Numerical investigation of the thermal hydrofracturing behavior of the Callovo-Oxfordian claystone

This study addresses the thermal hydrofracturing behavior in claystone within the context of the high-level and intermediate-level long-lived radioactive waste disposal. The heat generated by the waste packages will lead to a temperature increment within the host formation, inducing a pore pressure build-up essentially due to the difference between the thermal expansion coefficient of the pore water and that of the solid skeleton. If the induced pore pressure build-up is too high, the host formation will experience tensile stresses, potentially exceeding its tensile strength and resulting in fracturing. Understanding of these processes and improving numerical models to reproduce them will help the design, optimization, and safety of the repository. Additionally, it will contribute to demonstrating robustness by showing that such processes are not expected to occur at the repository scale.

This study was conducted as part of the DECOVALEX-2023 project and synthesizes the efforts of six research teams modelling laboratory thermal extension tests conducted on Callovo-Oxfordian claystone (COx) samples, as well as an in-situ thermal hydrofracturing experiment conducted at the Meuse/Haute-Marne Underground Research Laboratory in France. The teams used different numerical codes with different approaches, including continuum and discrete approaches, to model these two tests. The laboratory tests were used to calibrate the teams’ models, such as the fracturing criterion. The teams considered a thermo-hydromechanical formulation under saturated conditions. One of the key features of their models was the incorporation of changes in the hydraulic properties of the COx through hydromechanical coupling.

The approaches developed by the teams demonstrated their capability to analyze and reproduce fracture initiation in the COx in terms of time of occurrence and location based on their respective stress analyses. However, attempts to reproduce fracture aperture or fracture propagation were less accurate and remain areas for future research, which were beyond the scope of this study.