Long-term effect of water chemistry on the swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity of compacted claystone/bentonite mixture with technological gaps

Abstract

A compacted mixture of Callovo-Oxfordian (COx) claystone/MX80 bentonite is a promising sealing material in the French Cigéo project for radioactive waste disposal at great depth. Over time, the sealing material will be saturated by the site water originating from the surrounding rock and the water chemistry can affect the performance of the sealing material. In this study, the effects of water chemistry and technological gaps on the hydro-mechanical property were investigated by performing hydration tests on the compacted claystone/bentonite mixture with technological gaps using deionised water and synthetic site solution for 10 and 590 days. After the tests, the dry density, water content and microstructure distributions were also determined to complement the program. Results show that the synthetic site solution did not affect the swelling pressure and hydraulic conductivity after a short term of 10 days. With the increase of hydration time, the specimens with technological gaps tended to be homogeneous, resulting in a reduction of hydraulic conductivity. Because of the cation exchanges and the decreased diffuse double layer thickness, the synthetic site solution reduced the swelling pressure and increased the hydraulic conductivity in long term, especially for the specimens with lower global dry densities.