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In high-level radioactive waste geological repositories, compacted bentonite undergoes coupled thermo-hydraulic processes due to heat released from a central waste canister and groundwater imbibition from the surrounding host rock. An understanding of these processes is essential for long-term simulations radionuclide migration and canister corrosion, which requires an understanding temperature effects on the coupled thermo-hydraulic properties governing these processes. In this study, a tank-scale radial infiltration test was used to investigate water imbibition processes in compacted bentonite under a central heater temperature of 200°C that simulates high thermal gradients in a repository. Interpretation of this test focuses on evaluation of the liquid water wetting front during hydration and the interpretation of the temperature-dependent transient soil water retention curve (SWRC), thermal conductivity function (TCF), and hydraulic conductivity function (HCF). The SWRC during imbibition follows a temperature-dependent wetting path. Temperature effects on the hydraulic conductivity of bentonite in saturated conditions had the greatest effect on the shape of the HCF, with minimal temperature effects at higher suctions. The transient thermal conductivity data matched well with a new TCF linked with the SWRC shape. Although the bentonite layer was restrained, local deformations during hydration may have affected the shapes of the TCF and HCF.

AbstractWe aim to enhance the stability of finite element models of dynamic structural contact with multiphase granular soils which are described by advanced soil plasticity models that can simulate monotonic and cyclic behaviour of multiphase soils. Often, numerical oscillations cannot be avoided in these contact models and can cause advanced soil models to significantly overshoot stress, leading to unrealistic discontinuities in the stress paths. This situation can challenge the stability of the stress integration scheme and the global finite element solver and lead to the early termination of the analysis. We specifically address the issue of stress overshooting by presenting novel solutions and the corresponding stress integration schemes for a representative soil model for unsaturated granular soils. Also, several examples are provided to evaluate the integration scheme and show the advantages and limitations of the proposed overshooting solutions in solving a contact-impact problem involving unsaturated granular soils.

This paper proposes a new relationship between thermal conductivity and degree of saturation of unsaturated soils, referred to as the thermal conductivity function (TCF). The new sigmoidal relationship between thermal conductivity and degree of saturation was developed so that all parameters have a physical meaning. After calibration of the model using data from the literature and comparison with other available TCFs, the parameters of the new TCF were related to those of the soil-water retention curves for the soils investigated in the calibration process. The linkage between the parameters of the TCF and SWRC indicates that the parameters reflect the point of air entry and pore size distribution of the soil, as well as the maximum and minimum thermal conductivity values encountered at saturated and dry conditions, respectively.

The thermal response of an energy field scale pile that is part of a pair of energy piles spaced at a centre-to-centre distance of 3.5 m (i.e., 6D, where D is the pile diameter), was examined experimentally and numerically. Three field tests were conducted to assess the axial and radial thermal responses of the energy pile: (i) heating of the energy pile alone, (ii) heating of both energy piles simultaneously, and (iii) heating of the other energy pile while the considered energy pile was not heated. Good agreement was obtained between the experimental and numerical evaluations of the energy pile during the tests. A parametric study of the validated numerical model was performed for each of the three tests to understand the effects of varying soil thermal conductivity, thermal expansion coefficient, and elastic modulus on the thermal response of the considered energy pile. The numerical results confirmed the field results that radial thermal stresses in the energy piles were insignificant compared to axial thermal stresses. The impact of elastic modulus of the soil was more significant on the thermal stresses of the energy pile compared to the effects of soil thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient. The thermal stresses of the considered energy pile were not significantly affected when both energy piles were heated simultaneously, even though ground temperature changes between the energy piles were more significant due to thermal interaction. Only minor thermal effects on the non-thermal pile were observed during heating of one of the energy piles for different soil properties.

This study evaluated the strength properties of compacted lateritic soils reinforced with polypropylene (PP) waste strips cut from recycled plastic packing with the goal of promoting sustainability through using local materials for engineering work and reusing waste materials as low-cost reinforcements. Waste PP strips with widths of 15 mm and different lengths were uniformly mixed with clayey sand (SC) and clay (CL) soils with the goal of using these materials as low-cost fiber reinforcements. The impact of different PP strip contents (0.25% to 2.0%) and lengths (10, 15, 20, and 30 mm) on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the soils revealed an optimum combination of PP strip content and length. Statistical analysis showed that PP strip content has a greater effect than the PP strip length on the UCS for both soils. Results led to the definition of an empirical equation to estimate the UCS of strip-reinforced soils. The results from direct shear tests indicate that the SC soil showed an increase in both apparent cohesion and friction angle after reinforcement, while the CL soil only showed an increase in friction angle after reinforcement. California bearing ratio (CBR) tests indicate that the SC soil experienced a 70% increase in CBR after reinforcement, while the CBR of the CL soil was not affected by strip inclusion.