skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Reinvestigation into Closure Predictions of Room D at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant

Abstract

Room D was an in-situ, isothermal, underground experiment conducted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant between 1984 and 1991. The room was carefully instrumented to measure the horizontal and vertical closure immediately upon excavation and for several years thereafter. Early finite element simulations of salt creep around Room D under-predicted the vertical closure by 4.5×, causing investigators to explore a series of changes to the way Room D was modeled. Discrepancies between simulations and measurements were resolved through a series of adjustments to model parameters, which were openly acknowledged in published reports. Interest in Room D has been rekindled recently by the U.S./German Joint Project III and Project WEIMOS, which seek to improve the predictions of rock salt constitutive models. Joint Project participants calibrate their models solely against laboratory tests, and benchmark the models against underground experiments, such as room D. This report describes updating legacy Room D simulations to today’s computational standards by rectifying several numerical issues. Subsequently, the constitutive model used in previous modeling is recalibrated two different ways against a suite of new laboratory creep experiments on salt extracted from the repository horizon of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Simulations with the new, laboratory-based, calibrations under-predict Roommore » D vertical closure by 3.1×. A list of potential improvements is discussed.« less

Authors:
 [1]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Fuel Cycle Technologies (NE-5). Used Fuel Disposition Campaign (UFDC)
OSTI Identifier:
1333709
Report Number(s):
SAND2016-9665
647799; TRN: US1700776
DOE Contract Number:  
AC04-94AL85000
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; WIPP; COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION; ERRORS; CLOSURES; FINITE ELEMENT METHOD; CREEP; UNDERGROUND; FORECASTING; SALT DEPOSITS; BENCHMARKS; CALIBRATION; MATHEMATICAL MODELS

Citation Formats

Reedlunn, Benjamin. Reinvestigation into Closure Predictions of Room D at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.2172/1333709.
Reedlunn, Benjamin. Reinvestigation into Closure Predictions of Room D at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1333709
Reedlunn, Benjamin. 2016. "Reinvestigation into Closure Predictions of Room D at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/1333709. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1333709.
@article{osti_1333709,
title = {Reinvestigation into Closure Predictions of Room D at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant},
author = {Reedlunn, Benjamin},
abstractNote = {Room D was an in-situ, isothermal, underground experiment conducted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant between 1984 and 1991. The room was carefully instrumented to measure the horizontal and vertical closure immediately upon excavation and for several years thereafter. Early finite element simulations of salt creep around Room D under-predicted the vertical closure by 4.5×, causing investigators to explore a series of changes to the way Room D was modeled. Discrepancies between simulations and measurements were resolved through a series of adjustments to model parameters, which were openly acknowledged in published reports. Interest in Room D has been rekindled recently by the U.S./German Joint Project III and Project WEIMOS, which seek to improve the predictions of rock salt constitutive models. Joint Project participants calibrate their models solely against laboratory tests, and benchmark the models against underground experiments, such as room D. This report describes updating legacy Room D simulations to today’s computational standards by rectifying several numerical issues. Subsequently, the constitutive model used in previous modeling is recalibrated two different ways against a suite of new laboratory creep experiments on salt extracted from the repository horizon of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Simulations with the new, laboratory-based, calibrations under-predict Room D vertical closure by 3.1×. A list of potential improvements is discussed.},
doi = {10.2172/1333709},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1333709}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Tue Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}