Final Report: Improving the understanding of the coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrologic behavior of consolidating granular salt

Technical Report · Sat Sep 09 04:00:00 EDT 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1380117· OSTI ID:1380117

Stormont, John ^[1]; Lampe, Brandon ^[2]; Mills, Melissa ^[2]; Paneru, Laxmi ^[2]; Lynn, Timothy ^[2]; Piya, Aayush ^[2]

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1. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States); University of New Mexico
2. Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)

The goal of this project is to improve the understanding of key aspects of the coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrologic response of granular (or crushed) salt used as a seal material for shafts, drifts, and boreholes in mined repositories in salt. The project is organized into three tasks to accomplish this goal: laboratory measurements of granular salt consolidation (Task 1), microstructural observations on consolidated samples (Task 2), and constitutive model development and evaluation (Task 3). Task 1 involves laboratory measurements of salt consolidation along with thermal properties and permeability measurements conducted under a range of temperatures and stresses expected for potential mined repositories in salt. Testing focused on the role of moisture, temperature and stress state on the hydrologic (permeability) and thermal properties of consolidating granular salt at high fractional densities. Task 2 consists of microstructural observations made on samples after they have been consolidated to interpret deformation mechanisms and evaluate the ability of the constitutive model to predict operative mechanisms under different conditions. Task 3 concerns the development of the coupled thermal-mechanical-hydrologic constitutive model for granular salt consolidation. The measurements and observations in Tasks 1 and 2 were used to develop a thermal-mechanical constitutive model. Accomplishments and status from each of these efforts is reported in subsequent sections of this report

• Research Organization: Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Fuel Cycle Technologies (NE-5)
• DOE Contract Number: NE0000733
• OSTI ID: 1380117
• Report Number(s): 13-4834; NEUP project 13-4834
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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