The INEEL Geocentrifuge Research Laboratory encompasses a 2-meter geocentrifuge user facility in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Research conducted at this laboratory will enable more accurate modeling of a wide range of complex porous media and advance our understanding of subsurface contaminant transport.
INEEL and visiting researchers will use this laboratory to study fluid flow through samples made from soils, rock and other materials.
There are fewer than 25 geocentrifuges (also known as geotechnical centrifuges) larger than 2 meters in the U.S.
The INEEL Geocentrifuge Research Laboratory will be used to improve mathematical models for the movement of fluids and contaminants and long-term performance of engineered caps and barriers used for subsurface waste disposal or stabilization.
The INEEL research laboratory will also serve as a user facility for scientists from other national laboratories, universities, or industry.
The research advantage of a geocentrifuge is in its ability to reduce the duration of certain experiments, thereby enabling more rapid acquisition of experimental results.
The geocentrifuge subjects a test specimen to a high-gravity field by spinning it rapidly around a central shaft. In this high-gravity field, processes such as fluid flow occur much more rapidly.
Using the 2-meter geocentrifuge to simulate an accelerated passage of time for a sample material, researchers can study in a few days or weeks the effects of tens of years of gravity-induced fluid movement. And because the experiments are conducted under controlled laboratory conditions, researchers can systematically vary different testing parameters.
The geocentrifuge will allow hydrological and biogeochemical investigations using intact blocks and cores of geologic materials and fabricated models with idealized 2- and 3-dimensional physical and chemical heterogeneities.
The centrifuge facility is located in north Idaho Falls, Idaho in the Bonneville County Technology Center adjacent to the INEEL Research Center (IRC). The 2-meter centrifuge is the first of two planned for the INEEL. The second centrifuge will be located in the planned Subsurface Geosciences Laboratory.
INEEL welcomes the opportunity to participate in collaborative research with scientists from universities, industry, and federal agencies. Post-doctoral fellowships, sabbaticals and staff positions are also possible in the area of geotechnical or environmental centrifuge research and instrument/sensor design.
