H. N. Seneviratine

The problem of fully coupled consolidation and heat flow around a rigid cylindrical heat source buried in clay has been studied. The governing equations of the problem are summarized in the paper and a finite element time‐marching scheme to obtain an approximate solution to the governing equations is described. The stress–strain behaviour of the skeleton of the saturated soil has been represented by both a linear elastic model and the modified Cam clay soil model. The results of a limited parametric study are presented with the aim of understanding the major mechanisms of soil behaviour close to buried canisters of hot radioactive waste. A range of soil properties has been included in the study, and the effects of soil disturbance during canister emplacement have also been considered.

This paper critically examines the use of the modified Cam clay stress–strain model in predicting the thermomechanical behaviour of soft clays. The equations governing the thermomechanical behaviour of a saturated soil are summarized and their methods of solution are briefly discussed. The observed thermomechanical soil behaviour reported in the literature has been compared with the predictions made using the modified Cam clay model. In making these comparisons, two extensions of the well‐known modified Cam clay model have been considered: one proposed by Britto et al.¹ in which heating induces thermal stresses and strains in the soil but has no direct effect on the work hardening, and the other proposed by Hueckel and Borsetto² in which a change in temperature also affects the yield surface. The comparisons are confined to the behaviour of normally and lightly overconsolidated clays, where the modified Cam clay is known to perform well. Apart from the effect of a single heating–cooling loop, cyclic behaviour is not considered. It is concluded that both models provide reasonable predictions under isotropic stress conditions. Although exhaustive comparisons have not been made for deviatoric stress excursions (because of the lack of experimental data), it appears from preliminary studies that neither model performs particularly well for this form of loading.

A basic engineering decision to be made in designing a tunnel in soft clay is whether or not the tunnel can be excavated without internal support. The safety of constructing a shallow heading in soft clay can be assessed in terms of the fluid support pressure which may be required to maintain stability. This can be estimated by means of the lower and upper bound theorems of plasticity. The Paper considers three different shapes of shallow underground opening relevant to tunnelling and upper and lower bound stability solutions are derived for collapse under undrained conditions. Solutions are also derived for assessment of the risk of blow-out failure caused by excessively high fluid pressures. Conditions are considered under which local collapse can occur, independent of the cover above the tunnel. Une décision fondamentale doit être prise lorsque l'on veut réaliser un tunnel dans de l'argile molle; il s'agit, en effet, de décider si un support interne sera ou non nécessaire pour l'excavation du tunnel. La sécurité de la construction d'une galerie peu profonde dans de l'argile molle peut être évaluée en fonction de la pression du fluide support qui pourrait être nécessaire au maintien de la stabilité. Cette estimation peut se faire à l'aide des théorèmes à limites inférieure et supérieure. L'article envisage trois formes différentes d'ouverture souterraine peu profonde intéressant le creusement de tunnels, et des solutions de stabilité à limites inférieure et supérieure sont trouvées pour l'affaissement dans des conditions non drainées. Des solutions sont également trouvées en ce qui concerne l'évaluation du risque de rupture par éruption due aux pressions excessives du fluide. Les conditions dans lesquelles un affaissement local peut se produire sont envisagées, indépendamment de la couverture située audessus du tunnel.