Mechanism of deformation of adjacent rock mass under heat-emitting practices used

One of the critical geoecological concerns of the present day in the developed countries of the world and in Russia is removal of immense amount of high-level radioactive waste from the biosphere. The only feasible way out is deep burial. Rocks should possess properties which most certainly prevent the spread of radionuclides with groundwater over the whole period of biohazard (more than 10 thousand years). The insulating properties of rocks depend on their stress–strain behavior and thermal exposure. The HLW temperature may reach 1500 °C and keeps on for 150–300 years. This article presents the analytical results on the time-series of unique observations over deformation of sidewall rock mass in underground facilities accommodating powerful heat sources at the Mining and Chemical Plant in Zheleznogorsk. The analysis aimed to explain the adjacent rock mass deformation mechanism and its correlation with the temperature and rock mass quality (structural damage). It is found that the increase in the temperature correlates with the increase in the amplitude of displacements in adjacent rock mass and that the process of sidewall rock deformation has a cyclic behavior. Over the period from 1980 to 1998, the average displacement velocities were: 03–0.45 mm/yr in poor quality rocks heated up to 50–700 °C (maximum velocity 4.65 mm/yr); 0.1–0.2 mm/yr in weakly damaged and heated rocks (maximum velocity 0.6 mm/yr); 0.02–0.04 mm/yr in undamaged rock mass with the natural temperature background. The proposed model of deformation process in time can be used as a framework for the geomechanical experimentation planning in an underground research laboratory toward assessment of structural damage growth in rocks mass containing a manmade heat source.

Tatarinov V. N., Morozov V. N., Tatarinova T. A. Mechanism of deformation of adjacent rock mass under heat-emitting practices used. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2022;(10):141-152. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2022_10_0_141.

The study was performed under the state contract between the Geophysical Center of the Russian Academy of Science and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.

V.N. Tatarinov^1,2, Corresponding Member of Russian Academy of Sciences, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Head of Laboratory, Head of Research-Education Center of GC RAS and NUST «MISiS» «Geodynamics and Geoecology of the Subsoil: Modeling, Forecasting and Monitoring», e-mail: v.tatarinov@gcras.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7546-2072,
V.N. Morozov¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, Chief Researcher, e-mail: v.morozov@gcras.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-6183-0487,
T.A. Tatarinova^1,2, Researcher, e-mail: tata@wdcb.ru, ORCID ID: 000-0002-4283-4586.
¹ Geophysical Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119296, Moscow, Russia,
² Schmidt Institute of Physics of the Earth, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123242, Moscow, Russia.

V.N. Tatarinov, e-mail: v.tatarinov@gcras.ru.

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