Andra, Cigéo site, France
Background
By contributing to the Cigéo projects, EDF has acquired unrivalled know-how in storage and disposal solutions. EDF is developing specific and powerful simulation tools to guarantee the robustness and long-term safety of Cigéo.
Challenge
To design underground structures such as Cigéo, EDF is developing and validating material behaviour laws, both for the host rocks of the repository and for the materials brought in during construction that will be used to "absorb" the mechanical stresses at this depth.
Our proposal
Using the Code Saturne, the digital modelling of the storage facility allows calculations representing the entirety of the structures in their environment. These high-performance simulation tools also offer the possibility of considering so-called complex physics (including precipitation, heat, the presence of gases, etc.).
With the Syrthes code (thermal and thermohydromechanical coupling in a saturated environment (THM module of Code Aster)), the control of the dimensioning calculations favours a real optimisation of the storage design.