WIPP [Waste Isolation Pilot Plant] panel entryway seal: Numerical simulation of seal component/formation interaction for preliminary design evaluation

This report presents the results of a series of structural analyses performed to evaluate the interaction of a potential two-component panel entryway seal configuration with the rock salt formation at the repository horizon of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. A two-dimensional plane strain geomechanical model of the configuration is used to numerically simulate and compute the interaction of each component with the formation. The structural response of the component itself and that of the formation, resulting from this interaction, is then evaluated. Issues addressed in this report pertain to the consolidation of the crushed salt component in terms of when effective consolidation is reached and to the stresses induced by the concrete component in terms of whether or not its presence in the seal system results in a tightening of the formation around the seal. 19 refs., 23 figs., 3 tabs