Support Structures for a GDF in Claystone

Within the R&D project AGEnT (the German acronym for support structures for mine openings in HLW repositories in claystone) BGE TECHNOLOGY GmbH together with DMT GmbH & Co. KG already started the development of such structures. As of this summer, this successful collaboration is being continued in a follow-up project. The title and the general topic changed slightly. In the new project called AGEnT002, long-living main drifts and their crossings are in the focus. The plan is to further develop the support structure concept of AGENT for long-living drifts, employing in-depth planning of the proposed wedge block lining and its individual elements. This also includes compressible elements outside or in between the wedge blocks. Furthermore, the development and dimensioning of the crossings between long-living drifts will be carried out. In the context of a German HLW/SF repository, this is the very first time that such an in-depth investigation of the crossings is done. The crossings are exposed to complex stress conditions, which places special demands on their design and the individual (intermediate) construction steps during installation. The support structures developed will finally be analyzed in a global model of a full emplacement field. With the help of hydro-mechanically-coupled models, desaturation and damage processes in the near-contour area will be analyzed. The models thus allow a better process understanding of the interactions between the types of support structures and the mine openings and the influence of the different rock properties.