OPG Meeting June 29, 2006

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OPG MeetingJune 29, 2006

• Young-Jin Park, Rob McLaren and Eric Sykes
• Department of Earth Sciences
• Jon Sykes
• Department of Civil Engineering

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Agenda

• GS16 project update
• QA/QC work plan for UofW
• Bruce DGR conceptual model

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GS16 Project Update

• Black type paragraphs from WPD
• Blue type June 27 status of work
• Detailed Work Description
• The proposed work program has three elements
• FRAC3DVS Code Improvements
• Sub-regional Shield Flow System Case Study and
• Visualisation Methods - Application of VRL
  Technology.
• These work program elements are to be coordinated
  within a DGRTP Task Force on Shield Groundwater
  Flow System Characterisation and Simulation. The
  work program elements are described below

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Code Improvements - FRAC3DVS

• The improvements to FRAC3DVS that are to be
  included in the proposed work program include
• inclusion and verification of temperature change
  of state in this stage of the work the impact on
  pressure of the volume change of the pore fluid
  on freezing will be neglected
• work being completed by Stefano, will be
  documented in deliverable 13D
• pre-processing approach for inclusion and
  improved non-orthogonal geometric realisation
  of probabilistic 3-dimensional DFN models
• Work to be completed Rob will add necessary
  changes to NP and verify implementation in
  Frac3DVS Stefano will expand his pre-processor
  to allow for non-orthogonal fractures work to be
  reported in 13D
• continued development/refinement of approaches to
  improve computational efficiency (ex multi-grid
  algorithms, sub-time stepping functions, domain
  decomposition strategies to take advantage of
  parallel computing infrastructure)
• work is on-going Dua has completed multi-grid
  algorithm, mesh development algorithms to take
  advantage of multi-grids need to be developed
  Young-Jin has investigated parallelization of
  Frac3DVS Rob and Young-Jin lead the code
  improvements work results will be documented in
  13D
• extension of time tracking strategies from
  steady-state to transient simulations
• This work is an extension of that completed by
  Fabien Jon and Ed will undertake research on
  algorithms to expand the life expectancy
  algorithm to transient flow (possibilities
  include the adjoint method for coupled flow,
  density and transport) we will likely need an RA
  for implementation
• development of thermo-mechanical coupling to
  address transient glacier boundary conditions
  (stress and temperature).
• Stefano will implement the 1-D approach following
  Neuzil in his temperature algorithm Dua will be
  involved in the formulation of a more rigorous
  THM approach
• The University of Waterloo team and HydroGeoLogic
  Limited will collaborate closely in the
  development and enhancement of FRAC3DVS. The
  QA/QC for code improvements will be the primary
  responsibility of the University of Waterloo.
  Annual summary reports (technical memorandum)
  detailing the status of improvements made to
  FRAC3DVS will be provided in 2005 and 2006.

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Sub-regional Shield Flow System Case Study

• This work program will be conducted as part of
  the Task Force on Shield Groundwater Flow System
  Characterisation and Simulation. As a basis for
  all simulations, the sub-regional flow domain
  described by Sykes et al. (2004) will be used.
  Specific objectives for this Case Study include
• demonstrate influence of alternative and equally
  probably DFN models (Site 2a version) on
  estimation of flow system Darcy fluxes,
  groundwater residence times and flow paths at
  depths to 1500 m
• work was completed by Stefano and Young-Jin
  reported at Amigo, and 2006 Geoscience workshop
• demonstrate influence of spatially variable and
  correlated permeability fields in fracture and
  matrix continua on predicted Darcy fluxes,
  groundwater residence times and flow paths at
  depths to 1500 m
• work was completed by Stefano and Young-Jin
  reported at Amigo, and 2006 Geoscience workshop
• demonstrate the influence of fresh-saline-brine
  groundwater distributions on the evolution of
  groundwater with respect to TDS concentrations,
  Darcy fluxes, groundwater residence times and
  flow paths and
• work has been initiated Stefano and Young-Jin
  have developed a work plan that will involve
  SWIFT and Frac3DVS comparisons this issue will
  be resolved and addressed in the 14D deliverable
• demonstrate the influence of coupled
  climate/surface boundary conditions on
  groundwater flow system evolution and dynamics
  (GSM realization nn2008).
• Stefano has completed an initial run that was
  included in our presentation at Amigo and the
  2006 Geoscience workshop the implementation of
  the thermal algorithm will be followed by
  simulations using the sub-regional domain work
  will be completed and documented in 13D or 14D
  (decision to be made)
• demonstrate the role of dimensionality (2D vs 3D)
  on the results of simulations in the complex,
  sub-regional flow domain.
• As of June 27, there is no lead for this task
  the analyses are very straight forward and can be
  completed by an RA supervised by Jon and Ed
  documentation will be included in 14D

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Continued

• As part of this work program, quarterly Task
  Force progress meetings will normally be held in
  Waterloo and/or Toronto.
• Progress/results in the Sub-regional Shield Flow
  System Case Study will be documented in a series
  of DGRTP reports summarizing 2005 activities and
  in a final DGRTP 1200-series program report in
  2006. These reports will summarize and illustrate
  the increased level of understanding regarding
  Shield flow system characteristics and the nature
  of responses to long-term climate changes that
  contribute to demonstrating the geoscientific
  case for deep repository safety. These reports
  will also summarize the unique numerical tools
  and methodologies that have been developed to
  meet the work program objectives.
• As a special case of the Sub-regional Flow System
  Case Study, flow modelling in support of OPGs
  participation in the international DECOVALEX
  program (GS01) will be undertaken. As part of
  GS01, the fracture zone model developed by
  Srivastava (2002) and modelled by Sykes et al.
  (2004) was systematically simplified from a 540
  fracture zone network to one consisting of 20
  fracture zones. This simplification was required
  for the purpose of undertaking coupled
  thermal-hydraulic-mechanical (THM) modelling
  using the MOTIF code. To support this
  simplification process, the reduced fracture zone
  network will be modelled in FRAC3DVS using the
  orthogonally fracture face representation,
  hydraulic conductivity assignments and boundary
  conditions as in Sykes et al. (2004) for the
  purpose of obtaining hydraulic head and Darcy
  velocity distributions in the fracture and matrix
  continua. The flow modelling results for the
  reduced fracture zone network will be compared to
  those from the full network provided by Sykes et
  al. (2004) and forwarded to OPG. This work was
  completed by Stefano.

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Visualisation - Sub-regional Flow System
Modelling Results

• The purpose of this element of the work program
  is to support a demonstration of the application
  of Virtual Reality (VR) Technology for site
  specific, Shield flow system interpretation and
  analysis at the 2005 NEA-AMIGO Workshop, which is
  scheduled for September 20-22 in Toronto. The VR
  demonstration will be developed by MIRARCO
  located at Laurentian University in Sudbury. With
  respect to geoscience, scientific visualization
  and VR technology provide an effective site
  characterisation tool for interpretation and
  communication of geoscientific information of
  complex 3-dimensional geometry. This technology
  is particularly useful for the integration of
  multi-disciplinary data sets necessary to
  establish spatial relationships and coincidence.
  Supporting activities will include
• coordination with MIRARCO on the preparation of
  Sub-regional modelling grid meshes, discrete
  fracture network models and parameter input data
  sets for transfer into Gocad and the VR environ
• work completed by Stefano and Young-Jin ongoing
  as required
• coordinate with MIRARCO the transfer of
  predictive Sub-regional modelling results, to
  illustrate aspects of flow system evolution and
  groundwater flow system properties or
  characteristics relevant to repository siting
  and/or long-term safety
• work completed by Stefano and Young-Jin ongoing
  as required
• participation in a 2-day workshop at MIRARCOs
  Virtual Reality Theatre in Sudbury for the
  purpose of reviewing the Gocad-based
  representations of sub-regional modelling results
  and
• work completed by Stefano and Young-Jin ongoing
  as required
• participation in the AMIGO workshop, presentation
  of Sub-regional modelling strategies and results
  during the OPG session on September 20th (to be
  developed in cooperation with OPG and other
  members of the Task Force on Shield Groundwater
  Flow System Characterisation and Simulation), and
  leading the Sub-regional modelling session during
  the SciViz demonstration on the evening of
  September 21.
• work completed by Stefano and Young-Jin ongoing
  as required

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QA/QC work plan for UofW
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Bruce DGR Conceptual Model
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StratigraphicColumn
Repository Horizon
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Sub-Regional Analysis

• Spatial domain approximately 22 km by 20 km,
  surface to Precambrian
• Transient analysis initial conditions include
  pressure and salinity for all layers
• Sanford model will be used to define sub-features
  such as distribution of Cambrian, distribution of
  salt, pinnacle reefs, flow in fractures
• Uncertainty analysis related to conceptual model
  and parameters
• Lake Huron boundary conditions ?

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Sub-Regional Analysis

• Scale of wells will require soft data to define
  features of Sanford conceptual model
• Sensitivity of flow and transport in Ordovician
  limestone to geometry and parameters of assumed
  features must be investigated. Examples
• pinnacle reefs
• dolomitized limestone
• presence of salt and Cambrian
• Bruce megablock fractures orientation and
  properties

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Wells Drilled to Precambrian
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B Salt (red present)
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Wells to Cambrian and Precambrian
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Wells to Cobourg and Precambrian
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Rockworks Characterization
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Rockworks Characterization
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Rockworks 1st Order Polynomial
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Lake Elevations
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Boundary Conditions
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DEM
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Bathymetry
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TIN for Lake Huron
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Cases

• 1 gradient in units below Queenston/Georgian
  Bay/Blue Mtn shale to Lake Huron 196 m at
  east, 176 at west
• 2 gradient in units below shale away from Lake
  Huron 176 m at west, 170 m at east
  (corresponds to gradient between Bruce site and
  Lake Ontario at Hamilton)
• Initial hydraulic properties from Golder (2003)

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Case 1
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Case 1
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Case 1
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Case 1
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Case 2
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Case 2
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Case 2
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Case 2
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What is next?

• Add TDS to model layers as initial condition
• Revise Diriclet boundary conditions to
  appropriate pressure and TDS
• Refine geologic model for layers
• Generate issues list
• Develop regional conceptual model and issues to
  be resolved with model
• Develop calibration data set geochemistry,
  hydraulic (?)