Mobilized Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown Strength Parameters during Failure of Granite in Alxa Area in China for High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal

Cheng Cheng, Nengxiong Xu and Bo Zheng
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Cheng Cheng: School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Nengxiong Xu: School of Engineering and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
Bo Zheng: Key Laboratory of Shale Gas and Geoengineering, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 22, 1-16

Abstract: Strength parameters of the host rock is of paramount importance for modelling the behaviors of underground disposal repository of high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Mobilization of strength parameters should be studied for a better understanding and modelling on the mechanical behaviors of the surrounding rock, considering the effect of temperature induced by the nuclear waste. The granite samples cored from NRG01 borehole in Alxa candidate area in China for HLW disposal are treated by different temperatures (T = 20 °C, 100 °C and 200 °C), and then are used to carry out a series of uniaxial and tri-axial compression experiments under various confining pressures ( σ 3 = 0, 5, 10, 20, and 30 MPa) in this study. With the recorded axial stress—axial strain and axial stress—lateral strain curves, mobilization of both Mohr-Coulomb and Hoek-Brown strength parameters are analyzed with the increasing plastic shear strain. It has been found that NRG01 granite samples show generally similar cohesion weakening and friction strengthening behaviors, as well as the non-simultaneous mobilization of Hoek-Brown strength parameters ( m b and s ), under the effect of various treatment temperatures. Furthermore, the samples treated by higher temperatures show lower initial values of cohesion, but their initial friction angle and m b values are relatively higher. This should be mainly owing to the thermally induced cracks in the samples. This study should be helpful for a better modelling on the mechanical behaviors of NRG01 granite samples as the host rock of a possible HLW disposal repository.

Keywords: granite; HLW disposal; plastic strain; temperature; CWFS; damage process; yield condition; strength criterion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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