Study of desaturation and resaturation in brittle rock with anisotropic damage

This paper deals with numerical modelling of anisotropic damage induced by desaturation and resaturation processes in a brittle rock. This study is conducted in the framework of geological barrier safety analysis for deep disposal of nuclear waste. A non-linear poroelastic model coupled with anisotropic damage is proposed for constitutive modelling of unsaturated rock. A fully coupled FEM method is used for modelling of hydromechanical coupling problems. Instantaneous phase change without dissipation between water liquid phase and vapour is included. Parametric studies are performed to investigate influences of main factors involved in such processes. Rock damage induced by excavation, desaturation and resaturation is evaluated. Finally, we analyse the importance of taking into account the correlation between induced damage and rock permeability. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.