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http://dx.doi.org/10.7843/kgs.2018.34.1.17

Effect of Thermal Properties of Bentonite Buffer on Temperature Variation  

Kim, Min-Jun (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Eng., KAIST)
Lee, Seung-Rae (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Eng., KAIST)
Yoon, Seok (Radioactive Waste Disposal Research Division, KAERI)
Jeon, Jun-Seo (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Eng., KAIST)
Kim, Min-Seop (Dept. of Civil and Environmental Eng., KAIST)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society / v.34, no.1, 2018 , pp. 17-24 More about this Journal
Abstract
A buffer in a geological disposal system minimizes groundwater inflow from the surrounding rock and protects the disposed high-level waste (HLW) against any mechanical impact. As decay heat of a spent fuel causes temperature variation in the buffer that affects the mechanical performance of the system, an accurate estimation of the temperature variation is substantial. The temperature variation is affected by thermal and material properties of the system such as thermal conductivity, density and specific heat capacity of the buffer, and thus these factors should be properly included in the design of the system. In particular, as the thermal properties are variable depending on the density and water content of the buffer, consideration of the effects should be included in the analysis. Hence, in this study, a numerical model based on finite element method (FEM) which is able to consider the change of density and water content of the buffer was established. In addition, using the numerical model, a parametric study was conducted to investigate the effect of each thermal property on the temperature variation of the buffer.
Keywords
Deep geological disposal; Compacted bentonite buffer; Thermal conductivity; Density; Specific heat capacity;
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Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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