LAUSR

Thermal conductivity is an important parameter to consider when designing clay-based barriers for use in deep geological repositories (DGR). In the DGR environment, the infiltration of local saline groundwater can potentially change the pore fluid chemistry of a barrier over its lifetime. This change in chemistry is known to alter the thermal properties of the barrier materials. In order to examine the impact of pore fluid salinity on thermal conductivity, experiments were conducted under both distilled water and saline pore fluid conditions. The material mixtures were prepared at two different dry densities using two different salt types. Furthermore, five different thermal conductivity prediction models were selected and evaluated on their performance with respect to the experimental outcomes. In general, these results indicated that an increase in the constituent pore fluid’s salt concentration leads to a decrease in the thermal conductivity of the material. Additionally, the thermal conductivity values of the materials prepared at a high dry density were greater than of those compacted at a low dry density.