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Anisotropic swelling behaviour of unsaturated compacted GMZ bentonite hydrated under vertical stresses

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Abstract

Bentonite has been considered as a potential buffer/backfill material for construction of engineering barriers in deep geological repository for disposal of high-level nuclear waste. Anisotropy will be inevitably generated during static compaction during preparation of bentonite blocks, leading to induce possible influences on buffering function formation of the engineering barrier system and even the safety of the whole repository. In the present work, swelling deformation tests along the directions both perpendicular and parallel to the compaction plane were conducted on unsaturated compacted GMZ bentonite specimens using a self-developed lateral confined swelling test setup. Influences of initial dry density and vertical pressure on the final swelling strain and its anisotropy, as well as the mechanism of evolution of anisotropy coefficient on hydration, were analysed. Results demonstrate that the swelling time, average strain rate and final swelling strain increase with increasing initial dry density and decrease with increasing vertical pressure. Meanwhile, the swelling strain along the perpendicular direction is much higher than that along the parallel direction, exhibiting an obvious anisotropic swelling characteristic. The anisotropy coefficient is relatively large at the initial swelling stage, and then gradually decreases to be stabilised. The final anisotropy coefficient increases with initial dry density and decreases with vertical pressure.

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Funding

This study received financial support from the National Nature Science Foundation of China (42030714 and 41911530192) and the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFC1509900).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geotechnical Engineering, College of Civil Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Yu Lu, Wei-Min Ye, Qiong Wang, Yuan-Hong Zhu, Yong-Gui Chen & Bao Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Geotechnical and Underground Engineering of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Wei-Min Ye

  3. CREEC (Chongqing) Survey, Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., Chongqing, 400023, China

    Yuan-Hong Zhu

Authors
  1. Yu Lu
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  2. Wei-Min Ye
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  3. Qiong Wang
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  4. Yuan-Hong Zhu
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  5. Yong-Gui Chen
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  6. Bao Chen
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Correspondence to Wei-Min Ye.

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Highlights

Swelling deformation tests along both perpendicular and parallel to the bedding plane were conducted on unsaturated compacted GMZ bentonite

Influences of initial dry density and vertical pressure on anisotropy were analysed

Mechanism of evolution of anisotropy coefficient on hydration was explored

Swelling strain along the perpendicular direction is much higher than that along the parallel one, indicating a significant anisotropy

The final anisotropy coefficient increases with initial dry density and decreases with vertical pressure

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Lu, Y., Ye, WM., Wang, Q. et al. Anisotropic swelling behaviour of unsaturated compacted GMZ bentonite hydrated under vertical stresses. Bull Eng Geol Environ 80, 5515–5526 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02261-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-021-02261-y

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