• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.306-319
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• 2020

Characterizations of Excavation Damage Zone (EDZ), which is hydro-mechanical degrading the host rock, are the important issues on the geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel. In the DECOVALEX 2019 project, Task G aimed to model the fractured rock numerically, describe the hydro-mechanical behavior of EDZ, and predict the change of the hydraulic factor during the lifetime of the geological repository. Task G prepared two-dimensional fractured rock model to compare the characteristics of each simulation tools in Work Package 1, validated the extended three-dimensional model using the TAS04 in-situ interference tests from Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Work Package 2, and applied the thermal and glacial loads to monitor the long-term hydro-mechanical response on the fractured rock in Work Package 3. Each modelling team adopted both Finite Element Method (FEM) and Discrete Element Method (DEM) to simulate the hydro-mechanical behavior of the fracture rock, and added the various approaches to describe the EDZ and fracture geometry which are appropriate to each simulation method. Therefore, this research can introduce a variety of numerical approaches and considerations to model the geological repository for the spent nuclear fuel in the crystalline fractured rock.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.189-207
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• 2023

In the present study, the thermoshearing experiment on a rough rock fracture were modeled using a three-dimensional grain-based distinct element model (GBDEM). The experiment was conducted by the Korea Institute of Construction Technology to investigate the progressive shear failure of fracture under the influence of thermal stress in a critical stress state. The numerical model employs an assembly of multiple polyhedral grains and their interfaces to represent the rock sample, and calculates the coupled thermo-mechanical behavior of the grains (blocks) and the interfaces (contacts) using 3DEC, a DEM code. The primary focus was on simulating the temperature evolution, generation of thermal stress, and shear and normal displacements of the fracture. Two fracture models, namely the mated fracture model and the unmated fracture model, were constructed based on the degree of surface matedness, and their respective behaviors were compared and analyzed. By leveraging the advantage of the DEM, the contact area between the fracture surfaces was continuously monitored during the simulation, enabling an examination of its influence on shear behavior. The numerical results demonstrated distinct differences depending on the degree of the surface matedness at the initial stage. In the mated fracture model, where the surfaces were in almost full contact, the characteristic stages of peak stress and residual stress commonly observed in shear behavior of natural rock joints were reasonably replicated, despite exhibiting discrepancies with the experimental results. The analysis of contact area variation over time confirmed that our numerical model effectively simulated the abrupt normal dilation and shear slip, stress softening phenomenon, and transition to the residual state that occur during the peak stress stage. The unmated fracture model, which closely resembled the experimental specimen, showed qualitative agreement with the experimental observations, including heat transfer characteristics, the progressive shear failure process induced by heating, and the increase in thermal stress. However, there were some mismatches between the numerical and experimental results regarding the onset of fracture slip and the magnitudes of fracture stress and displacement. This research was conducted as part of DECOVALEX-2023 Task G, and we expect the numerical model to be enhanced through continued collaboration with other research teams and validated in further studies.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.283-294
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• 2023

APro, developed in KAERI for the process-based total system performance assessment (TSPA) of deep geological disposal systems, performs finite element method (FEM)-based multiphysics analysis. In the FEM-based analysis, the mesh element quality influences the numerical solution accuracy, memory requirement, and computation time. Therefore, an appropriate mesh structure should be constructed before the mesh stability analysis to achieve an accurate and efficient process-based TSPA. A generic reference case of DECOVALEX-2023 Task F, which has been proposed for simulating stationary groundwater flow and time-dependent conservative transport of two tracers, was used in this study for mesh stability analysis. The relative differences in tracer concentration varying mesh structures were determined by comparing with the results for the finest mesh structure. For calculation efficiency, the memory requirements and computation time were compared. Based on the mesh stability analysis, an approach based on adaptive mesh refinement was developed to resolve the error in the early stage of the simulation time-period. It was observed that the relative difference in the tracer concentration significantly decreased with high calculation efficiency.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.400-425
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• 2018

This study presents the research results and current status of the DECOVALEX-2019 project Task B. Task B named 'Fault slip modelling' is aiming at developing a numerical method to simulate the coupled hydro-mechanical behavior of fault, including slip or reactivation, induced by water injection. The first research step of Task B is a benchmark simulation which is designed for the modelling teams to familiarize themselves with the problem and to set up their own codes to reproduce the hydro-mechanical coupling between the fault hydraulic transmissivity and the mechanically-induced displacement. We reproduced the coupled hydro-mechanical process of fault slip using TOUGH-FLAC simulator. The fluid flow along a fault was modelled with solid elements and governed by Darcy's law with the cubic law in TOUGH2, whereas the mechanical behavior of a single fault was represented by creating interface elements between two separating rock blocks in FLAC3D. A methodology to formulate the hydro-mechanical coupling relations of two different hydraulic aperture models and link the solid element of TOUGH2 and the interface element of FLAC3D was suggested. In addition, we developed a coupling module to update the changes in geometric features (mesh) and hydrological properties of fault caused by water injection at every calculation step for TOUGH-FLAC simulator. Then, the transient responses of the fault, including elastic deformation, reactivation, progressive evolutions of pathway, pressure distribution and water injection rate, to stepwise pressurization were examined during the simulations. The results of the simulations suggest that the developed model can provide a reasonable prediction of the hydro-mechanical behavior related to fault reactivation. The numerical model will be enhanced by continuing collaboration and interaction with other research teams of DECOLVAEX-2019 Task B and validated using the field data from fault activation experiments in a further study.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.382-393
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• 2020

The engineered barrier system of high-level radioactive waste disposal must maintain its performance in the long term, because it must play a role in slowing the rate of leakage to the surrounding rock mass even if a radionuclide leak occurs from the canister. In particular, it is very important to clarify gas dilation flow phenomenon clearly, that occurs only in a medium containing a large amount of clay material such as a bentonite buffer, which can affect the long-term performance of the bentonite buffer. Accordingly, DECOVALEX-2019 Task A was conducted to identify the hydraulic-mechanical mechanism for the dilation flow, and to develop and verify a new numerical analysis technique for quantitative evaluation of gas migration phenomena. In this study, based on the conventional two-phase flow and mechanical behavior with effective stresses in the porous medium, the hydraulic-mechanical model was developed considering the concept of damage to simulate the formation of micro-cracks and expansion of the medium and the corresponding change in the hydraulic properties. Model verification and validation were conducted through comparison with the results of 1D and 3D gas injection tests. As a result of the numerical analysis, it was possible to model the sudden increase in pore water pressure, stress, gas inflow and outflow rate due to the dilation flow induced by gas pressure, however, the influence of the hydraulic-mechanical interaction was underestimated. Nevertheless, this study can provide a preliminary model for the dilation flow and a basis for developing an advanced model. It is believed that it can be used not only for analyzing data from laboratory and field tests, but also for long-term performance evaluation of the high-level radioactive waste disposal system.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.320-334
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• 2020

This study presents an application of hydro-mechanical coupled Particle Flow Code 3D (PFC3D) to simulation of fluid injection induced fault slip experiment conducted in Mont Terri Switzerland as a part of a task in an international research project DECOVALEX-2019. We also aimed as identifying the current limitations of the modelling method and issues for further development. A fluid flow algorithm was developed and implemented in a 3D pore-pipe network model in a 3D bonded particle assembly using PFC3D v5, and was applied to Mont Terri Step 2 minor fault activation experiment. The simulated results showed that the injected fluid migrates through the permeable fault zone and induces fault deformation, demonstrating a full hydro-mechanical coupled behavior. The simulated results were, however, partially matching with the field measurement. The simulated pressure build-up at the monitoring location showed linear and progressive increase, whereas the field measurement showed an abrupt increase associated with the fault slip We conclude that such difference between the modelling and the field test is due to the structure of the fault in the model which was represented as a combination of damage zone and core fractures. The modelled fault is likely larger in size than the real fault in Mont Terri site. Therefore, the modelled fault allows several path ways of fluid flow from the injection location to the pressure monitoring location, leading to smooth pressure build-up at the monitoring location while the injection pressure increases, and an early start of pressure decay even before the injection pressure reaches the maximum. We also conclude that the clay filling in the real fault could have acted as a fluid barrier which may have resulted in formation of fluid over-pressurization locally in the fault. Unlike the pressure result, the simulated fault deformations were matching with the field measurements. A better way of modelling a heterogeneous clay-filled fault structure with a narrow zone should be studied further to improve the applicability of the modelling method to fluid injection induced fault activation.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.197-213
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• 2019

We simulated the fault reactivation experiment conducted at 'Main Fault' intersecting the low permeability clay formations of Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory in Switzerland using TOUGH-FLAC simulator. The fluid flow along a fault was modelled with solid elements and governed by Darcy's law with the cubic law in TOUGH2, whereas the mechanical behavior of a single fault was represented by creating interface elements between two separating rock blocks in FLAC3D. We formulate the hydro-mechanical coupling relation of hydraulic aperture to consider the elastic fracture opening and failure-induced dilation for reproducing the abrupt changes in injection flow rate and monitoring pressure at fracture opening pressure. A parametric study was conducted to examine the effects of in-situ stress condition and fault deformation and strength parameters and to find the optimal parameter set to reproduce the field observations. In the best matching simulation, the fracture opening pressure and variations of injection flow rate and monitoring pressure showed good agreement with field experiment results, which suggests the capability of the numerical model to reasonably capture the fracture opening and propagation process. The model overestimated the fault displacement in shear direction and the range of reactivated zone, which was attributed to the progressive shear failures along the fault at high injection pressure. In the field experiment results, however, fracture tensile opening seems the dominant mechanism affecting the hydraulic aperture increase.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.262-279
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• 2019

In the engineering barriers of high-level radioactive waste disposal, gases could be generated through a number of processes. If the gas production rate exceeds the gas diffusion rate, the pressure of the gas increases and gases could migrate through the bentonite buffer. Because people and the environment can be exposed to radioactivity, it is very important to clarify gas migration in terms of long-term integrity of the engineered barrier system. In particular, it is necessary to identify the hydro-mechanical mechanism for the dilation flow, which is a very important gas flow phenomenon only in medium containing large amounts of clay materials such as bentonite buffer, and to develop and validate new numerical approach for the quantitative evaluation of the gas migration phenomenon. Therefore, in this study, we developed a two-phase flow model considering the mechanical damage model in order to simulate the gas migration in the engineered barrier system, and validated with 1D gas flow modelling through saturated bentonite under constant volume boundary conditions. As a result of numerical analysis, the rapid increase in pore water pressure, stress, and gas outflow could be simulated when the dilation flow was occurred.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.363-373
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• 2018

The evaluation of Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical (THM) coupling behavior is important for the development of underground space for various purposes. For a high-level radioactive waste repository excavated in a deep underground rock mass, the accurate prediction of the complex THM behavior is essential for the long-term safety and stability assessment. In order to develop reliable THM analysis techniques effectively, an international cooperation project, Development of Coupled models and their Validation against Experiments (DECOVALEX), was carried out. In DECOVALEX-2015 Task B2, the in situ THM experiment that was conducted at Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory(URL) by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), was modeled by the research teams from the participating countries. In this study, a THM coupling technique that combined TOUGH2 and FLAC3D was developed and applied to the THM analysis for the in situ experiment, in which rock, buffer, backfill, sand, and heater were installed. With the assistance of an artificial neural network, the boundary conditions for the experiment could be adequately implemented in the modeling. The thermal, hydraulic, and mechanical results from the modeling were compared with the measurements from the in situ THM experiment. The predicted buffer temperature from the THM modelling was about $10^{\circ}C$ higher than measurement near by the overpack. At the other locations far from the overpack, modelling predicted slightly lower temperature than measurement. Even though the magnitude of pressure from the modeling was different from the measurements, the general trends of the variation with time were found to be similar.

• Tunnel and Underground Space
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.242-255
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• 2020

The numerical simulations of Heater Experiment-D (HE-D) at the Mont Terri rock laboratory in Switzerland were performed to investigate an applicability of FLAC3D to reproduce the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical (THM) behaviour in Opalinus Clay, as part of the DECOVLEX-2015 project Task B. To investigate the reliability of numerical simulations of the coupled behaviour using FLAC3D code, the simulation results were compared with the observations from the in-situ experiment, such as temperature at 16 sensors, pore pressure at 6 sensors, and strain at 22 measurement points. An anisotropic heat conduction model, fluid flow model, and transversely isotropic elastic model in FLAC3D successfully represented the coupled thermo-hydraulic behaviour in terms of evolution for temperature and pore pressure, however, performance of the models for mechanical behavior is not satisfactory compared with the measured strain.