Mechanisms of microcrack propagation in bentonite

For underground nuclear disposal repositories, sealing performance is crucial to ensuring long-term operational safety. Bentonite, widely employed as a sealing material, effectively reduces leakage risks owing to its self-healing capacity. However, a comprehensive investigation of gas migration mechanisms in bentonite is imperative to elucidate the underlying leakage dynamics. This study not only offers theoretical insights for the safety assessment and design optimization of disposal repositories but also holds substantial practical significance in ensuring their secure performance. To accurately model gas migration in saturated bentonite, this study systematically investigates the effects of pore pressure on soil deformation and experimentally evaluates the impact of damage evolution on permeability and elastic modulus. Building on these experimental insights, we propose a coupled fluid–solid constitutive model. This model elucidates the progressive development of microcracks within bentonite under increasing gas pressure, providing a mechanistic understanding of fracture propagation in sealing systems. By integrating experimental data from bentonite hydration and gas breakthrough tests, the study verifies that gas migration under flexible boundary conditions is primarily governed by the dilatancy effect of bentonite. Furthermore, the model's validity and applicability are demonstrated. Subsequently, the model is employed to systematically investigate the influence of confining pressure on (1) the evolution of microcracks in bentonite, (2) permeability variations and (3) gas breakthrough pressure thresholds. Based on these analyses, theoretical mitigation strategies to prevent gas breakthrough are established for specific confining pressure ranges.