Elasto-plastic and fracture modeling of concretes for determining the mechanical behaviour of the plug in the GAST project

Sanada, Hiroyuki; Teodori, S.*; Redi, J.*; Vomvoris, S.*

Nagra NAB 13-76, 43 Pages, 2013/09

GAST (Gas-Permeable Seal Test), an ongoing project in Phase VI at the Grimsel Test Site (GTS), is a large-scale demonstration test focusing on water movement during the early saturation phase and gas migration during the later gas invasion phase. In this report, the mechanical behaviour (e.g. stress, deformation, tension failure, elasto-plastic energy) of the massive concrete plug and surrounding rock mass of the GAST project are analyzed based on numerical modelling using the three-dimensional finite difference method.