DECOVALEX - AN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATIVE RESEARCH-PROJECT ON MATHEMATICAL-MODELS OF COUPLED THM PROCESSES FOR SAFETY ANALYSIS OF RADIOACTIVE-WASTE REPOSITORIES

An inter national co-operative research project has been established u nder the name DECOVALEX for theoretical and experimental studies of co upled thermal, hydrological and mechanical processes in hard rocks. Th e capability of modelling coupled phenomena is of particular importanc e to the safety assessment of geologic disposal of radioactive waste m aterials. Different mathematical models and computer codes have been d eveloped by different national research teams and these are used to st udy the so-called bench mark test and test case problems developed wit hin this project. Bench mark tests are defined as initial-boundary val ue problems of a generic nature, and test cases are experimental inves tigations of part or full aspects of coupled thermohydro-mechanical pr ocesses in hard rocks. Presented in this introductory paper are the mo tivation, organization and approaches of the project, definitions of b ench mark tests and test case problems and descriptions of mathematica l models used in Phase I of the DECOVALEX project. A brief introductio n to the Phase II and Phase III of the project is also presented.