Understanding the effects of temperature on the hydro-mechanical behavior of compacted bentonite is important for performance assessments of bentonitebased buffer,backfill,and sealing systems in deep geological dispos...Understanding the effects of temperature on the hydro-mechanical behavior of compacted bentonite is important for performance assessments of bentonitebased buffer,backfill,and sealing systems in deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive wastes.Motivated by such applications,most past experimental studies were focused on highly compacted and high-quality bentonite.Such degrees of dry densities may not be economically or technically feasible for other emerging applications,including as an alternative material to cement in plugging and abandonment of wells.A bespoke high-pressure high-temperature constant rate of strain(CRS)apparatus was developed for the work reported here to conduct a series of tests for evaluating the hydro-mechanical response of compacted bentonite to elevated temperatures.Experiments were performed with bentonite specimens with high impurity contents at a range of dry densities(1.1,1.4,and 1.7 Mg/m^(3))and temperatures between 20 and 80℃.The results show that temperature increase leads to the decrease of swelling pressure for all studied densities.Larger reductions of swelling pressure were observed with increasing dry densities,suggesting the possibility of a larger exchange of pore water in the microstructure system of the clay.The transfer of water from micropores to macropores at elevated temperatures is shown to be a key controlling process at high-density compacted bentonite by which temperature affects the swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity.展开更多
Deep geological repository is typically situated at depths ranging from several hundred to 1000 m below ground,making bentonite engineered barrier potentially vulnerable to high water pressure and even inducing hydrau...Deep geological repository is typically situated at depths ranging from several hundred to 1000 m below ground,making bentonite engineered barrier potentially vulnerable to high water pressure and even inducing hydraulic fracturing.This study conducted injection tests on compacted GMZ(Gaomiaozi)bentonite with a self-developed visualization set-up.The objective was to unveil the roles of dry density,water content,and pressurization rate in hydraulic fracturing from the perspective of fracturing macromorphological dynamics and breakthrough characteristics.Moreover,the relationships between breakthrough characteristics and microstructure were examined by MIP(mercury intrusion porosimetry)analysis.Results showed that the fracturing dynamics were characterized by three stages:hydration,cracking,and fracturing stages.Compared to water content and pressurization rate,dry density exerted more pronounced effects on these stages.Increasing dry density can lead to an expansion of circular hydration zone,a more complex cracking network,and a change in fracturing patterns from long and clear to short and fuzzy.In terms of breakthrough characteristics,the breakthrough pressure was positively correlated with dry density and negatively correlated with water content.Interestingly,there is a good and unique logarithmic correlation between the breakthrough pressure and the ratio eM/em of inter-aggregate void ratio and intra-aggregate void ratio,regardless of dry density and water content.Within a certain range(i.e.200-50 kPa/min),breakthrough pressure showed slight dependency on pressurization rate.Nevertheless,an extremely low pressurization rate of 20 kPa/min caused a transition for the specimen from quasi-brittle to plastic state owning to more water infiltration,thereby hindering fracture initiation and propagation.展开更多
Investigation of thermal effects on the strain rate-dependent properties of compacted bentonite is crucial for the long-term safety assessment of deep geological repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste...Investigation of thermal effects on the strain rate-dependent properties of compacted bentonite is crucial for the long-term safety assessment of deep geological repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste.In the present work,cylindrical GMZ01 bentonite specimens were compacted with suction-controlled by the vapor equilibrium technique.Then,a series of temperature-and suction-controlled stepwise constant rate of strain(CRS)tests was performed and the rate-dependent compressibility behavior of the highly compacted GMZ01 bentonite was investigated.The plastic compressibility parameterλ,the elastic compressibility parameterκ,the yield stress p0,as well as the viscous parameterαwere determined.Results indicate thatλ,κandαdecrease and p0 increases as suction increases.Upon heating,parametersλ,αand p0 decrease.It is also found that p0 increases linearly with increasing CRS in a double-logarithm coordinate.Based on the experimental results,a viscosity parameterα(s,T)was fitted to capture the effects of suction s and temperature T on the relationship between yield stress and strain rate.Then,an elastic-thermo-viscoplastic model for unsaturated soils was developed to describe the thermal effects on the rate-dependent behavior of highly compacted GMZ01 bentonite.Validation showed that the calculated results agreed well to the measured ones.展开更多
Predicting the gas breakthrough pressure of saturated compacted bentonite is crucial for ensuring the long-term safe operation of deep geological repositories for the disposal of high-level radioactive nuclear wastes....Predicting the gas breakthrough pressure of saturated compacted bentonite is crucial for ensuring the long-term safe operation of deep geological repositories for the disposal of high-level radioactive nuclear wastes.In this work,the swelling pressure,water injection,gas injection and mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)tests on saturated compacted Gaomiaozi(GMZ)bentonite specimens with a dry density of 1.3 Mg/m^(3),1.4 Mg/m^(3),1.5 Mg/m^(3),1.6 Mg/m^(3) and 1.7 Mg/m^(3) were conducted.Subsequently,the relationships between the swelling pressure and average inter-particle distance,as well as between the gas entry pressure and the maximum effective pore size were analyzed and established.Considering that gas migration and breakthrough are all closely related to the pore structures of the tested geomaterials,a novel gas breakthrough pressure prediction model based on the pore size distribution(PSD)curve was constructed using an existing prediction model based on gas entry pressure and swelling pressure.Finally,based on the test results of the specimens 1.5 Mg/m^(3),1.6 Mg/m^(3) and 1.7 Mg/m^(3),gas breakthrough pressures of the specimens with dry densities of 1.3 Mg/m^(3) and 1.4 Mg/m^(3) were predicted.The results show that the calculated gas breakthrough pressures of 0.76 MPa and 1.28 MPa are very close to the measured values of 0.80 MPa and 1.30 MPa,validating the accuracy of the proposed model.展开更多
In the high-level radioactive waste(HLW)deep geological repository,bentonite is compacted uniaxially,and then arranged vertically in engineered barriers.The assembly scheme induces the initial anisotropy,and with hydr...In the high-level radioactive waste(HLW)deep geological repository,bentonite is compacted uniaxially,and then arranged vertically in engineered barriers.The assembly scheme induces the initial anisotropy,and with hydration,it develops more evidently under chemical conditions.To investigate the anisotropic swelling of compacted Gaomiaozi(GMZ)bentonite and the further response to saline effects,a series of constant-volume swelling pressure tests were performed.Results showed that dry density enhanced the bentonite swelling and raised the final anisotropy,whereas saline inhibited the bentonite swelling but still promoted the final anisotropy.The final anisotropy coefficient(ratio of radial to axial pressure)obeyed the Boltzmann sigmoid attenuation function,decreasing with concentration and dry density,converging to a minimum value of 0.76.The staged evolution of anisotropy coefficient was discovered,that saline inhibited the rise of the anisotropy coefficient(Dd)in the isotropic process greater than the valley(d1)in the anisotropic process,leading to the final anisotropy increasing.The isotropic stage amplified the impact of soil structure rearrangement on the macro-swelling pressure values.Thus,a new method for predicting swelling pressures of compacted bentonite was proposed,by expanding the equations of Gouy-Chapman theory with a dissipative wedge term.An evolutionary function was constructed,revealing the correlation between the occurrence time and the pressure value due to the structure rearrangement and the former crystalline swelling.Accordingly,a design reference for dry density was given,based on the chemical conditions around the pre-site in Beishan,China.The anisotropy promoted by saline would cause a greater drop of radial pressure,making the previous threshold on axial swelling fail.展开更多
An effective thermal conductivity model was proposed for unsaturated compacted bentonites with consideration of the bimodal shape of pore size distribution curves. The pores of soils were grouped into two dominant por...An effective thermal conductivity model was proposed for unsaturated compacted bentonites with consideration of the bimodal shape of pore size distribution curves. The pores of soils were grouped into two dominant pore size modes corresponding to the intra- and inter-particle pores, and were simulated with randomly distributed spheroidal inclusions of different aspect ratios. With the assumption of preferential invasion of the wetting fluid （water） into pores of smaller sizes and by virtue of the analyt- ical solution to the inhomogeneous inclusion problem in heat conduction, the model was developed using the Mori-Tanaka （MT）, Ponte Castafieda-Willis （PCW） and self-consistent （SC） homogenization approaches for different considerations of the interactions between pores and the solid phase. The proposed model is functions of the thermal conductivities of the solid, liq- uid and gas phases, porosity, the degree of saturation, the aspect ratios of pores and/or soil particles, and the fraction of the smaller group of pores. The proposed model was validated against five sets of laboratory measurement data on the MX-80, FEBEX, KunigeI-V1 and GMZ01 bentonites, showing a good agreement between the model predictions and the laboratory measurements. The responses of the model with respect to the geometries of pores and solid particles were examined. Com- pared to series-parallel structural models, the proposed model may overall exhibit better performance if proper homogenization schemes are adopted, but as an advantage, the model has clearer physical mechanisms and a smaller number of parameters.展开更多
The requisite functions of a bentonite buffer in a deep geological repository depend on the sealing/healing of bentonite interfaces,with particular emphasis on the self-healing(automatic healing upon wetting)of assemb...The requisite functions of a bentonite buffer in a deep geological repository depend on the sealing/healing of bentonite interfaces,with particular emphasis on the self-healing(automatic healing upon wetting)of assembled bentonite-bentonite interfaces.This study determined the shear resistance(including the peak shear strength and secant modulus)of densely compacted Gaomiaozi(GMZ)bentonite and its assembled interface after confined water saturation.The effect of bentonite dry density and saturation time on the shear resistance of saturated healed interfaces was elucidated,and the interfacial self-healing capacity was assessed.The results indicate that the shear resistance of the saturated healed interfaces increased with the bentonite dry density but had a non-monotonic correlation with the saturation time.For a given dry density of the bentonite,the saturated healed interface exhibits a lower peak shear strength than the saturated intact bentonite but a higher peak shear strength than the saturated separated interface.The saturated healed and separated interfaces have comparable shear moduli(secant moduli),which are lower than that of the saturated intact bentonite.The saturated healed interfaces display smooth shear failure planes,while the saturated assembled interfaces and intact bentonite exhibit comparable frictional angles.This indicates that interfacial self-healing plays a pivotal role in enhancing interfacial peak shear strength by facilitating microstructural bonding at the assembled interface.Finally,it can be stated that densely compacted GMZ bentonite has a robust interfacial self-healing capacity in terms of shear resistance.These findings contribute to the design of the bentonite buffer and facilitate the evaluation of its safe operation at specified disposal ages.展开更多
Thermal conductivity, water retention curve and swelling behavior of two MX80 bentonite samples were studied in the present work. The difference obtained from these two MX80 bentonite samples was then analyzed in term...Thermal conductivity, water retention curve and swelling behavior of two MX80 bentonite samples were studied in the present work. The difference obtained from these two MX80 bentonite samples was then analyzed in terms of mineralogical effects （effects of the proportion of quartz and montmorillonite）. It was concluded that the mineralogical effect was significant on the thermal conductivity and the swelling capacity; on the contrary, it was negligible on the water retention property.展开更多
A methodology for identifying and calibrating the material parameters for a coupled hydro-mechanical problem is presented in this pape r.For validation purpose,a laboratory-based water infiltration test was numericall...A methodology for identifying and calibrating the material parameters for a coupled hydro-mechanical problem is presented in this pape r.For validation purpose,a laboratory-based water infiltration test was numerically simulated using finite element method(FEM).The test was conducted using a self-designed column-type experimental device,which mimicked the wetting process of a candidate backfill material in a nuclear waste repository.The real-time measurements of key state variables(e.g.water content,relative humidity,temperature,and total stresses)were performed with the monitoring sensors along the height of cylindrical soil sample.For numerical simulation,the modified Barcelona Basic Model(BBM)along with soil-water retention model for compacted bentonite was used.It shows that the identified model parameters successfully captured the moisture migration process under an applied hydraulic gradient in a bentonite-based compacted soil sample.A comparison between the measured and predicted values of total stresses both in axial and lateral directions along with other state variables revealed that heterogeneous moisture content was distributed along the hydration-path,resulting in non-uniform stress-deformation characteristics of soil.展开更多
基金University of Manchester and the China Scholarship Council,Royal Society,UK,Grant/Award Number:IECNSFC211366National Natural Science Foundation of China,Grant/Award Numbers:5247415,52174133Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province of China,Grant/Award Number:BK20240107。
文摘Understanding the effects of temperature on the hydro-mechanical behavior of compacted bentonite is important for performance assessments of bentonitebased buffer,backfill,and sealing systems in deep geological disposal of high-level radioactive wastes.Motivated by such applications,most past experimental studies were focused on highly compacted and high-quality bentonite.Such degrees of dry densities may not be economically or technically feasible for other emerging applications,including as an alternative material to cement in plugging and abandonment of wells.A bespoke high-pressure high-temperature constant rate of strain(CRS)apparatus was developed for the work reported here to conduct a series of tests for evaluating the hydro-mechanical response of compacted bentonite to elevated temperatures.Experiments were performed with bentonite specimens with high impurity contents at a range of dry densities(1.1,1.4,and 1.7 Mg/m^(3))and temperatures between 20 and 80℃.The results show that temperature increase leads to the decrease of swelling pressure for all studied densities.Larger reductions of swelling pressure were observed with increasing dry densities,suggesting the possibility of a larger exchange of pore water in the microstructure system of the clay.The transfer of water from micropores to macropores at elevated temperatures is shown to be a key controlling process at high-density compacted bentonite by which temperature affects the swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.42430713 and 42125701)Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission(Grant No.2023ZKZD26)。
文摘Deep geological repository is typically situated at depths ranging from several hundred to 1000 m below ground,making bentonite engineered barrier potentially vulnerable to high water pressure and even inducing hydraulic fracturing.This study conducted injection tests on compacted GMZ(Gaomiaozi)bentonite with a self-developed visualization set-up.The objective was to unveil the roles of dry density,water content,and pressurization rate in hydraulic fracturing from the perspective of fracturing macromorphological dynamics and breakthrough characteristics.Moreover,the relationships between breakthrough characteristics and microstructure were examined by MIP(mercury intrusion porosimetry)analysis.Results showed that the fracturing dynamics were characterized by three stages:hydration,cracking,and fracturing stages.Compared to water content and pressurization rate,dry density exerted more pronounced effects on these stages.Increasing dry density can lead to an expansion of circular hydration zone,a more complex cracking network,and a change in fracturing patterns from long and clear to short and fuzzy.In terms of breakthrough characteristics,the breakthrough pressure was positively correlated with dry density and negatively correlated with water content.Interestingly,there is a good and unique logarithmic correlation between the breakthrough pressure and the ratio eM/em of inter-aggregate void ratio and intra-aggregate void ratio,regardless of dry density and water content.Within a certain range(i.e.200-50 kPa/min),breakthrough pressure showed slight dependency on pressurization rate.Nevertheless,an extremely low pressurization rate of 20 kPa/min caused a transition for the specimen from quasi-brittle to plastic state owning to more water infiltration,thereby hindering fracture initiation and propagation.
基金the support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.42030714,42177138 and 41907239).
文摘Investigation of thermal effects on the strain rate-dependent properties of compacted bentonite is crucial for the long-term safety assessment of deep geological repository for disposal of high-level radioactive waste.In the present work,cylindrical GMZ01 bentonite specimens were compacted with suction-controlled by the vapor equilibrium technique.Then,a series of temperature-and suction-controlled stepwise constant rate of strain(CRS)tests was performed and the rate-dependent compressibility behavior of the highly compacted GMZ01 bentonite was investigated.The plastic compressibility parameterλ,the elastic compressibility parameterκ,the yield stress p0,as well as the viscous parameterαwere determined.Results indicate thatλ,κandαdecrease and p0 increases as suction increases.Upon heating,parametersλ,αand p0 decrease.It is also found that p0 increases linearly with increasing CRS in a double-logarithm coordinate.Based on the experimental results,a viscosity parameterα(s,T)was fitted to capture the effects of suction s and temperature T on the relationship between yield stress and strain rate.Then,an elastic-thermo-viscoplastic model for unsaturated soils was developed to describe the thermal effects on the rate-dependent behavior of highly compacted GMZ01 bentonite.Validation showed that the calculated results agreed well to the measured ones.
基金the National Natural Science Foundationof China (Grant No. 42030714).
文摘Predicting the gas breakthrough pressure of saturated compacted bentonite is crucial for ensuring the long-term safe operation of deep geological repositories for the disposal of high-level radioactive nuclear wastes.In this work,the swelling pressure,water injection,gas injection and mercury intrusion porosimetry(MIP)tests on saturated compacted Gaomiaozi(GMZ)bentonite specimens with a dry density of 1.3 Mg/m^(3),1.4 Mg/m^(3),1.5 Mg/m^(3),1.6 Mg/m^(3) and 1.7 Mg/m^(3) were conducted.Subsequently,the relationships between the swelling pressure and average inter-particle distance,as well as between the gas entry pressure and the maximum effective pore size were analyzed and established.Considering that gas migration and breakthrough are all closely related to the pore structures of the tested geomaterials,a novel gas breakthrough pressure prediction model based on the pore size distribution(PSD)curve was constructed using an existing prediction model based on gas entry pressure and swelling pressure.Finally,based on the test results of the specimens 1.5 Mg/m^(3),1.6 Mg/m^(3) and 1.7 Mg/m^(3),gas breakthrough pressures of the specimens with dry densities of 1.3 Mg/m^(3) and 1.4 Mg/m^(3) were predicted.The results show that the calculated gas breakthrough pressures of 0.76 MPa and 1.28 MPa are very close to the measured values of 0.80 MPa and 1.30 MPa,validating the accuracy of the proposed model.
基金supported by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of China(Grant No.42125701)Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission(Grant No.2023ZKZD26)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,and Top Discipline Plan of Shanghai Universities-Class I.
文摘In the high-level radioactive waste(HLW)deep geological repository,bentonite is compacted uniaxially,and then arranged vertically in engineered barriers.The assembly scheme induces the initial anisotropy,and with hydration,it develops more evidently under chemical conditions.To investigate the anisotropic swelling of compacted Gaomiaozi(GMZ)bentonite and the further response to saline effects,a series of constant-volume swelling pressure tests were performed.Results showed that dry density enhanced the bentonite swelling and raised the final anisotropy,whereas saline inhibited the bentonite swelling but still promoted the final anisotropy.The final anisotropy coefficient(ratio of radial to axial pressure)obeyed the Boltzmann sigmoid attenuation function,decreasing with concentration and dry density,converging to a minimum value of 0.76.The staged evolution of anisotropy coefficient was discovered,that saline inhibited the rise of the anisotropy coefficient(Dd)in the isotropic process greater than the valley(d1)in the anisotropic process,leading to the final anisotropy increasing.The isotropic stage amplified the impact of soil structure rearrangement on the macro-swelling pressure values.Thus,a new method for predicting swelling pressures of compacted bentonite was proposed,by expanding the equations of Gouy-Chapman theory with a dissipative wedge term.An evolutionary function was constructed,revealing the correlation between the occurrence time and the pressure value due to the structure rearrangement and the former crystalline swelling.Accordingly,a design reference for dry density was given,based on the chemical conditions around the pre-site in Beishan,China.The anisotropy promoted by saline would cause a greater drop of radial pressure,making the previous threshold on axial swelling fail.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.51179136 and 51222903)
文摘An effective thermal conductivity model was proposed for unsaturated compacted bentonites with consideration of the bimodal shape of pore size distribution curves. The pores of soils were grouped into two dominant pore size modes corresponding to the intra- and inter-particle pores, and were simulated with randomly distributed spheroidal inclusions of different aspect ratios. With the assumption of preferential invasion of the wetting fluid （water） into pores of smaller sizes and by virtue of the analyt- ical solution to the inhomogeneous inclusion problem in heat conduction, the model was developed using the Mori-Tanaka （MT）, Ponte Castafieda-Willis （PCW） and self-consistent （SC） homogenization approaches for different considerations of the interactions between pores and the solid phase. The proposed model is functions of the thermal conductivities of the solid, liq- uid and gas phases, porosity, the degree of saturation, the aspect ratios of pores and/or soil particles, and the fraction of the smaller group of pores. The proposed model was validated against five sets of laboratory measurement data on the MX-80, FEBEX, KunigeI-V1 and GMZ01 bentonites, showing a good agreement between the model predictions and the laboratory measurements. The responses of the model with respect to the geometries of pores and solid particles were examined. Com- pared to series-parallel structural models, the proposed model may overall exhibit better performance if proper homogenization schemes are adopted, but as an advantage, the model has clearer physical mechanisms and a smaller number of parameters.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.42125701 and 41977232)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No.2021M702234).
文摘The requisite functions of a bentonite buffer in a deep geological repository depend on the sealing/healing of bentonite interfaces,with particular emphasis on the self-healing(automatic healing upon wetting)of assembled bentonite-bentonite interfaces.This study determined the shear resistance(including the peak shear strength and secant modulus)of densely compacted Gaomiaozi(GMZ)bentonite and its assembled interface after confined water saturation.The effect of bentonite dry density and saturation time on the shear resistance of saturated healed interfaces was elucidated,and the interfacial self-healing capacity was assessed.The results indicate that the shear resistance of the saturated healed interfaces increased with the bentonite dry density but had a non-monotonic correlation with the saturation time.For a given dry density of the bentonite,the saturated healed interface exhibits a lower peak shear strength than the saturated intact bentonite but a higher peak shear strength than the saturated separated interface.The saturated healed and separated interfaces have comparable shear moduli(secant moduli),which are lower than that of the saturated intact bentonite.The saturated healed interfaces display smooth shear failure planes,while the saturated assembled interfaces and intact bentonite exhibit comparable frictional angles.This indicates that interfacial self-healing plays a pivotal role in enhancing interfacial peak shear strength by facilitating microstructural bonding at the assembled interface.Finally,it can be stated that densely compacted GMZ bentonite has a robust interfacial self-healing capacity in terms of shear resistance.These findings contribute to the design of the bentonite buffer and facilitate the evaluation of its safe operation at specified disposal ages.
文摘Thermal conductivity, water retention curve and swelling behavior of two MX80 bentonite samples were studied in the present work. The difference obtained from these two MX80 bentonite samples was then analyzed in terms of mineralogical effects （effects of the proportion of quartz and montmorillonite）. It was concluded that the mineralogical effect was significant on the thermal conductivity and the swelling capacity; on the contrary, it was negligible on the water retention property.
基金the German Research Foundation(DFG)for the financial support(Grant No.SCHA 675/17-1)。
文摘A methodology for identifying and calibrating the material parameters for a coupled hydro-mechanical problem is presented in this pape r.For validation purpose,a laboratory-based water infiltration test was numerically simulated using finite element method(FEM).The test was conducted using a self-designed column-type experimental device,which mimicked the wetting process of a candidate backfill material in a nuclear waste repository.The real-time measurements of key state variables(e.g.water content,relative humidity,temperature,and total stresses)were performed with the monitoring sensors along the height of cylindrical soil sample.For numerical simulation,the modified Barcelona Basic Model(BBM)along with soil-water retention model for compacted bentonite was used.It shows that the identified model parameters successfully captured the moisture migration process under an applied hydraulic gradient in a bentonite-based compacted soil sample.A comparison between the measured and predicted values of total stresses both in axial and lateral directions along with other state variables revealed that heterogeneous moisture content was distributed along the hydration-path,resulting in non-uniform stress-deformation characteristics of soil.
