Influence of rock spalling on concrete lining in shaft sinking at the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory

Tsusaka, Kimikazu; Inagaki, Daisuke; Nago, Makito*; Koike, Masashi*; Matsubara, Makoto*; Sugawara, Kentaro*

A repository for high-level radioactive waste in deep underground consists of several underground structures such as access and disposal drifts and shafts. In deep geological disposal project, a shaft is the first underground structure to be constructed and the last one to be backfilled. Therefore, the stability of shaft is one of key factors to steadily manage the project in the construction and operation phases. In this paper, the authors discuss influence of rock spalling on concrete lining in shaft sinking. Japan Atomic Energy Agency has been constructing three shafts (one is for ventilation and the others are for access use) up to a depth of 500 m in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. During the construction of the Ventilation Shaft (4.5 m in diameter) below a depth of 250 m, rock spalling occurred at several depths and an open crack has developed in a concrete lining installed just above rock spalling. The authors have measured geometry of shaft wall by using three-dimensional laser scanner. They also conducted numerical analysis in order to calculate change in stress distribution and deformation induced by rock spalling in a concrete lining and the surrounding rock. As a result, it was clarified that rock spalling induced tensile stress in the vertical direction in a concrete lining. Especially, the tensile stress in a concrete lining was likely to exceed tensile strength of a concrete lining in the case that it developed more than 100 cm in depth.