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Title Using acoustic emissions for assessment of damage in rock around engineered structures at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory

Authors W.S. Pettitt, C. Baker, and R.P. Young

Publication Reference Mining and Tunnel Innovation and Opportunity, Proceedings of the 5th North American Rock Mechanics Symposium, Toronto, Canada, 1161-1170. University of Toronto Press.

Abstract SKB (the Swedish nuclear waste management company) is currently undertaking experiments at the Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory (HRL) examining the feasibility of long-term radioactive waste storage in deep geological repositories. Vertical large-diameter boreholes (1.75m by 8m in length) excavated from the repository galleries will contain the waste packages. Experimental full-scale deposition holes have been excavated at Äspö in order to examine and demonstrate the technologies used. During the excavation period we have used high-frequency acoustic emission (AE) monitoring and ultrasonic surveying techniques to investigate the response of the rock mass around the holes. The techniques used have allowed a detailed, non-destructive, investigation of the three-dimensional location, mechanism and impact of disturbance on the rock. Such techniques can be used as feedback for the engineering and safety criteria employed during the excavation, deposition and storage periods. In this paper we will present example results from one of the deposition holes in the Prototype Repository Test (PRT) as a demonstration of the techniques used and as an example of the types of information that can be obtained. In the near-future, the experimental deposition holes in the PRT will have heated canisters (simulated high-level radioactive waste canisters) installed in them producing coupled thermal-hydraulic-mechanical effects in the surrounding rock mass. The techniques presented here will be used to monitor the impact of these effects on the rock barrier.

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Link http://www.lassondeinstitute.utoronto.ca/young/pubs/l102peus.pdf



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