Effects of Composition, Porosity, Bedding-Plane Orientation, Water Content and a Joint on the Thermal Conductivity of Tuff

摘要

This study deals with the effects of composition, porosity, bedding-plane orientation, water content and a joint on the thermal conductivity of tuff from the Nevada Test Site, one medium being considered for nuclear waste burial. Over the temperature range of 310 to 423 K, the thermal conductivity of dehydrated, 20% porous, welded, devitrified tuff (Grouse Canyon Member, Belted Range Tuff, G-tunnel), as measured by a linear heat-flow technique with the Dynatech comparator, increased from approximately 1.20 to 1.26 W/m-K on average, with only a small difference in temperature dependence of conductivity between samples in which heat fluxes were parallel and perpendicular to bedding. The same samples infiltrated with water to approximately 70% of pore volume displayed a 31% increase in conductivity at 310 K, on average. The thermal resistance of two additional samples from G-tunnel, each 1.27 cm long, placed together to simulate a planar joint, was within one percent of the sum of the resistances of the pieces measured separately from 300 to 373 K. This artificial joint displayed the same, essentially zero, resistance, under uniaxial pressures from 400 to 6900 kPa (60 to 1000 psi) at 373 K. Several dehydrated samples of tuff from the exploratory hole USW-Gl (Yucca Mountain) were measured from 309 to 424 K to determine the effects of composition, porosity and temperature on conductivity. Their conductivity increased several percent over this temperature range. The devitrified tuff was more conductive than the zeolitic tuff at all temperatures and conductivity declined with increasing porosity in all cases. Full water saturation produced approximately a 45% increase in conductivity in the devitrified tuff, and a 54 to 80% increase in the zeolitic at 310 K. (ERA citation 08:016427)