Influence of Heat Flow on Drift Closure During Climax Granite Spent-Fuel Test: Measurements and Calculations

摘要

Measurements of drift closure caused by the thermal load have been made routinely during the Spent Fuel Test in Climax granite since about six weeks after emplacement of the fuel. Horizontal and vertical closure was measured with a manually operated tape extensometer at various locations along the lengths of the drifts. Average closures ranged from 0 to 0.6 mm, horizontal and vertical, out to about 2.2 years since the start of the test. At the same time, displacements from the thermal loads were measured with rod extensometers emplaced to measure relative displacements between hole collars and anchor points in holes drilled from two parallel heater drifts. These data are compared with thermo-elastic finite element calculations which utilized measured properties of the Climax granite. The calculations show that more than half of the closures occur between fuel installation and the first closure measurement. The comparisons show that the results track each other, in that where closure followed by dilation is measured, the calculations also show this effect. The agreement is excellent, considering the averaged measured closures remain within 30% of the total calculated drift closures and the extremely small magnitude of the relative displacements (0.5 mm), measured or calculated. (ERA citation 07:061007)