ABSTRACT
The depth of excavation induced damage is essential for the design process of Deep Geological Repositories (DGRs) for nuclear waste facilities since the damage increases the permeability and represents a potential contaminate transport pathway. Excavation Damage Zone (EDZ) depth can be predicted using numerical simulation methods which employ an approach based on Cohesion Weakening and Frictional Strengthening (CWFS). While deterministic numerical approaches based on conservative estimate of rockmass strength and in-situ stress are simple ways of dealing with uncertainty, they are not capable to capture the variability of the input properties which can lead to design deficiencies. In this paper, variability of EDZ depth due to rockmass strength uncertainty is predicted using a new methodology which integrates First Order Second Moment (FOSM) reliability method with CWFS approach in finite difference code, FLAC2D.
