Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rock (2020)
Chapter: Front Matter
Characterization, Modeling,
Monitoring, and Remediation of
FRACTURED ROCK
Committee on Subsurface Characterization, Modeling,
Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rock
Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering
Board on Earth Sciences and Resources
Division on Earth and Life Studies
A Consensus Study Report of
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
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This activity was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Grant No. NNX12AR45G, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission under Grant No. NRC-04-09-167, and the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-PI000010/DE-DT0002974. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-37372-2
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-37372-7
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/21742
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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Characterization, Modeling, Monitoring, and Remediation of Fractured Rock. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/21742.
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COMMITTEE ON SUBSURFACE CHARACTERIZATION, MODELING, MONITORING, AND REMEDIATION OF FRACTURED ROCKS1
DAVID E. DANIEL (NAE) (Chair), The University of Texas System
LISA ALVAREZ-COHEN (NAE), University of California, Berkeley
WILLIAM DERSHOWITZ, Golder Associates Inc., Redmond, Washington
HERBERT H. EINSTEIN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
CARL GABLE, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico
FRANKLIN M. ORR, JR., Stanford University, California (resigned December 2014)
DAVID REYNOLDS, Geosyntec Consultants, Inc., Kingston, Ontario, Canada
J. CARLOS SANTAMARINA (NAE), Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
ALLEN M. SHAPIRO, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia
KAMINI SINGHA, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
Staff
SAMMANTHA L. MAGSINO, Study Director
ERIC J. EDKIN, Senior Program Assistant
___________________
1 Staff and affiliations current as of September 2015.
COMMITTEE ON GEOLOGICAL AND GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING1
PATRICIA CULLIGAN (Chair), Columbia University, New York, New York
JEAN-LOUIS BRIAUD, Texas A&M University, College Station
JOHN R. CRAYNON, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
MURRAY W. HITZMAN, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
MARTIN W. MCCANN, Jack R. Benjamin and Associates, Inc., Menlo Park, California
PRISCILLA NELSON, Colorado School of Mines, Golden
JUAN M. PESTANA, University of California, Berkeley
JAMES R. RICE, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
GLENN RIX, Geosyntec Consultants, Inc., Kennesaw, Georgia
Staff
SAMMANTHA L. MAGSINO, Senior Program Officer
COURTNEY R. DEVANE, Administrative Coordinator
___________________
1 Staff and affiliations current as of September 2015.
BOARD ON EARTH SCIENCES AND RESOURCES1
CORALE L. BRIERLEY (Chair), Brierley Consultancy LLC, Denver, Colorado
CHRISTOPHER CAMERON, GeoLogic Consulting, LLC, Houston, Texas
SUSAN L. CUTTER, University of South Carolina, Columbia
CAROL P. HARDEN, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
T. MARK HARRISON, University of California, Los Angeles
ANN S. MAEST, Buka Environmental, Boulder, Colorado
DAVID R. MAIDMENT, The University of Texas at Austin
M. MEGHAN MILLER, UNAVCO, Inc., Boulder, Colorado
ISABEL P. MONTAÑEZ, University of California, Davis
HENRY N. POLLACK, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
MARY M. POULTON, The University of Arizona, Tucson
JAMES M. ROBERTSON, Wisconsin Geological & Natural History Survey
PETER M. SHEARER, University of California, San Diego
SHAOWEN WANG, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
GENE WHITNEY, Congressional Research Service (retired, Washington, DC)
Staff
ELIZABETH A. EIDE, Director
ANNE M. LINN, Scholar
SAMMANTHA L. MAGSINO, Senior Program Officer
MARK D. LANGE, Program Officer
NICHOLAS D. ROGERS, Financial and Research Associate
COURTNEY R. GIBBS, Program Associate
ERIC J. EDKIN, Senior Program Assistant
___________________
1 Staff and affiliations current as of September 2015.
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Reviewers
This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.
We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by George Hornberger, Vanderbilt University. He was responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.
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Contents
Previous National Academies Studies
The Heterogeneity of Fractured Rock
Contaminants in Fractured Rock
2 PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FRACTURED ROCK CONTROLLING FLOW AND TRANSPORT
Qualitative Fracture Description
Quantitative Fracture Description
Importance of Fracture Genesis
3 FLOW AND TRANSPORT: UNDERLYING PROCESSES
Chemical Processes: Diffusion and Reaction
Fines Migration and Entrapment: Emergent Transport Processes
Heat Transport and Thermal Processes
4 CONCEPTUAL AND NUMERICAL MODEL DEVELOPMENT
Defining and Developing Hydrostructural Models
Quantifying the Hydrostructural Model
Scoping Calculations to Assess and Refine Models and Uncertainties
Analysis Tools to Inform Modeling
Upscaling and Model Simplification
5 METHODS FOR SITE CHARACTERIZATION AND MONITORING
Geomechanical Characterization
Hydraulic Characterization of Fractured Rock
Geophysical Characterization of Fractured Rock
6 REMEDIATION OF FRACTURED ROCK
Difficulties of Remediation in Fractured Rock
Potential Technologies to Remediate Organic Compounds
Potentially Applicable Approaches for Radionuclides
Important Considerations in Fractured Rock Remediation
Decision Making and Updating in the Context of this Report
Observational Method in Geotechnical Engineering
Evolving the Observational Method to Geoenvironmental Engineering
8 SYNTHESIS OF RECOMMENDATIONS
Interactions Between Rock Matrix and Fractures
Processes and Coupled Processes
Characterization Techniques and Tools
