How does gas diffusion impact the long-term safety of underground storage? This study investigates the diffusion of gases in fully saturated porous media, crucial for assessing the integrity of multi-barrier systems. The researchers test and validate the TH2M process class within the OpenGeoSys software, highlighting the importance of gas diffusion. The study presents a multi-component mass balance equation implementation in Python, enabling the discussion of multi-component gas diffusion in liquids and serving as a reference for the TH2M implementation. By comparing solutions from the TH2M and multi-component implementations, the study establishes the conditions under which TH2M predictions can be applied to multi-component gas systems. The models are validated using a through-diffusion experiment and a sensitivity analysis.
Published in Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, a journal focused on geological engineering and rock mechanics, this research aligns with the journal's scope by examining gas transport in porous media. The study's investigation into gas diffusion mechanisms is relevant to the stability of underground constructions. The paper contributes to the journal's focus on understanding the mechanical behavior of rocks and geological materials.