• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.228-243
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• 2023

Bentonite is widely recognized and utilized as a buffer material in high-level radioactive waste repositories, mainly due to its favorable characteristics such as swelling capability and low permeability. Bentonite buffers play an important role in ensuring the safe disposal of radioactive waste by providing a low permeability barrier and effectively preventing the migration of radionuclides into the surrounding rock. However, the long-term performance of bentonite buffers still remains a subject of ongoing research, and one of the main concerns is the erosion of the buffer induced by swelling and groundwater flow. The erosion of the bentonite buffer can significantly impact repository safety by compromising the integrity of buffer and leading to the formation of colloids that may facilitate the transport of radionuclides through groundwater, consequently elevating the risk of radionuclide migration. Therefore, it is very important to numerically quantify the erosion of bentonite buffer to evaluate the long-term performance of bentonite buffer, which is crucial for the safety assessment of high-level radioactive waste disposal. In this technical note, Two-region model is introduced, a proposed model to simulate the erosion behavior of bentonite based on a dynamic bentonite diffusion model, and quantitative evaluation is conducted for the bentonite buffer erosion with this model.

• Explosives and Blasting
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.35-47
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• 2018

In this study, several concrete-block blast tests and AUTODYN numerical analyses were conducted to analyze the effects of different stemming and coupling materials on explosion results. Air, sand, and polymer gel were used as both the stemming and coupling materials. The stemming and coupling effects of these materials were compared with those of the full-charge condition. Soil-covered or buried concrete blocks were used for field crater tests. It was found from the concrete block tests and numerical analyses that both the crater size and the peak pressure around the blast hole were higher when the polymer gel was used than when the sand and the decoupling condition were used. The numerical analyses revealed the same trend as those of the field tests. Pressure peaks in concrete block models were calculated to be 37, 30, and 16 MPa, respectively, for the cases of the polymer gel, sand, and no stemming and decoupling condition. The pressure peak was 52 MPa in the case of full-charge condition, which was the highest pressure. But the damage area for the case was smaller than that obtained from the use of polymer gel. Full-charge was also used as a reference test.