Summary
Highly compacted bentonite has been proposed as buffer material in the Swedish concept for the disposal of nuclear waste. A laboratory program with focus on hydro-mechanical properties of unsaturated highly compacted bentonite has been running and one part included changes in volume. The results could be used to determine different moduli but are presented here as a verification of a model covering the impact of confinement on the retention properties.
The tests were performed with suction control, which was achieved by the vapour equilibrium technique. The applied relative humidity was approximately 85% in the tests presented in this paper. The tests were done both as constant load tests with a change in relative humidity and as tests with constant relative humidity and a change in the applied load. The load was applied axially and the maximum constant load corresponded to an axial stress of 20 MPa. Also the radial stress was measured. All tests started from a compacted condition with a water content of 10% and a void ratio of approximately 0.6.
The investigation showed that the model, which was mainly based on constant volume tests, also seems to be valid after volume change since good agreement was achieved between measured and calculated results in the presented examples.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Börgesson L, Hökmark H, Karnland O (1988) Rheological properties of sodium smectite clay, SKB Technical Report TR 88–30
Börgesson L, Johannesson L-E, Sandén T, Hernelind J (1995) Modelling of the physical behaviour of water saturated clay barriers; laboratory tests, Material models and finite element application, SKB Technical Report TR 95–20
Clarke ECW, Glew DN (1985) Evaluation of the Thermodynamic Functions for Aqueous Sodium Chloride from Equilibrium and Calorimetric Measurements below 154° C. J Phys Chem Ref Data 14(2): 536–537
Dueck A (2004) Hydro-mechanical properties of a water unsaturated sodium bentonite, laboratory study and theoretical interpretation. PhD Thesis, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
Dueck A (2006a) Hydro-mechanical properties of unsaturated MX–80, laboratory study 2005–2006. Report in progress
Dueck A (2006b) Laboratory results from hydro-mechanical tests on a water unsaturated bentonite. Submitted for publication
Dueck A, Börgesson L (2006) Model suggested for an important part of the hydro-mechanical behaviour of a water unsaturated bentonite. Submitted for publication
Greenspan L (1977) Humidity fixed points of binary saturated aqueous solutions, Journal of research of the national Bureau of Standards, A. Physics and Chemistry, 81A(1): 89–96
Kahr G, Kraehenbuehl F, Stoeckli HF, Muller-Vonmoos M (1990) Study of the water-bentonite system by vapour adsorption, immersion calorimetry and X-ray techniques: II. Heats of immersion, swelling pressures and thermodynamic properties, Clay Minerals 25: 499–506
Wadsö L, Svennberg K, Dueck A (2004) An experimentally simple method for measuring sorption isotherms, Drying Technology 22(10): 2427–2440
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag
About this paper
Cite this paper
Dueck, A. (2007). Results from Suction Controlled Laboratory Tests on Unsaturated Bentonite – Verification of a Model. In: Schanz, T. (eds) Experimental Unsaturated Soil Mechanics. Springer Proceedings in Physics, vol 112. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-69873-6_33
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-69873-6_33
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-69872-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-69873-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)