Thermo-hydro-mechanical characterisation of a bentonite-based buffer material by laboratory tests and numerical back analyses

This paper presents some laboratory tests performed on the bentonite used as buffer material in the engineered barrier experiment in Kamaishi mine in Japan and a collective effort of four research groups to characterise the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behaviour of the bentonite by comparing numerical calculations with the laboratory test results. Each research group used finite element programs with constitutive models capable to simulate both liquid and vapour flux of water, heat transfer, volume change, swelling pressure and mechanical deformation. Numerical calibrations were performed against results obtained from three types of laboratory tests: water infiltration tests, thermal gradient tests and swelling pressure tests. Parameter values, which could not be directly measured in laboratory tests, were obtained with these calculations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.