Publications Details
Test interference calculations for the Yucca Mountain Project ESF thermomechanical experiments; Yucca Mountain Site Characterization Project
The Yucca Mountain Project, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy, is examining the feasibility of siting a repository for high-level nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain on and adjacent to the Nevada Test Site. As part of the site characterization, a series of in situ thermomechanical experiments are planned, which are to be conducted in the Exploratory Studies Facility (ESF). In this report, the results of preliminary analyses of three of the in situ thermomechanical experiments are presented. The major objective of these analyses was to determine the boundaries of the thermally perturbed zones surrounding each of the experiments. The boundaries of the thermal zones needs to be known in order to avoid test interference between the experiments planned for the ESF. A second objective of these analyses was to calculate the displacements and stresses associated with the experiments, in order to advance the planning of the experiments.