Analysis of thermo–hydro–mechanical process in the engineered barrier system of a high-level waste repository

This paper presents a simulation of the KAERI's engineering scale experiment, KENTEX which is to study the thermal, hydrological and mechanical (THM) processes occurring in the engineered barrier system of a high-level waste repository. The simulation was performed by using the computer code, TOUGH2, which analyzes the multi-dimensional fluid and heat flows of multiphase, multicomponent fluid mixture in unsaturated medium. The detailed geometry of KENTEX was incorporated into the model, and the laboratory experiments were carried out to determine the thermal, hydrological and mechanical properties of bentonite, which were used as input parameters for the simulation. The calculated results on the temperature, water content, and total pressure distribution throughout the bentonite buffer were compared with the experimental ones.