Constitutive analysis of the mechanical anisotropy of Opalinus Clay

This paper aims to analyse the anisotropic features of behaviour of Opalinus Clay using the theory of plastic multi-mechanisms. The results of triaxial tests conducted with different load levels and directions showed that the mechanical behaviour of this shale is cross-anisotropic. The stiffer samples are those in which the loading direction is parallel to the bedding plane. This indicates that the preconsolidation stress depends on the orientation of the load with respect to the fabric of Opalinus Clay. It is proposed to interpret the observed cross-anisotropy with an elastoplastic model based on four plastic strain mechanisms that may be successively mobilised depending on the loading direction. The predicted stress–strain responses vary according to the directions of the space as a result of the hardening process, depending on the number of plastic strain mechanisms that have been mobilised. The numerical predictions show overall good agreement with the experimental data in terms of deviatoric stress versus axial strain, demonstrating that multi-mechanism plasticity is a suitable constitutive tool for the interpretation of the mechanical anisotropy of this shale.     

Temperature and Damage Impact on the Permeability of Opalinus Clay

The effects of temperature on the water transport properties of intact and damaged Opalinus (OPA) clay are investigated by using a recently developed hollow cylinder triaxial cell [Monfared (Int J Rock Mech Min Sci 48:637–649, 2011b)] that allows full saturation and drainage conditions in low-permeability clays and shales. The volumetric response of saturated OPA clay sample during a drained heating test shows an irreversible contraction after a temperature threshold. The permeability tests which are performed before and after the heating test show that the induced irreversible sample contraction by thermal loading reduces the permeability of OPA clay sample. In order to study the effect of temperature on the permeability of a damaged sample of OPA clay, the permeability tests are performed on a saturated sample previously sheared by a standard drained triaxial loading. The test results show no significant effect of shear-type damage on the permeability of the sample at 25 °C and 80 °C. The experimental results presented in this paper show the crucial role of the thermally induced strains on sample permeability. Thermo-elastic dilation leads to a slight increase of the permeability, whereas thermoplastic contraction leads to a reduction.     

Drained triaxial testing of shales: insight from the Opalinus Clay

Acta Geotechnica - The investigation of the mechanical behaviour of swelling claystones and shales is challenging because of their very low permeability and of their high sensitivity to changes in...     

The Mechanical Behaviour of Clay Shales and Implications on the Design of Tunnels

Summary  This paper is a contribution to the study of tunnelling in difficult conditions, with attention paid to large time-dependent deformations, which may develop either during construction, causing instabilities of the tunnel heading and of the face, or during the service life of the tunnel. Under these circumstances the construction costs may rise due to the delays in excavation time, the stabilisation and heavy support measures that need be adopted. Following a review of characterisation and modelling of time-dependent behaviour in rock, the mechanical behaviour of Clay Shales (CS), a structurally complex formation of the Apennines (Italy), is described. Then, the key factors involved in the selection of the constitutive model for CS are identified. Two constitutive models are selected and discussed and their specific material parameters determined. A case study of a large size tunnel is presented where numerical modelling by the finite difference method is carried out. The results of modelling are compared with the monitoring data in terms of radial convergence of the tunnel and extrusion of the tunnel face.     

Transport of U in the Opalinus Clay on centimetre to decimetre scales

The Opalinus Clay formation in North Switzerland is a potential host rock for a deep underground radioactive waste repository. The distribution of ²³⁸U, ²³⁴U and ²³⁰Th was studied in rock samples of the Opalinus Clay from an exploratory borehole at Benken (Canton of Zurich) using MC-ICP-MS. The aim was to assess the in situ, long-term migration behaviour of ²³⁴U in this rock. Very low hydraulic conductivities of the Opalinus Clay, reducing potential of the pore water and its chemical equilibrium with the host rock are expected to render both ²³⁸U and ²³⁰Th immobile. If U is heterogeneously distributed in the Opalinus Clay, gradients in the supply of ²³⁴U from the rock matrix to the pore water by the decay of ²³⁸U will be established. Diffusive redistribution separates ²³⁴U from its immobile parent ²³⁸U resulting in bulk rock ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity disequilibria. These may provide a means of estimating the mobility of ²³⁴U in the rock if the diffusion rate of ²³⁴U is significant compared to its decay rate. Sampling was carried out on two scales. Drilling of cm-spaced samples from the drill-core was done to study mobility over short distances and elucidate possible small-scale lithological control. Homogenized 25-cm-long portions of a 2-m-long drill-core section were prepared to provide information on transport over a longer distance. Variations in U and/or Th content on the cm-scale between clays and carbonate-sandy layers are revealed by β-scanning, which shows that the (dominant) clay is richer in both elements.     

Numerical Modelling of Geochemical Behaviour of Fluoride in the Shallow Groundwater Systems

The Xingtai piedmont plain in Hebei Province is a representative area in northern China where endemic fluorosis is serious and shallow high-F ground water is distributed. In this paper, the area is selected as a typical study area, and on the basis of large amounts of field work and the experiments, through groundwater geochemical modelling and by applying the theory and method of the coupled model of hydrodynamic transport and chemical reactions in a multicomponent system, the author performed numerical modelling of the geochemical behaviour of fluoride in a shallow groundwater system, quantitatively studied the hydrodynamic transport and chemical reaction of fluorine migration, transformation and concentration in a water-heterogeneous unsaturated soil system under the conditions of meteoric water infiltration and quantitatively determined the speciation of fluorine and the saturation state and dissolution/precipitation trend of various solid precipitates in shallow high-F groundwater, thus deepening t     

爆炸气体驱动下岩体破裂的有限元-离散元模拟

在原有有限元/离散元（FEM/DEM）耦合分析方法中,实现了一种新的爆破计算模型。该模型考虑了在爆生气体的作用下,随着裂隙的扩展,气体占据的体积不断增大,气体压力逐渐减小这一问题。同时考虑了气体嵌入与爆腔联通的裂隙对裂隙的作用力。克服了原有FEM/DEM方法中的爆破模型仅仅将压力施加于爆腔四周的岩壁上,无法考虑爆生气体嵌入生成的裂隙对裂隙的作用。提出了一种新颖的贯通裂隙网络形成的递归搜索算法,只需通过编写一个简单的递归函数,即可实现复杂裂隙网络的搜索,采用一种简洁的方法完成了对复杂问题的处理。最后通过一个爆破算例,结果表明FEM/DEM方法可以对爆炸过程中应力波的传播及岩体中裂纹的萌生、扩展进行全程捕捉,展现了该方法用于爆破模拟的潜力。     

Hollow Cylinder Tests on Boom Clay: Modelling of Strain Localization in the Anisotropic Excavation Damaged Zone

Boom Clay is extensively studied as a potential candidate to host underground nuclear waste disposal in Belgium. To guarantee the safety of such a disposal, the mechanical behaviour of the clay during gallery excavation must be properly predicted. In that purpose, a hollow cylinder experiment on Boom Clay has been designed to reproduce, in a small-scale test, the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) as experienced during the excavation of a disposal gallery in the underground. In this article, the focus is made on the hydro-mechanical constitutive interpretation of the displacement (experimentally obtained by medium resolution X-ray tomography scanning). The coupled hydro-mechanical response of Boom Clay in this experiment is addressed through finite element computations with a constitutive model including strain hardening/softening, elastic and plastic cross-anisotropy and a regularization method for the modelling of strain localization processes. The obtained results evidence the directional dependency of the mechanical response of the clay. The softening behaviour induces transient strain localization processes, addressed through a hydro-mechanical second grade model. The shape of the obtained damaged zone is clearly affected by the anisotropy of the materials, evidencing an eye-shaped EDZ. The modelling results agree with experiments not only qualitatively (in terms of the shape of the induced damaged zone), but also quantitatively (for the obtained displacement in three particular radial directions).     

An Example of Realistic Modelling of Rock Dynamics Problems: FEM/DEM Simulation of Dynamic Brazilian Test on Barre Granite

The scope of this study is to numerically simulate the behaviour of Brazilian disc specimens as observed in laboratory during dynamic, high-strain rate, indirect tensile tests using an innovative combined finite-discrete element method (FEM/DEM) research code. Laboratory experiments using a split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) apparatus were conducted by the authors and the measured indirect tensile strength values were used to verify the FEM/DEM models. In the models the applied boundary conditions, related to the loading rate of the specimen, were matched with the experimental observations. The results of the numerical simulations, including tensile strength and failure time, are in agreement with the laboratory findings. The main failure mechanisms, i.e. tensile splitting along loading axis and shear failure close to loading platens are captured by the numerical model. A linear relationship between tensile strength and loading rate is found for the range of dynamic strain rates tested and simulated. The simulation results are in good agreement with laboratory observations and demonstrate the potential for using FEM/DEM to realistically model dynamic response of rocks.     

Parametric Analysis of the Efficacy of Lysimeter Designs Using Numerical Modelling

One of the most challenging parameters to estimate in leachate generation quantification is the percolation rate through a landfill cover. Since leachate generation is critical to operators, particularly when discussing walk-away aftercare conditionalities, this topic is still relevant. The best method for estimating the percolation rate of a cover involves placement of a lysimeter below or within the landfill cover to collect the percolating water. Previous work has focused on optimizing the height of the sidewalls of lysimeters to minimize the interference of its presence on the flow regime within the cover. Using numerical modeling, this paper examines the influences of climate, lysimeter geometry, and location, on the effectiveness of lysimeters. Robustness tests were proposed to assess the extent to which lysimeters altered the flow regime. The results show that lysimeter effectiveness depends on the relationship between its wall height, width, and depth within the profile. The lysimeters that passed all three performance robustness tests were considered reliable. Percolation measurement efficacies were found to be high when the height of the lysimeter, H, tended towards the height calculated using a simplified methodology based on steady-state calculations, H_linear. For example, in the case of the cover soil tested and the Canadian climate, lysimeters whose H?=?H_linear would not know any loss of performed for width to height (W/H) ratios greater than 3, no matter the depth it is placed. And it would lose only 5% in percolation efficacy for W/H?=?2. In other words, a 3-m wide lysimeter would fit the bill in Canada. In the case of the Floridian climate, even when H?=?H_linear, W/H ratios greater than 4 would be required for lysimeters placed nearer to the surface. When placed deeper, lysimeters with H?>?H_linear perform better.

     

Laboratory and In Situ Simulation Tests of the Excavation Damaged Zone Around Galleries in Opalinus Clay

In the context of nuclear waste disposal in clay formations, laboratory and in situ simulation experiments were performed to study at reduced scale the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) around tunnels in the indurated Opalinus Clay at Mont Terri, Switzerland. In the laboratory, thick-walled hollow cylindrical specimens were subjected to a mechanical unloading mimicking a gallery excavation. In samples cored parallel to bedding, cracks sub-parallel to the bedding planes open and lead to a buckling failure in two regions that extend from the borehole in the direction normal to bedding. The behaviour is clearly anisotropic. On the other hand, in experiments performed on specimens cored perpendicular to bedding, there is no indication of failure around the hole and the response of the hollow cylinder sample is mainly isotropic. The in situ experiment at Mont Terri which consisted in the overcoring of a resin-injected borehole that follows the bedding strike of the Opalinus Clay showed a striking similarity between the induced damaged zone and the fracture pattern observed in the hollow cylinder tests on samples cored parallel to bedding and such a bedding controlled “Excavation” Damaged Zone is as well consistent with the distinct fracture patterns observed at Mont Terri depending on the orientation of holes/galleries with respect to the bedding planes. Interestingly, the damaged zone observed in the hollow cylinder tests on samples cored parallel to bedding and in situ around URL galleries is found to develop in reverse directions in Boom Clay (Mol) and in Opalinus Clay (Mont Terri). This most probably results from different failure mechanisms, i.e. shear failure along conjugated planes in the plastic Boom Clay, but bedding plane splitting and buckling in the indurated Opalinus Clay.     

Numerical Modelling of the Heterogeneous Rock Fracture Process Using Various Test Techniques

Summary A series of numerical tests including both rock mechanics and fracture mechanics tests are conducted by the rock and tool (R–T^2D) interaction code coupled with a heterogeneous masterial model to obtain the physical–mechanical properties and fracture toughness, as well as to simulate the crack initiation and propagation, and the fracture progressive process. The simulated results not only predict relatively accurate physical–mechanical parameters and fracture toughness, but also visually reproduce the fracture progressive process compared with the experimental and theoretical results. The detailed stress distribution and redistribution, crack nucleation and initiation, stable and unstable crack propagation, interaction and coalescence, and corresponding load–displacement curves can be proposed as benchmarks for experimental study and theoretical research on crack propagation. It is concluded that the heterogeneous material model is reasonable and the R–T^2D code is stable, repeatable and a valuable numerical tool for research on the rock fracture process.     

Characterization of dissolved organic matter in anoxic rock extracts and in situ pore water of the Opalinus Clay

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) from the Opalinus Clay, a potential host rock for the disposal of radioactive waste, was isolated under strictly anoxic conditions from ground rock material and compared with DOM of in situ pore water samples. For the extractions, deionized water, synthetic pore water (SPW, water containing all major ions at pore water concentrations but no organic matter) and 0.1 M NaOH were used. The influence of the solid-to-liquid ratio, extraction time, acid-pretreatment and O₂ exposure of the rock material on the isolated DOM were investigated. Liquid chromatography coupled with a total organic C detector (LC-OCD) and reverse-phase ion chromatography were used to characterize the DOM size distributions and to determine the low molecular weight organic acid (LMWOA) contents in the pore water samples and the rock extracts.The results revealed that only a small portion of the total organic C of the rock material (<0.38%) was extractable, even after removal of carbonates by acid-pretreatment. The concentrations of dissolved organic C (DOC) were found to range from 3.9 ± 0.4 to 8.0 ± 0.8 mg/L in the anoxic extracts. The pore waters exhibited similar DOC concentrations ranging from 1.2 to 15.8 ± 0.5 mg/L. The analysis by LC-OCD showed that the DOM extracted under anoxic conditions and the pore water DOM mainly consisted of hydrophilic compounds of less than 500 Da. The DOM extracted with SPW was most similar in size to the pore water DOM. Grinding the rock under oxic conditions increased the DOC yields and shifted the size distribution toward higher molecular weight compounds compared to the strictly anoxic treatment. Acetate, lactate and formate were identified in all extracts and in the pore water. In total, LMWOA accounted for 36% of the total DOC in both pore water and SPW extracts. The results imply that controlled anoxic conditions and the use of SPW as an extractant are required to isolate DOM from Opalinus Clay rocks which most resembles the in situ pore water DOM with respect to its size distribution and the LMWOA contents.     

Hyperfiltration of Nacl Solutions Using a Simulated Clay/Sand Mixture at Low Compaction Pressures

It is widely recognized that clays and shales can demonstrate membrane properties. When a hydraulic head differential exists across a membrane-functioning clay-rich barrier, some of the solute is rejected by the membrane. This process is known as hyperfiltration. Some shallow geologic environments, including aquitards bounding shallow perched aquifers and unconfined aquifers, some river and stream beds, and some lake bottoms contain clay–soil mixes. Many engineering structures such as landfill liners, mixed soil augered barriers, and retention pond liners also consist of soil–clay mixes. No previous testing has been performed to investigate the likelihood that hyperfiltration may occur in such mixed soils. Therefore, we performed five experiments using different mixes of Na-bentonite and glass beads (100, 50, 25, 12 and 0% clay) to determine if any of these mixes exhibited membrane properties and to investigate what effect clay content had upon the membrane properties of the soil. Each mixture was compacted to 345 kPa and the sample mixtures were 0.58–0.97 mm thick. All the experiments used an approximately 35 ppm Cl⁻ solution under an average 103 kPa hydraulic head. Experimental results show that all the simulated clay–sand mixtures do exhibit measurable membrane properties under these conditions. Values of the calculated reflection coefficient ranged from a low of 0.03 for 12% bentonite to 0.19 for 100% bentonite. Solute rejection ranged from 5.2% for 12% clay to a high of over 30% for the 100% clay. The 100% glass bead sample exhibited no membrane properties.     

动力荷载作用下软粘土的残余变形计算模式

在试验结果的基础上，提出了动力荷载作用下计算软粘土残余变形的模式。并将计算结果与不排水和部分排水情况下观测到的孔隙水压力及残余应变进行比较，两者具有较好的吻合性。本文所提出的计算模式可用来估算动力荷载（例如地震荷载、交通荷载）作用下建于软粘土地基上的建筑物及其它设施所产生的附加沉降。