Swelling pressures of a potential buffer material for high-level waste repository

The swelling pressure of a potential buffer material was measured and the effect of dry density, bentonite content and initial water content on the swelling pressure was investigated to provide the information for the selection of buffer material in a high-level waste repository. Swelling tests were carried out according to Box-Behnken's experimental design. Measured swelling pressures were in the wide range of 0.7 Kg/cm2 to 190.2 Kg/cm2 under given experimental conditions. Based upon the experimental data, a 3-factor polynomial swelling model was suggested to analyze the effect of dry density, bentonite content and initial water content on the swelling pressure. The swelling pressure increased with an increase in the dry density and bentonite content, while it decreased with increasing the initial water content and, beyond about 12 wt.% of the initial water content, levelled to nearly constant value. (author). 21 refs., 10 figs., 4 tabs