Boom clay is a potential geological host formation for High Level Nuclear Waste in Belgium. Impact of thermal loads may play an important role on this clay formation. To this aim, heating pulse tests on intact borehole ...

Bentonite barriers are a key component in may designs of deep geological repositories for high level nuclear waste. During the hydration stage, the bentonite undergoes non-uniform changes in dry density that may persist ...

The paper contains a coupled numerical analysis of the hydration of a potential sealing system for isolating shafts, ramps and connecting galleries in a deep geological repository for high level nuclear waste. The modelling ...

A series of numerical simulations is used to explore the effect of the geometrical disposition of impermeable membranes in the overall performance of slab-track railway earthworks, with particular reference to the generation ...

In unsaturated soil mechanics, the quest for an effective stress playing the same role as Terzaghi’s effective stress does for saturated soils has introduced a long standing debate, dating back to the 1960s. Several ...

A controlled re-saturation of a heated 50 cm long column made of MX-80 bentonite pellets in the CIEMAT laboratory facilities (Madrid, Spain) has been running for 10 years (2011-2021). The experimental data on the saturation ...

This extended abstract presents an interpretation of the response of a mudstone during the excavation of a shaft at high depths (500m). Instrument layout and numerical model are described. A very good agreement is observed ...

The paper presents a constitutive model for argillaceous rocks, developed within the framework of elastoplasticity, that includes a number of features that are relevant for a satisfactory description of their hydromechanical ...

Slope mass-wasting like shallow slides are mostly triggered by climate effects, such as rainfall, and soil–vegetation–atmosphere (SVA) interactions play a key role. SVA interactions are studied by a full-scale embankment ...