Constitutive Relationships for Elastic Deformation of Clay Rock: Data Analysis.

摘要

Clay rock has been considered as a potential host rock for geological disposal of high-level nuclear waste throughout the world, because it has low permeability, low diffusion coefficient, high retention capacity for radionuclides, and the capability to self-seal fractures induced by tunnel excavation (Fouche et al., 2004; Patriarche et al., 2004; Meier et al., 2000; Barnichon et al., 2005). Coupled hydraulic and mechanical processes have a significant impact on the long-term safety of a clay repository and are largely controlled by constitutive relationships for the host rock, or relationships among hydraulic and mechanical properties. The major objective of this note is to present and evaluate several physically based constitutive relationships for elastic deformation of the indurated clay rock (Tsang et al., 2005), with a focus on fractures. Note however that indurated clay rock also involves non-elastic deformation under certain conditions (Alonso and Alcoverro, 2002). To the best of our knowledge, studies on constitutive relationships for fractures in clay rock are very rare in the literature.