ABSTRACT
The numerical simulation of the thermal and thermomechanical response of the large-scale in situ experiment “Thermal Simulation of Drift Storage” will be presented. The objective of the investigations is to assess the current capability of the thermomechanical models by comparison of numerical results with in situ measurements over a 10-years period. The temperatures measured in the test field and predicted by 3D model calculations compare very favorably. Analyses of thermomechanical effects were conduted using 2D, plane-strain conditions and two different constitutive models for the backfill material. For both models the quantitative agreements between the calculated drift closure rates and backfill compaction, respectively, are somewhat less satisfactory.
