Barrier integrity is a crucial aspect for the assessment of subsurface technologies. For the storage of thermal energy and other energy carriers, or the deposition of high-level nuclear or chemotoxic waste, different repository concepts in diverse geological candidate formations such as rock salt, clay stone and crystalline rock are being discussed. Computational methods and numerical simulations, in conjunction with experimental studies across scales from micro-scale to field scale, are an integral part of safety and environmental-impact assessment concepts involving barrier integrity as a key component. Reliable comparative analyses of potential technological options require physical models capturing the individual particularities of each rock type and associated geotechnical repository and barrier concept to a comparable level of sophistication. Structural as well as process complexity and large computational domains combine to render a reliable and efficient analysis a major challenge. This complexity is often met by data scarcity and variability, necessitating the theoretical and computational treatment of uncertainties and variability at different scales involved in numerical analyses at different levels.

This session provides a new platform for the exchange of geophysical, geochemical, geotechnical knowledge for assessing the integrity of barriers and multi-barrier systems considering equally conceptual, theoretical, computational, experimental and societal aspects.