Models for the study of the local effects produced by a high-level radioactive waste repository

Abstract

Numerical resulta are obtained for the local effects produced by the emplacement of a high-level waste repository in a granitic rock. These results imply considering the coupled thermal-flow problem in a porous media . The method described here with is based in the solution of the governing equations by boundary - fitted finite differences , with a special treatment of the heat sources. The calculations are performed in terms of primitive variables by two solution techniques, namely iterative and direct, the latter employing a sparse matrix solver. An extension of the technique aimed at including discrete fractures is also discussed.