Laboratory research on geomaterials

The project has two main objectives: A) Creation of methodological instructions (approved by the governmental authority) for rock sampling and laboratory analysis aiming at monitoring potential contamination of the environment by asbestos during excavation operations and processing of rocks in quarries as well as during tunnelling and cutting for line structures in order to eliminate negative effects on the environment and human health. B) Creation of information tools – i.e. specialised maps of risk areas with potential asbestos exposure and web-based portal for asbestos - allowing users to access basic information on asbestos in rocks.

The project is focused on multidisciplinary research on archaeological monuments in the landscape of the Moravian and Silesian Sudetenland, threatened by the current bark beetle calamity and subsequent intensive logging. Documentation of the landscape, identification of archaeological objects affected by the calamity and their inventory are in progress. Sampling of geomaterials and historical building materials as well as material analyses and dating are performed. A series of specialized maps (GIS) is being developed, which will be distributed to forest owners and managers and to other entities whose activities threaten the archaeological heritage in the area, enabling its effective protection in the future. New methodology for the protection of monuments endangered by logging is also being developed.

The project is focused on interdisciplinary research into prehistoric and historical settlements on the border of Silesia and Moravia in relation to natural environment, on their mutual interactions as well as the characteristics and prediction of landscape development. The main goal of the project is to develop a series of specialized maps (GIS), which will contribute to the primary protection of archaeological heritage. Experts from the Department of laboratory research on geomaterials provide mainly the analytical research of historical building materials and identify sources of original raw materials used for their production as possible material sources for the restoration of monuments.

RINGEN is a new research infrastructure build in the locality of Litomerice (West Bohemia) as part of this project. The aim of the project is to build on existing international interdisciplinary research into the exploitation of deep geothermal energy, using Enhanced Geothermal System technologies (EGS), and to create conditions for testing new and verifying existing methods of EGS creation in metamorphic rocks. A long-term goal of the research is to implement deep wells in the locality of Litomerice and to verify the extraction of geothermal energy from depths of more than 3 km. Team of the Department of laboratory research on geomaterials is involved in two research programs: Geothermal conditions in the Earth’s crust and thermo-hydraulic modelling and Induced seismicity and tectonic stress. The research activities of the team are focused mainly on the mechanical behaviour of rocks under specific conditions of geothermal systems, and on thermal properties of minerals and rocks, as well as the optimization of methodologies for their determination.

RINGEN is a new research infrastructure build in the locality of Litomerice (West Bohemia) as part of this project. The aim of the project is to build on existing international interdisciplinary research into the exploitation of deep geothermal energy, using Enhanced Geothermal System technologies (EGS), and to create conditions for testing new and verifying existing methods of EGS creation in metamorphic rocks. A long-term goal of the research is to implement deep wells in the locality of Litomerice and to verify the extraction of geothermal energy from depths of more than 3 km. Team of the Department of laboratory research on geomaterials is involved in two research programs: Geothermal conditions in the Earth’s crust and thermo-hydraulic modelling and Induced seismicity and tectonic stress. The research activities of the team are focused mainly on the mechanical behaviour of rocks under specific conditions of geothermal systems, and on thermal properties of minerals and rocks, as well as the optimization of methodologies for their determination.

The basic objective of the project is the development and operation of infrastructure and research-scientific teams created in the framework of the project Institute of clean technologies for mining and utilization of raw materials for energy use on the premises of the applicant VSB – Technical University of Ostrava and the participant Institute of Geonics of the CAS. The project preserves the built-up system of research teams interconnected with the laboratory infrastructure and is divided into two research programs that are interconnected and supplement each other.

The scope of Research Program 1 Multiphase Rock Environment is to obtain the knowledge of physical, chemical, isotopic, structural and mechanical properties of environmental components using modern instrument equipment, which basically increases the level of knowledge and possibilities of its generalization for the given geological conditions by means of mathematical modelling. This information is the basic precondition for the design of environmentally friendly technologies for the exploitation of mineral resources and also for the further utilization of rock environment.

Research Program 2 Environmentally Friendly Technologies is based on the findings from Research Program 1 and deals with oriented research and application solutions in the area of mining of energy raw materials, use of byproducts for the introduction of wasteless technologies to the mining of mineral resources, creation of conditions for minimization of safety risks based on the knowledge of causal processes, and with methods of valuation and influencing of the rock environment in connection with large projects under preparation that are concerned with the use of geothermal energy, permanent deposition of nuclear waste and underground storage facilities for energy raw materials.

Main research objectives which are solved in the Institute of Geonics are as follows:

• Properties and behaviour of geomaterials depending on their inner structure, type of loading and physical conditions. The comprehensive knowledge of petrological, chemical-physical and mechanical properties of rock environment is the basic precondition for the effective, safe and environmentally friendly design of technologies for the mining, processing and use of mineral resources or the driving of mine workings and the building of demanding underground and geotechnical constructions. The objective is to acquire knowledge of the influence of composition and character of inner structure of rocks and rock mass on their strength-deformation and transport behaviour and to acquire reliable and relevant data that can be used directly as input into numerical models and data for their experimental verification and inverse analysis.
• Intensification of effects of high-velocity water jets in the course of disintegration. The objective of solving this activity is to intensify the effects of high-velocity water jets using the physical phenomenon originating at the impingement of a droplet on a solid surface, because during the collision of a liquid moving at a high velocity with a solid, a short-term transient phenomenon appears, which is accompanied by a marked increase in pressure at the point of liquid impingement on the surface and can cause serious damage both to the surface and to the inner structure of materials subjected to the action of the falling liquid. For this reason, the solving will focus on the study of possibilities of influencing the flow before the nozzle to generate a jet utilizing the above-mentioned physical phenomenon for material disintegration.
• Development of changes in induced stress and deformation fields in underground utilization of a rock mass. In underground exploitation of mineral deposits and building of underground construction works, as a result of these activities, changes in the stress states in the rock mass take place. In the case of exceeding of relevant limit parameters of structural units of the rock mass, changes in stress can induce brittle fracture damage, which induces seismic events in affected areas. In complicated natural and mining conditions, this process may be accompanied by a sudden release of energy accumulated in the rock mass and the origin of anomalous geomechanical phenomena with manifestations in underground cavities. Significant stress and strain changes in the rock mass may also show themselves on the surface, play a significant role in the process of design of mine workings driven in the rock mass and affect the transport properties of the rock mass. The research objective will be to acquire findings in this area and to apply them to mining activity and underground construction.

Within the project, the Institute of Geonics has acquired several unique devices for the investigation of rock environment and development of geo-technologies. They are analytic devices, software, but mainly a servo-hydraulic testing system with a triaxial cell for testing THM (thermo-hydro-mechanical) properties of rocks, equipment for water jet application, and X-ray CT (computer tomograph) for non-destructive research of plane and space inhomogeneity in materials and for crack detection.

Owing to the new unique laboratory equipment, centre enables to start new research directions like in the laboratory of tomography, or substantially enlarge existing research directions - the laboratory of THM processes in rock mass or the innovation of the laboratory of pulsating high pressure water jet applications.