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Comparative modelling of the coupled thermal–hydraulic-mechanical (THM) processes in a heated bentonite pellet column with hydration

Journal Article · · Environmental Earth Sciences
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [9];  [9];  [9];  [10];  [11] more »;  [12];  [12];  [13] « less
  1. Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate (ENSI),Brugg (Switzerland)
  2. Federal Inst. for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR), Hanover (Germany)
  3. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), Ottawa (Canada)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig (Germany)
  6. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Wuhan (China). State Key Lab. of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Inst. of Rock and Soil Mechanics
  7. Korea Atomic Energy Research Inst.(KAERI), Daejeon (South Korea)
  8. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Tokyo (Japan)
  9. Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA), Rockville, MD (United States)
  10. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Rockville, MD (United States)
  11. Inst. for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), Paris (France)
  12. Univ. of Kiel (Germany). Inst. of Geosciences
  13. National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste (NAGRA), Wettingen (Switzerland)
+ Show Author Affiliations
For the deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste in argillaceous rocks, the heat production of the waste is an important driver for thermal–hydraulic-mechanical (THM)-coupled processes. These THM processes influence the properties and conditions of the near field that in many repository designs contains bentonite as a clay buffer. One task in the DECOVALEX-2015 (DEvelopment of COupled models and their VALidation against Experiments) project was the modelling of a heated bentonite column (Villar et al. in Long-term THM tests reports: THM cells for the HE-E test: update of results until February 2014. Deliverable-no: D2.2-7.3. CIEMAT Technical Report IEMAT/DMA/2G210/03/2014, 2014) in preparation for the in situ heater experiment HE-E at the underground rock laboratory Mont Terri. DECOVALEX is an international cooperative project that focuses on the development and validation of mathematical models for simulating such coupled processes associated with disposal in deep geological repositories. Eight modelling teams developed their own THM-coupled models for the bentonite column experiment, using six different simulation codes. Each of the teams individually calibrated the THM parameters for the bentonite material. The eight resulting parameter sets agree well and allow a satisfactory reproduction of the TH measurements by all models. The modelling results for the evolution of temperature and relative humidity over time at three sensors in the bentonite column are in good agreement between the teams and with the measured data. Also, changes of the temperature due to modifications of the insulation and the adjustment of the heating power during the course of the experiment are well reproduced. The models were thus able to reproduce the main physical processes of the experiment, both for vapour-dominated diffusion during the heating phase and combined liquid and vapour transport during a subsequent heating and hydration phase. Lastly, based on the parameter sets, the teams predict a penetration of the water infiltration front in the 48-cm column filled with bentonite pellets to a depth between 25 and 35 cm over the 15,000 h (i.e. over 20 months) of the hydration phase of the experiment.
Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1476621
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 22859381
Journal Information:
Environmental Earth Sciences, Journal Name: Environmental Earth Sciences Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 77; ISSN 1866-6280
Publisher:
Springer-VerlagCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (14)

Coupled THM processes in EDZ of crystalline rocks using an elasto-plastic cellular automaton journal July 2008
Modeling of Coupled Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical Processes with Links to Geochemistry Associated with Bentonite-Backfilled Repository Tunnels in Clay Formations journal March 2013
OpenGeoSys: an open-source initiative for numerical simulation of thermo-hydro-mechanical/chemical (THM/C) processes in porous media journal February 2012
Evaluation of the predictive capability of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical models for a heated bentonite/clay system (HE-E) in the Mont Terri Rock Laboratory journal January 2017
A modeling approach for analysis of coupled multiphase fluid flow, heat transfer, and deformation in fractured porous rock journal June 2002
Thermal–hydraulic–mechanical behavior of bentonite and sand-bentonite materials as seal for a nuclear waste repository: Numerical simulation of column experiments journal January 2017
Experimental study on the swelling behaviour of bentonite/claystone mixture journal January 2012
Numerical modeling of heating and hydration experiments on bentonite pellets journal November 2015
Study of failure and scale effects in rocks under uniaxial compression using 3D cellular automata journal June 2009
Numerical study on coupled thermo-mechanical processes in Äspö Pillar Stability Experiment journal April 2013
Hydro-mechanical behaviour of bentonite pellet mixtures journal January 2007
Exact integral solutions for two-phase flow journal March 1990
EBS behaviour immediately after repository closure in a clay host rock: HE-E experiment (Mont Terri URL) journal January 2014
A process-oriented approach to computing multi-field problems in porous media journal July 2004

Figures / Tables (17)

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Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
Bentonite
Clay rock
Coupled THM processes
Heater experiment
Mont Terri