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A Study of Coupled Thermomechanical, Thermohydrological and Hydromechanical Processes Associated with a Nuclear Waste Repository in a Fractured Rock Medium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 February 2011

C. F. Tsang ,
J. Noorishad  and
J. S. Y. Wang
C. F. Tsang
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720.
J. Noorishad
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720.
J. S. Y. Wang
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720.
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Abstract

It has been recognized that coupled thermomechanical, thermohydrologic, and hydromechanical processes may play an important role in the behavior of the geologic formation around a nuclear waste repository. A numerical code, ROCMAS, was recently developed at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to calculate coupled heat transfer, fluid flow, and mechanical deformation in a fractured porous medium. Three scoping studies using this model are described in this paper, with the following preliminary conclusions. The thermomechanical simulations of a fractured rock mass show that the fractures can absorb the thermally induced rock deformations, thus possibly explaining the observed behavior of the granite rocks in the experiment at Stripa, Sweden. The variations in fracture aperture profiles in the hydromechanical simulations indicate that the rigid fracture assumptions used in most uncoupled studies may not be a good representation of fracture behavior. The thermohydromechanical model study reveals that perturbations induced by a heater may close a fracture near the heater borehole and stop the water inflow to the borehole.

Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 15: Symposium D – Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management VI , 1982 , 515
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1983

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References

REFERENCES

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