This study presents a three-dimensional numerical analysis of multiple fracture growth leading to spalling around nuclear waste deposition boreholes. Mechanical spalling due to stress amplification after drilling is simulated using a finite element-based fracture growth simulator. Fractures initiate in tension based on a damage criterion and grow by evaluating stress intensity factors at each fracture tip. Tip propagation is multi-modal, resulting in final fracture patterns that are representative of both tensile and shear failure. Their geometries are represented by smooth parametric surfaces, which evolve during growth using lofting. The corresponding surface and volumetric meshes are updated at every growth step to accommodate the evolving fracture geometries. The numerical model is validated by comparing simulated fracture patterns against those observed in the AECL Underground Rock Laboratory Mine-By Experiment. It is subsequently calibrated to simulate fracture initiation and growth around boreholes drilled in the Forsmark granodiorite, subjected to a far-field anisotropic triaxial stress that corresponds to the in situ stress model from the Swedish Forsmark site. The deposition tunnel is implicitly simulated by attaching the deposition borehole to a free domain boundary.

Several geomechanical cases are investigated, in which fracture growth is numerically evaluated as a function of in situ stress state, tunnel orientation, borehole geometry, total number of boreholes and borehole spacing. Numerical results show that spalling occurs in all cases, given the underground conditions at Forsmark, with borehole geometry, spacing and stresses affecting the extent of fracture nucleation and growth patterns.

The uncertainty in underground stress conditions is evaluated through varying stress magnitudes and orientations relative to the tunnel floor. Whereas tunnel orientation influences the relative locations where fractures initiate with respect to the tunnel floor, fracture growth and its final extent is determined by the relative magnitudes of the in situ stresses. Higher stress differential causes higher spalling depths, but in all cases, failure extent is localised to the borehole vicinity, not exceeding one borehole radius. The cylindrical borehole is modified at the top to provide an access ramp for the spent fuel canisters and fracture growth around several deposition boreholes is simulated for borehole tops having cylindrical, conical, and wedge shapes. The enlargement of the borehole top induces higher stress concentrations at the borehole–tunnel junction, increasing the severity of spalling closer to the tunnel floor. Massive failure occurs when a multiple borehole model is considered and the inter-borehole distance is small enough that adjacent “spalled” areas interact. At Forsmark, through-going fractures are predicted to develop when the borehole spacing is less than 4 m. The effect of spalling on the structural integrity of the deposition boreholes is illustrated for each test case and quantified in terms of maximum spalling depth, spalling width and total fractured surface area.