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Determining hydraulic properties of concrete and mortar by inverse modelling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2012

Sébastien Schneider
Affiliation:
Performance Assessments Unit, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCKCEN, 2400 Mol, Belgium.
Dirk Mallants
Affiliation:
Performance Assessments Unit, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCKCEN, 2400 Mol, Belgium.
Diederik Jacques
Affiliation:
Performance Assessments Unit, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCKCEN, 2400 Mol, Belgium.
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Abstract

This paper presents a methodology and results on estimating hydraulic properties of the concrete and mortar considered for the near surface disposal facility in Dessel, Belgium, currently in development by ONDRAF/NIRAS. In a first part, we estimated the van parameters for the water retention curve for concrete and mortar obtained by calibration (i.e. inverse modelling) of the van Genuchten model [1] to experimental water retention data [2]. Data consisted of the degree of saturation measured at different values of relative humidity. In the second part, water retention data and data from a capillary suction experiment on concrete and mortar cores was used jointly to successfully determine the van Genuchten retention parameters and the Mualem hydraulic conductivity parameters (including saturated hydraulic conductivity) by inverse modelling.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2012

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References

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