Suction effects in deep Boom Clay block samples

Various investigations have been carried out on Boom Clay, a stiff clay from Belgium, in the context of research into deep radioactive waste disposal (ONDRAF/NIRAS, 2001). Investigations are linked to research conducted at the Mol Underground Research Laboratory (URL), excavated in a layer of Boom Clay at a depth of 223 m by SCK-CEN, the Belgian organisation for nuclear studies, near the city of Mol.

Most research has been carried out on triaxial specimens that were trimmed from blocks extracted during excavation sequences in the URL. Various questions arose concerning the quality of the specimens and the best...