Study of natural fracture topography in 50cm scale granodiorite rock block including natural fracture intersection measured by precision grinder

Tetsu, Keiichi*; Takayama, Yusuke; Sawada, Atsushi

JAEA-Research 2022-005, 84 Pages, 2022/08

JAEA-Research-2022-005.pdf:10.32MB
JAEA-Research-2022-005-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:35.68MB

Nuclide migration analyses are conducted for the safety assessment in geological disposal system of HLW. Nuclide migration evaluation of fractured host rock mainly uses a model that approximates the fracture with parallel flat plates. However, the actual fractures in the host rock are different from the parallel flat plates, the fractures have complex characteristics such as roughness of fracture surface and the fillings in the fracture. In approximating a fracture model, the methodology development how to set parameter values such as the transmissivity coefficient and the fracture aperture is an issue. One of the issues is to investigate the geometrical features of actual fractures in the host rock. In this study, for the purpose of understanding the geometrical features of fractures including fracture intersection, the internal fracture shape was measured in detail using the method of surface grinding on 50cm scale granodiorite with natural fracture intersection. Thus, the fracture width, fracture aperture, and the shape of the fracture surfaces were obtained. From the obtain data, characteristics such as the average value of the fracture width, the roughness of the fracture surfaces, and the distribution of the fracture aperture were evaluated. As a result, it was confirmed that one of the fractures near the fracture intersection has a particularly large fracture width and fracture aperture as compared with the other part of fractures. Thus, in the granodiorite rock block used in this study, it was inferred that the most permeable path is not the fracture intersection itself, but the particularly large fracture aperture in the vicinity of the fracture intersection.

Visualization of fractures induced around the gallery wall in Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory

Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Chen, Y.*; Ishii, Eiichi; Sakurai, Akitaka; Ishida, Tsuyoshi*

Proceedings of 5th ISRM Young Scholars' Symposium on Rock Mechanics and International Symposium on Rock Engineering for Innovative Future (YSRM 2019 and REIF 2019) (USB Flash Drive), 6 Pages, 2019/12

In the excavation of a repository for high-level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal, it is important to understand the hydro-mechanical characteristics of the Excavation Damaged Zone (EDZ) induced around the gallery because EDZ can lead to the migration pathway of radionuclides. Thus, we performed the resin injection experiment at the 350 m gallery of Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory in Japan to investigate the characteristics of fractures induced around the gallery wall in excavation. In the experiment, we developed a low viscosity resin mixed with a fluorescent substance and injected to the borehole drilled about 1 m in length. After the experiment, we overcored around the injection borehole. The observation on the cut surface of the overcore under ultraviolet light revealed that the fractures were distributed within 0.8 m from the gallery wall. Fractures are interconnected each other in particular within 0.25 m from the niche wall. Furthermore, fractures with large aperture (about 1.0 mm) were developed in that region. These observed results will be fundamental information for understanding of the fracturing process in the EDZ.