A numerical model for the simulation of debris flow triggering,propagation and arrest

Natural Hazards - In this paper, it is described the development and the assessment of a 1D numerical procedure for the simulation of debris flow phenomena. The procedure focuses on: (1) the...     

Numerical Investigation of a Methane Leakage from a Geothermal Well into a Shallow Aquifer

The potential environmental impacts on subsurface water resources induced by unconventional gas production are still under debate. Solving the controversy regarding the potential adverse effects of gas leakages on groundwater resources is therefore crucial. In this work, an interesting real-world case is presented in order to give further insight into methane multiphase and transport behavior in the shallow subsurface, often disregarded compared to the behavior in the deep subsurface. Multiphase flow and solute transport simulations were performed to assess the vulnerability of an existing shallow unconfined aquifer with respect to a hypothetical methane leakage resulting from a well integrity failure of a former deep geothermal well. The analysis showed that migration of gaseous methane through the aquifer under examination can be extremely fast (of the order of a few minutes), occurring predominantly vertically upwards, close to the well. By contrast, dissolved methane migration is largely affected by the groundwater flow field and occurs over larger time scales (of the order of months/years), covering a greater distance from the well. Overall, the real concern for this site in case of gas leakages is the risk of explosion in the close vicinity of the well. Predicted maximum gaseous fluxes (0.89 to 22.60 m³/d) are comparable to those reported for leaking wells, and maximum dissolved methane concentrations may overcome risk mitigation thresholds (7 to 10 mg/L) in a few years. Therefore, surface and subsurface monitoring before decommissioning is strongly advised to ensure the safety of the site.     

Joint deconvolution of building and downhole seismic recordings: an application to three test cases

In this study, the joint deconvolution is applied to recordings of three test cases located in the cities of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Istanbul, Turkey, and Mexico City, Mexico. Each test case consists of a building equipped with sensors and a nearby borehole installation in order to investigate different cases of coupling (impedance contrasts) between the building and the soil by analyzing the wave propagation through the building-soil-layers, and hence resolving the soil–structure-interactions. The three installations considering different dynamic characteristics of buildings and soil, and thus, different building-soil couplings, are investigated. The seismic input (i.e., the part of the wave field containing only the up-going waves after removing all down-going waves) and the part of the wave field that is associated with the waves radiated back from the building are separated by using the constrained deconvolution. The energy being radiated back from the building to the soil has been estimated for the three test cases. The values obtained show that even at great depths (and therefore distances), the amount of wave field radiated back by the building to the soil is significant (e.g., for the Bishkek case, at 145 m depth, 10% of the estimated real input energy is expected to be emitted back from the building; for Istanbul at 50 m depth, the value is also 10–15% of the estimated real input energy while for Mexico City at 45 m depth, it is 25–65% of the estimated real input energy). Such results confirm the active role of buildings in shaping the wave field.     

Numerical solution of the discontinuous-bottom Shallow-water Equations with hydrostatic pressure distribution at the step

Free-surface flows are usually modelled by means of the Shallow-water Equations: this system of hyperbolic equations exhibits a source term which is proportional to the product of the water depth by the bed slope, and which takes into account the effect of gravity onto fluid mass. Recently, much attention has been paid to the case in which bottom discontinuities are present in the physical domain to be represented: in this case, it is difficult to define the non-conservative product in the distributional sense. Here, the discontinuous-bottom Shallow-water Equations with hydrostatic pressure distribution at the bed step (Bernetti et al., 2006) are discussed in the context of the theory of Dal Maso et al. (1995) [9]; finally, a first-order numerical scheme is presented, which is consistent for regular solutions, and which is able to capture contact discontinuities at bottom steps. Numerous tests are presented to show the feasibility of the scheme and its ability to converge to the exact solution in the cases of smooth as well as discontinuous bed profiles.