Climax granite test results
The Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (LLL), as part of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigations (NNWSI) program, is carrying out in situ rock mechanics testing in the Climax granitic stock at the Nevada Test Site (NTS). This summary addresses only those field data taken to date that address thermomechanical modeling for a hard-rock repository. The results to be discussed include thermal measurements in a heater test that was conducted from October 1977 through July 1978, and stress and displacement measurements made during and after excavation of the canister storage drift for the Spent Fuel Test (SFT) in the Climax granite. Associated laboratory and field measurements are summarized. The rock temperature for a given applied heat load at a point in time and space can be adequately modeled with simple analytic calculations involving superposition and integration of numerous point source solutions. The input, for locations beyond about a meter from the source, can be a constant thermal conductivity and diffusivity. The value of thermal conductivity required to match the field data is as much as 25% different from laboratory-measured values. Therefore, unless we come to understand the mechanisms for this difference, a simple in situ test will be required to obtain a value for final repository design. Some sensitivity calculations have shown that the temperature field is about ten times more sensitive to conductivity than to diffusivity under the test conditions. The orthogonal array was designed to detect anisotropy. After considering all error sources, anisotropic efforts in the thermal field were less than 5 to 10%.
- Research Organization:
- California Univ., Livermore, CA (United States). Lawrence Livermore Lab.
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 59203
- Report Number(s):
- UCID-18502
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 15 Jan 1980
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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