[en] In a few years, safe and definitive solutions should be ready to manage large quantities of high-level radioactive waste. Deep geological repository involving a multibarrier system constitutes one of the most promising options to isolate such waste from the human environment. In order to provide reasonable assurance of the waste isolation efficiency, it is essential to understand the behaviour of the confining geomaterials under a variety of environmental conditions. In particular, variations in temperature and humidity are two main critical aspects in the short and medium term (i.e. several thousands of years). To this end, results from a near-to-real scale experiment were studied by means of a thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) finite element approach including a consistent thermo-plastic constitutive model for unsaturated soils. This enabled a comprehensive understanding of the behaviour of the buffer material (bentonite).
Alonso, E.E., Alcoverro, J., Coste, F., Malinsky, L., Merrien-Soukatchoff, V., Kadiri, I., Nowak, T., Shao, H., Nguyen, T., Selvadurai, A., Armand, G., Sobolik, S., Itamura, M., Stone, C., Webb, S., Rejeb, A., Tijina, M., Maouche, Z., Kobayashi, A., Kurikami, H., Ito, A., Sugita, Y., Chijimatsu, M., Borgesson, L., Hernelind, J., Rutqvist, J., Tsang, C. & Jussila, P. (2005). "The FEBEX benchmark test: case definition and comparison of modelling approaches". Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 45(5-6): 611-638. (Pubitemid 41030775)
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Gens, A., Garcia-Molina, A.J., Olivella, S., Alonso, E.E. & Huertas, F. (1998). "Analysis of a full scale in-situ test simulating repository conditions". Int. J. Num. Anal. Meth. Geomech., 22: 515-548. (Pubitemid 28434310)
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Laloui, L. & François, B. (2008). "ACMEG-T: A soil thermo-plasticity model". J. Eng. Mech. in print.
Lloret, A., Romero, E. and Villar, M. (2004). "FEBEX II Project: Final report on thermohydro- mechanical laboratory tests". Publicación técnica 10/2004, ENRESA.
Lloret, A., Villar, M., Sanchez, M., Gens, A., Pintado, X. & Alonso, E.E. (2003). "Mechanical behaviour of heavily compacted bentonite under high suction changes". Géotechnique, 53: 27-40. (Pubitemid 36290477)
Nguyen, T.S., Selvadurai, A.P.S. & Armand, G. (2005). "Modelling the FEBEX THM experiment using a state surface approach". Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci., 42: 639-651. (Pubitemid 41030776)
Pintado, X., Ledesma, A. & Lloret, A. (2002). "Backanalysis of thermohydraulic bentonite properties from laboratory tests". Eng. Geol., 64: 91-115. (Pubitemid 34589624)
Villar, M. (2002). "Thermo-hydro-mechanical characterisation of a bentonite from Cabo de Gata: A study applied to the use of bentonite as sealing material in high level radioactive waste repositories". Publicación técnica 04/2002, ENRESA.
Villar, M. & Lloret, A. (2004). "Influence of temperature on the hydro-mechanical behaviour of a compacted bentonite". Appl. Clay Sci., 26: 337-350. (Pubitemid 38958308)
Villar, M., Garcia-Sineriz, J.L., Barcena, I. & Lloret, A. (2005). "State of the bentonite barrier after five years operation of an in-situ test simulating a high level radioactive waste repository". Eng. Geol., 80: 175-198. (Pubitemid 41226778)
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