Influence of calcium leaching on the mechanical behavior of a rock–mortar interface: A DEM analysis

Being a potential preferential way for water to flow, interfaces between host rock and engineered barriers are critical in the design of deep radioactive waste repositories. In case of cementitious materials, presence of water may lead to long term degradation by leaching. Such a phenomenon could impede the integrity of the confinement by its effect on the hydro-mechanical properties of the interface. Recent experimental results from Buzzi et al. [8] have evidenced some effects of leaching on the hydro-mechanical behavior of rock–concrete interfaces for one leaching time. This paper intends to investigate the influence of leaching on the mechanical behavior of rock–mortar interfaces by means of numerical simulations. These latter will be run for several leaching times to produce a better understanding of the phenomenon. For this purpose, a DEM approach has been developed to simulate the increase of the macro-porosity resulting from the leaching process. The implementation of the approach is first discussed. Then direct shear tests under constant normal stress are performed on a simple interface geometry and on a natural interface geometry. The results after Buzzi et al. [8] are corroborated by this research.