Laboratory hydro-mechanical characterisation of Boom Clay at Essen and Mol

Boom Clay has been studied as a potential host rock formation for the geological disposal of radioactive waste in Belgium. In the present work, the hydro-mechanical behaviour of Boom Clay samples from the borehole Essen-1 at a depth of 220–260 m and from URL HADES at Mol at 223-m depth was investigated in the laboratory (low and high pressure oedometer tests, isotropic consolidation tests and triaxial tests). The mineralogy, geotechnical properties and hydro-mechanical characterization and behaviour, such that the yield stresses, shearing failure envelope, international friction angle, over-consolidation ratio (OCR), compressibility and compression curves (void index Iv versus logarithm of vertical stress) etc. are carefully studied for the samples taken from above mentioned locations. From a practical point view, the laboratory test results from Essen and their comparison with those from Mol provide important information regarding the transferability of knowledge on Boom Clay at different sites, taking into account the fact that most investigations have been carried out on Boom Clay taken from HADES at Mol.