EDZ plays a major role as a preferential flowpath for radionuclide transport. When the EDZ is not taken into account, transport is dominated by molecular diffusion in almost the totality of the simulated domain, and transport velocity is about 40% slower. Modeling results also show that a reduction in hydraulic gradient leads to a greater predominance of diffusive transport, slowing down radionuclide transport by about 30% with respect to a scenario assuming a unit gradient. In addition, inward flow caused by negative pressure anomalies in the clay‐rich formation further reduces transport velocity, enhancing the ability of the geological barrier to contain the radioactive waste. On the other hand, local high gradients associated with positive pressure anomalies can speed up radionuclide transport with respect to steady‐state flow systems having the same regional hydraulic gradients. Transport behavior was also found to be sensitive to both geometrical and hydrogeological parameters of the EDZ. Results from this work can provide useful knowledge toward correctly assessing the post‐closure safety of a geological disposal system.     

The Assessment of Damage Around Critical Engineering Structures Using Induced Seismicity and Ultrasonic Techniques

—?Two large-diameter boreholes have been excavated vertically from the floor of a tunnel at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden. The two deposition holes will have simulated high-level radioactive waste canisters installed in them in an experiment undertaken to test the retrievability of waste from a proposed repository. Induced seismicity and other acoustic monitoring techniques have been used to investigate the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) around the two holes. High-frequency acoustic emission (AE) monitoring has been used to delineate regions of stress-induced microfracturing on the millimetre scale. This has been shown to locate in clusters around the perimeter of the deposition hole at azimuths orthogonal to the far-field maximum principal stress. Three-dimensional velocity surveys have been conducted along ray paths that pass through the damaged region and through a stress-disturbed zone around the excavation. Induced microfracturing and stress disturbance have been observed as sharp decreases in velocity as the excavation proceeds through the rock mass. The combination of the high-resolution velocity measurements and the AE source locations has allowed the linking of the velocity measurements to a volume of excavation damaged rock. This has provided a quantitative estimate of the effect of the EDZ on the rock mass.     

Crack healing in rocksalt via diffusion in adsorbed aqueous films: Microphysical modelling versus experiments

Microcracks within the excavation damaged or disturbed zone (EDZ) in a salt-based radioactive waste repository (or an energy storage facility) can heal/seal by mechanical closure driven by compaction creep, by surface-energy-driven processes like diffusive mass transfer, and by recrystallization. It follows that permeability evolution in the excavation damaged zone around a backfilled or plugged cavity will in the short term be dominated by mechanical closure of the cracks, while in the longer term diffusive mass transfer effects are expected to become more important. This paper describes a contribution to assessing the integrity of radioactive waste repositories sited in rocksalt formations by developing a microphysical model for single crack healing in rocksalt. More specifically, single crack healing models for cracks containing a thin adsorbed water film are developed. These microphysical models are compared with single crack healing experiments, which conclusively demonstrate diffusion controlled healing. Calibration of unknown model parameters, related to crack surface diffusivity, against the experimental data enable crack healing rates under repository conditions to be estimated. The results show that after the stress re-equilibration that follows repository sealing, crack disconnection can be expected on a timescale of a few years at laboratory humidity levels. However, much longer times are needed under very dry conditions where adsorbed aqueous films are very thin.     

The excavation disturbed zone (EDZ) at Kiirunavaara mine,Sweden—by seismic measurements

The presence of an excavation disturbed zone (EDZ) around an excavation boundary can significantly affect the overall performance of the excavation and the general safety of men and equipment. Hence, it has been an important subject of research in various rock excavation projects. The EDZ is generally defined as the rock zone beyond the excavation boundary where the physical, mechanical and hydraulic properties of the rock have been significantly affected due to the excavation and redistribution of stresses. For LKAB's Kiirunavaara underground iron ore mine in Sweden, the understanding of the EDZ is essential for optimal design of rock support. With this main objective an EDZ investigation was conducted at the mine using seismic measurement techniques. Cross-hole seismics and spectral analyses of surfaces waves (SASW) were the main techniques used. Borehole Image Processing Systems (BIPS) complemented the seismic measurements. The results show that an EDZ with a thickness of 0.5–1. 0 m existed behind the boundaries of the mining drifts being investigated. The magnitude of the Young's modulus of this zone was 50% to 90% of that of the undisturbed rock.     

Upscaling of hydraulic conductivity and telescopic mesh refinement

Performance assessments of repositories for the underground disposal of nuclear fuel and waste include models of ground water flow and transport in the host rocks. Estimates of hydraulic conductivity, K, based on field measurements may require adjustment (upscaling) for use in numerical models, but the choice of upscaling approach can be complicated by the use of nested modeling, large-scale fracture zones, and a high degree of heterogeneity. Four approaches to upscaling K are examined using a reference case based on exhaustive site data and an application of nested modeling to evaluate performance assessment of a waste repository. The upscaling approaches are evaluated for their effects on the flow balance between nested modeling domains and on simple measures of repository performance. Of the upscaling approaches examined in this study, the greatest consistency of boundary flows was achieved using the observed scale dependence for the rock domains, measured values from the large-scale interference test for the conductor domain, and a semivariogram regularization based on the Moye model for packer test interpretation. Making the assumption that large fracture zones are two-dimensional media results in the greatest changes to the median of travel time and improves the flow balance between the nested models. The uncertainty of upscaling methods apparently has a small impact on median performance measures, but a significant impact on the variances and earliest arrival times.     

基于控制照明的合成震源记录交互剩余偏移速度分析

提出了一种新的偏移速度分析方法——基于控制照明的合成震源记录交互剩余偏移速度分析方法．与其他类似偏移速度分析方法的不同点在于：（1） 叠前深度偏移采用基于波动理论的快速合成震源记录算法;（2）偏移方法采用平面波震源,与速度分析方法一致;（3）应用控制照明技术,避免了因横向变速而导致的平面波震源波场在传播过程中的畸变,从而减小了速度分析的误差;（4）实用的速度谱设计,使交互偏移速度分析可行且易于操作．模型和新疆实际资料的试算表明该方法是一种有效和实用的偏移速度分析方法．     

Stacking velocities in the presence of overburden velocity anomalies

Lateral velocity changes (velocity anomalies) in the overburden may cause significant oscillations in normal moveout velocities. Explicit analytical moveout formulas are presented and provide a direct explanation of these lateral fluctuations and other phenomena for a subsurface with gentle deep structures and shallow overburden anomalies. The analytical conditions for this have been derived for a depth-velocity model with gentle structures with dips not exceeding 12°. The influence of lateral interval velocity changes and curvilinear overburden velocity boundaries can be estimated and analysed using these formulas. An analytical approach to normal moveout velocity analysis in a laterally inhomogeneous medium provides an understanding of the connection between lateral interval velocity changes and normal moveout velocities. In the presence of uncorrected shallow velocity anomalies, the difference between root-mean-square and stacking velocity can be arbitrarily large to the extent of reversing the normal moveout function around normal incidence traveltimes. The main reason for anomalous stacking velocity behaviour is non-linear lateral variations in the shallow overburden interval velocities or the velocity boundaries.
A special technique has been developed to determine and remove shallow velocity anomaly effects. This technique includes automatic continuous velocity picking, an inversion method for the determination of shallow velocity anomalies, improving the depth-velocity model by an optimization approach to traveltime inversion (layered reflection tomography) and shallow velocity anomaly replacement. Model and field data examples are used to illustrate this technique.     

Inversion of single-station teleseismic P-wave polarization data for the velocity structure of Beijing area

Broadband three-component seismic data recorded by Beijing station (BJI) of CDSN were used to calculate P-wave polarization of teleseismic events. These polarization data were then used in the inversion for the underground structure around the Beijing station, especially for the details of velocity discontinuities. The result shows that a conspicuous low velocity zone exists in the crust on the west of the station, which is in good agreement with previous studies. It proves the theory that polarization data could be applied to inversion for velocity structures, especially for boundaries with large velocity gradient. It also demonstrates the feasibility of velocity structure inversion with polarization data from high-quality broadband data recorded by a single station. Therefore, travel-times and polarization data can be jointly used to study velocity structure. Polarization data are more suitable for delineating the boundary of velocity anomalies. Moreover, if the polarization method is combined with receiver function method to fully exploit their complementarity, it is possible to obtain the lateral velocity variation around the station as well as the detailed vertical variation below the station.     

2D multiscale non-linear velocity inversion

An efficient and robust non-linear inversion method for velocity optimization combining a global random search followed by a simplex technique is presented. The background velocity field is estimated at different spatial scales by analysing image gathers after iterative prestack depth migrations. First, the global random search is used to determine the main features/trends of the velocity model (large-scale component). Then, the simplex technique improves the resolution of the velocity field by estimating smaller-scale features. A measure of the quality of the velocity model (objective function) is based on flattening offset events in depth-migrated image gathers. To help constrain the solution, the algorithm can incorporate a priori information about the model and a smoothness condition. This 2D velocity estimation offers the benefit of being semi-automatic (requiring minimal human intervention) as well as providing a global and objective solution (which is a useful approach to an interpretation-derived velocity-estimation technique). The method is applied to a real data set where AVO analysis is carried out after prestack depth migration, as structural effects are non-negligible. It is demonstrated that the method can successfully estimate a laterally inhomogeneous velocity model at a computational cost modest compared with an interpretation-based iterative prestack depth velocity-analysis technique.     

Tomographic velocity inversion for ADCIGs in areas with a rugged surface

Pre-stack depth migration velocity analysis is one of the key techniques influencing image quality. As for areas with a rugged surface and complex subsurface, conventional prestack depth migration velocity analysis corrects the rugged surface to a known datum or designed surface velocity model on which to perform migration and update the velocity. We propose a rugged surface tomographic velocity inversion method based on angle-domain common image gathers by which the velocity field can be updated directly from the rugged surface without static correction for pre-stack data and improve inversion precision and efficiency. First, we introduce a method to acquire angle-domain common image gathers (ADCIGs) in rugged surface areas and then perform rugged surface tomographic velocity inversion. Tests with model and field data prove the method to be correct and effective.     

套管井井壁附近地层横波速度径向分布反演

套管外地层受异常地应力、油气开采的影响,在径向上表现出非均质性;采用声波测井可以对该非均质性进行探测,利用偶极子横波测井数据可以对横波速度的径向分布进行反演.本文建立了套管井外地层横波速度径向分层参考模型,采用修正的微扰法计算了该模型的偶极弯曲波频散曲线,建立了横波速度径向分布反演目标函数,采用高斯牛顿法和快速模拟退火法对目标函数进行了求解,得到了套管井外地层横波速度的径向分布.分析了偶极弯曲波频段、套管横波速度对反演结果的影响,对比了高斯牛顿法和快速模拟退火法对反演过程的影响.分析对比结果表明,采用偶极弯曲波激发强度较高的频段与采用全频段的反演结果相近;套管的横波速度准确度越高,反演结果越准确;高斯牛顿法和快速模拟退火法计算精度相同,都可以得到高精度的横波速度径向分布;快速模拟退火法的计算效率略低于高斯牛顿法,但其收敛性对初始值依赖更小,实际处理中应选择快速模拟退火法.     

A hybrid fast algorithm for first arrivals tomography

A hybrid algorithm, combining Monte-Carlo optimization with simultaneous iterative reconstructive technique (SIRT) tomography, is used to invert first arrival traveltimes from seismic data for building a velocity model. Stochastic algorithms may localize a point around the global minimum of the misfit function but are not suitable for identifying the precise solution. On the other hand, a tomographic model reconstruction, based on a local linearization, will only be successful if an initial model already close to the best solution is available. To overcome these problems, in the method proposed here, a first model obtained using a classical Monte Carlo-based optimization is used as a good initial guess for starting the local search with the SIRT tomographic reconstruction. In the forward problem, the first-break times are calculated by solving the eikonal equation through a velocity model with a fast finite-difference method instead of the traditional slow ray-tracing technique. In addition, for the SIRT tomography the seismic energy from sources to receivers is propagated by applying a fast Fresnel volume approach which when combined with turning rays can handle models with both positive and negative velocity gradients. The performance of this two-step optimization scheme has been tested on synthetic and field data for building a geologically plausible velocity model.This is an efficient and fast search mechanism, which permits insertion of geophysical, geological and geodynamic a priori constraints into the grid model and ray path is completed avoided. Extension of the technique to 3D data and also to the solution of 'static correction' problems is easily feasible.     

Smart Sediment Particle: A novel approach to investigating fluvial bed entrainment using instrumented sensors

The Smart Sediment Particle(SSP) instrumented with multiple sensors to obtain tri-axial linear accelerations is used for studying the mechanism of coarse grain entrainment. Three bed arrangements are tested to examine their influences on entrainment processes and the threshold force and impulse conditions. The SSP shows satisfactory precision to capture the imperceptible movement tendencies immediately(e.g., 0.15 s) after the dislodgement. The experimental results show that bed packing can signi...     

华北地区GPS地壳应变能密度变化率场及其构造运动分析

利用GAMIT软件将华北地区GPS地壳形变监测网1995、1996及1999年3期观测数据同全球IGS跟踪站资料进行了统一处理,并采用基线向量单天解及其全协方差矩阵和武汉大学PowerAdj Ver3.0软件在ITRF97框架下进行了GPS网整体平差,得出了相对于欧亚板块的水平运动速度场;进一步利用GPS速度场计算华北地区GPS地壳应变率场及应变能密度变化率场. GPS结果表明:华北地区现以(3-12mm/a)±3.4mm/a速度相对于稳定的欧亚板块向东或东南方向运动;唐山-河间-磁县是一个压缩活动边界,大同-太原则是一拉张活动边界,呈略带右旋的拉张运动;北京-天津-渤海湾地区,以及邢台地区是高剪应变率地区;张家口-北京-天津-渤海湾地区,以及济南地区是高应变能密度变化率地区,地壳积累能量高,且渤海湾地区处于面膨胀变化率正、负值过渡带,那里可能存在与地震危险性有关的应变能积累背景.     

APPLICATION AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SHEAR WAVE VELOCITY AND DEPTH OF SOIL-LAYERS

The shear wave velocity is one of the important parameters in seismic engineering.The common mathematical models of relationship between shear wave velocity and depth of soil-layers are linear function model,quadratic function model,power function model,cubic function model,and quartic function model.It is generally believed that the regression formulae based on aforementioned mathematical models are mainly used for preliminary estimation of the local shear wave velocity.In order to increase the value of test data of wave speed in boreholes,the calculation formulae for the thickness of ground cover layer are derived based on the aforementioned mathematical models and their fitting parameters.The calculation formulae for the mean shear wave velocity of soil-layers are derived by integral mean value theorem.Accordingly,the calculation formulae for the equivalent shear wave velocity of soil-layers are derived.The calculation formulae for the depth of reflective waves in time-depth conversion of the reflection seismic exploration are derived.Through the statistical analysis of test data of shear wave velocity of soil layers in Changyuan County,Henan Province,regression formulae and their fitting parameters of aforementioned mathematical models are obtained.The results show that in the determination of the quality of these regression formulae and their fitting parameters,the adjusted R-square,root mean square error and residual error,the matching on the statistical range between the geometry of function of mathematical models used and the scattergram of the measured data,the application purpose and the simplicity of the regression formulae should be considered.With the aforementioned new formulae,the results show that the calculated values of equivalent shear wave velocity of soil-layers and thickness of ground cover layer meet the engineering needs.The steps for statistics and applications of the relationship between shear wave velocity and depth of soil-layers for a new area are as follows:(1) Analyze the relevant data about the site such as the drilling and wave speed test data,etc.and divide the site into seismic engineering geological units;(2) In a single seismic engineering geological unit,make statistical analysis of the data of borehole wave speed test,comprehensively identify and select mathematical models and their fitting parameters of the relationship between shear wave velocity and depth of soil-layers;(3) Substitute the selected fitting parameters into the formulae,based on their mathematical models for the thickness of ground cover layer,or the equivalent shear wave velocity of soil-layers,or the depth of reflective wave,then the thickness of ground covering layer,equivalent shear wave velocity,and depth of reflective wave are obtained.     

Offset continuation (OCO) ray tracing using OCO trajectories

Offset continuation (OCO) is a seismic configuration transform designed to simulate a seismic section as if obtained with a certain source-receiver offset using the data measured with another offset. Since OCO is dependent on the velocity model used in the process, comparison of the simulated section to an acquired section allows for the extraction of velocity information. An algorithm for such a horizon-oriented velocity analysis is based on so-called OCO rays. These OCO rays describe the output point of an OCO as a function of the Root Mean Square (RMS) velocity. The intersection point of an OCO ray with the picked traveltime curve in the acquired data corresponding to the output half-offset defines the RMS velocity at that position. We theoretically relate the OCO rays to the kinematic properties of OCO image waves that describe the continuous transformation of the common-offset reflection event from one offset to another. By applying the method of characteristics to the OCO image-wave equation, we obtain a raytracing-like procedure that allows to construct OCO trajectories describing the position of the OCO output point under varying offset. The endpoints of these OCO trajectories for a single input point and different values of the RMS velocity form then the OCO rays. A numerical example demonstrates that the developed ray-tracing procedure leads to reliable OCO rays, which in turn provide high-quality RMS velocities. The proposed procedure can be carried out fully automatically, while conventional velocity analysis needs human intervention. Moreover, since velocities are extracted using offset sections, more redundancy is available or, alternatively, OCO velocities can be studied as a function of offset.     

Seismic data interpolation using generalised velocity‐dependent seislet transform

Data interpolation is an important step for seismic data analysis because many processing tasks, such as multiple attenuation and migration, are based on regularly sampled seismic data. Failed interpolations may introduce artifacts and eventually lead to inaccurate final processing results. In this paper, we generalised seismic data interpolation as a basis pursuit problem and proposed an iteration framework for recovering missing data. The method is based on non‐linear iteration and sparse transform. A modified Bregman iteration is used for solving the constrained minimisation problem based on compressed sensing. The new iterative strategy guarantees fast convergence by using a fixed threshold value. We also propose a generalised velocity‐dependent formulation of the seislet transform as an effective sparse transform, in which the non‐hyperbolic normal moveout equation serves as a bridge between local slope patterns and moveout parametres in the common‐midpoint domain. It can also be reduced to the traditional velocity‐dependent seislet if special heterogeneity parametre is selected. The generalised velocity‐dependent seislet transform predicts prestack reflection data in offset coordinates, which provides a high compression of reflection events. The method was applied to synthetic and field data examples, and the results show that the generalised velocity‐dependent seislet transform can reconstruct missing data with the help of the modified Bregman iteration even for non‐hyperbolic reflections under complex conditions, such as vertical transverse isotropic (VTI) media or aliasing.     

3D post‐stack interval velocity analysis with effective use of datuming

Interval velocity analysis using post‐stack data has always been a desire, mainly for 3D data sets. In this study we present a method that uses the unique characteristics of migrated diffractions to enable interval velocity analysis from three‐dimensional zero‐offset time data. The idea is to perform a standard three‐dimensional prestack depth migration on stack cubes and generate three‐dimensional common image gathers that show great sensitivity to velocity errors. An efficient ‘top‐down’ scheme for updating the velocity is used to build the model. The effectiveness of the method is related to the incorporation of wave equation based post‐stack datuming in the model building process. The proposed method relies on the ability to identify diffractions along redatumed zero‐offset data and to analyse their flatness in the migrated local angle domain. The method can be considered as an additional tool for a complete, prestack depth migration based interval velocity analysis.     

Fast velocity analysis by wave path migration

Iterative migration velocity analysis is computationally expensive, where most of the computation time is used for generating prestack depth images. By using a reduced form of Kirchhoff migration, denoted as wave path migration, we can significantly speed up the depth imaging process and reduce the entire velocity analysis expense accordingly. Our results with 2D synthetic and field data show that wave path migration velocity analysis can efficiently improve the velocity model and the wave path migration velocity analysis updated velocity correlates well with that from the Kirchhoff migration velocity analysis. The central processing unit comparison shows that, for a 2D synthetic and field data set, wave path migration velocity analysis is six times faster than Kirchhoff migration velocity analysis. This efficiency should be even greater for 3D data.     

Automatic cross-well tomography by semblance and differential semblance optimization: theory and gradient computation

A technique for automatic cross-well tomography based on semblance and differential semblance optimization is presented. Given a background velocity, the recorded seismic data traces are back-propagated towards the source, i.e. shifted towards time zero using the modelled traveltime between the source and the receiver and corrected for the geometrical spreading. Therefore each back-propagated trace should be a pulse, close to time zero. The mismatches between the back-propagated traces indicate an error in the velocity model. This error can be measured by stacking the back-propagated traces (semblance optimization) or by computing the norm of the difference between adjacent traces (differential semblance optimization).
It is known from surface seismic reflection tomography that both the semblance and differential semblance functional have good convexity properties, although the differential semblance functional is believed to have a larger basin of attraction (region of convergence) around the true velocity model. In the case of the cross-well transmission tomography described in this paper, similar properties are found for these functionals.
The implementation of this automatic method for cross-well tomography is based on the high-frequency approximation to wave propagation. The wavefronts are constructed using a ray-tracing algorithm. The gradient of the cost function is computed by the adjoint-state technique, which has the same complexity as the computation of the functional. This provides an efficient algorithm to invert cross-well data. The method is applied to a synthetic data set to demonstrate its efficacy.