CX-022582: Developing constitutive relationships for the properties of unsaturated bentonite buffers under high temperatures

The University of California, San Diego proposes to characterize the effects of high temperatures (up to 200 C) on the mechanisms and material properties governing coupled heat transfer, water flow, and volume change in unsaturated, compacted granular bentonite, and to understand and simulate the multiphase hydration process of bentonite buffers in deep geological repositories with closely spaced waste packages or dual purpose containers.