Predicting multiphase flow and tracer transport for an underground chemical explosive test
Abstract
Abstract Detecting radionuclide gas seepage from clandestine underground nuclear tests is central to nonproliferation explosion monitoring research. Yet, early-time (<6 day) gas transport driven by the explosive pressure wave remains poorly constrained due to scarcity of field data. We simulate multi-phase gas transport in the vadose zone using pre-shot data from a recent chemical explosion in P-Tunnel at the Nevada National Security Site, USA. Despite using a simplified 2D-radial model, predictions of tracer arrival matched observations within one order-of-magnitude. Our results show how transient blast forcing rapidly mobilizes gases from the cavity into surrounding rock – critical for optimizing sensor placement and test planning. This unique integration of field data and modeling represents a significant improvement in our ability to predict gas migration from underground explosions. More broadly, it offers insights into the coupled dynamics of pressure waves and contaminant transport in the vadose zone, with implications for monitoring and hazard assessment.
Article Details
Authors (210)
John P. Ortiz
Dolan D. Lucero
Esteban Rougier
Earl E. Knight
S. Michelle Bourret
Bradley G. Fritz
Miles A. Bodmer
Jason E. Heath
Chelsea W. Neil
Kristopher L. Kuhlman
Barry L. Roberts
George A. Zyvoloski
Philip H. Stauffer
George Abbott
Thomas Alexander
Ethan Alger
Adan Alvarez
Tarabay Antoun
Graham Auld
Hector Banuelos
Marcus Barela
Tyler Barnhart
Perry Barrow
Tara Bartlett
Arturo Bockman
Miles Bodmer
Kyren Bogolub
Jesse Bonner
Rose Borden
Hakim Boukhalfa
Danny Bowman
Carl Britt
Benjamin Broman
Scott Broome
Brian Brown
Jeff Burghardt
Daniel Chester
R. Charles Choens
Kirsten Chojnicki
Al Churby
Justin Cole
Thomas Coleman
Jon Collard
Alexander Couture
Glenn Crosby
Alvaro Cruz-Cabrera
Musa Dea
Walter Dekin
Beirl De Visser
Matthew Dietel
Christine Downs
Nicholas Downs
Damien D’Saint Angelo
Elizabeth Dzenitis
Eric Eckert
Stephanie Eras
Garrett Euler
Souheil Ezzedine
Jose Falliner
Jim Fast
Kristine Featherston
Joshua Feldman
Michael Foxe
Clayton Freimuth
Brad Fritz
Sergio Gamboa
Lisa Garner
Thomas Gascoigne
Jason Gastelum
Jessie Gaylord
David Gessey
Brian Glasgow
Graham Glavin
Andrew Glomski
Matthew Goodwin
David Green
James Griego
Scott Grover
Jose Madrid Gutierrez
Derek Haas
Rodger Hall
Allyson Hall
Daniel Hardy
Dylan Hauk
Jason Heath
James Holdcroft
Austin Holland
Will Honjas
Kaleb Howard
Clayton Hudson
Matthew Ingraham
Johnny Jaramillo
Ayrton Jenkins
Christine Johnson
Kyle Jones
William Junor
Martin Keillor
Graham Kent
Michael Keogh
Will Kibikas
Kieran Kleadbeater
Hunter Knox
James Knox
Kristopher Kuhlman
Christopher Kwiatkowski
Ken Laintz
Joey Lapka
Jennifer Larotonda
John Layne
Pierre-Yves Le Bas
Nick Ledoux
Shengtai Li
Dorothy Linneman
Paul Lipkowitz
Gordon MacLeod
Amrit Malach
Erin McCann
Ryan McCombe
Collin Meierbachtol
Rob Mellors
Brian Memmott
Wade Mendenhall
Jennifer Mendez
Xavier Miller
Andrew Miller
Francisco Miranda
Manny Montano
Michael Moore
Joseph Morris
William Munley
Edgar Godoy Murillo
Steve Myers
Taylor Myers
Annabelle Navarro
Stuart E.J. Nippress
Shawn Otto
Sheila Peacock
Steve Pemberton
Rose Perea
Jacob Peterson
Gabe Plank
Agatha Podrasky
David Podrasky
Joseph Pope
Mike Poskey
Matthew Powell
Amanda Price
Andrew Puyleart
Bobby Quintana
Thom Rahn
Carlos Rendon
Justin Reppart
Hernan Rico
Barry Roberts
Eric Robey
Rebecca Rodd
Mark Rodriguez
Aaron Rogall
Alexander Romanczuk
Melissa Roth
George Salyer
Bill Savran
Walter Schalk
Cari Seifert
Daniel Seitz
Xuan-Min Shao
Dana Sirota
Johnathan Slack
Dave Slater
Ken Smith
Devon Smith
Brady Spears
Dale Sprinkle
Philip Stauffer
Richard Stead
Mary Stephens
Chris Strickland
Alex Tafoya
Joshua Tafoya
M’balia Tagoe
Chad Taguba
Liane Tarnecki
Rees Tatge
Stephanie Teich-McGoldrick
Ben Terry
Ryan Thompson
Margaret Townsend
Greg Tubbs
Reagan Turley
Nichole Valdez
Aaron Van Morris
Sergio Vergara
Juan-Antonio Vigil
Javier Villanueva
Oleg Vorobiev
Darrin J. Wallace
Tim Walrath
Sonia Wharton
Robert White
Helen White
Aliya Whitehill
Marc Williams
Jennifer Wilson
Lynn Wood
Cliff Wright
Andrew Wright
Guangping Xu
Xianjin Yang
Ray Yost
Cleat Zeiler