Highly permeable, cement-bounded backfilling mortars for SMA repositories

In low- and intermediate-level waste repositories, gas is produced due e.g. to corrosion. This gas must be able to escape from the repository in order to prevent damage to the repository structure. A cement-based backfill should take over this function. For this purpose, the composition of cement-based materials was varied to study their influence on porosity and permeability. In parallel to this study the behaviour of fresh concrete, the liberation of the heat of hydration and the hardened concrete properties were investigated. To characterize the permeability of cement-based materials the following parameters are important: 1) composition of the material (pore fabric), 2) storage conditions (degree of saturation), 3) degree of hydration (age), 4) measuring fluid. A change in the composition of cement-based materials can vary the permeability by ten orders of magnitude. It is shown that, by using dense aggregates, the transport of the fluid takes place through the matrix and along the aggregate/matrix interface. By using porous aggregates the permeability can be increased by two orders of magnitude. In the case of a dense matrix, porous aggregates do not alter the permeability. Increasing the matrix content or interface content increases permeability. Hence light weight mortars are an obvious choice. Like-grained mixes showed higher permeabilities in combination with better mechanical properties but, in comparison to normal mixes, they showed worse flow properties. With the composition cement-: water-: aggregate content 1:0.4:5.33 the likegrained mix with aggregates ranging from 2 to 3 mm proved to be a suitable material. With a low compaction after 28 days this mix reaches a permeability of 4.10-12 m2 and an uniaxial cylinder compressive strength of 16 N/mm2. (author) 58 figs., 23 tabs., refs