CX-018981: The Role of Temperature on Non-Darcian Flows in Engineered Clay Barriers – Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech, in collaboration with Sandia National Laboratory, proposes to (1) develop a predictive continuum-scale flow model to facilitate experimental data interpretation and provide mechanistic insights into the role of temperature on non-Darcian flows in low permeability engineered clay barriers; (2) conduct experiments over a wide range of temperatures to unravel the role of temperature on the threshold gradient of non-Darcian flow in both saturated and unsaturated bentonite (Aim R2); and (3) use molecular dynamics simulations to obtain fundamental understanding of non-Darcian flow and its dependence on temperature and mineral-water interfacial chemistry (Aim R3).