Sensitivity of protective barrier performance to changes in rainfall rate

Single- or multi-layered surface barriers are used for protecting the underlying hazardous or radioactive waste storage facility and for reducing the risk of dispersion of contaminants to the ground water. To assess the effect of variations in net rainfall rate (total rainfall minus evapotranspiration) on the hydraulic response of a multi-layered barrier, a series of flow simulations were performed. Water fluxes in different layers of the barrier were numerically calculated for three net rainfall rates, i.e. 0.0255, 0.0742, and 0.141 cm/day. These rates correspond to dry, average, and wet climatological conditions in Belgium. Results show that for dry conditions, almost 45% of the water infiltrating the top of the barrier is laterally evacuated. When the net rainfall rate increases from 0.0255 to 0.0742 cm/day, more water is being laterally diverted, and only 22% of the applied rainfall percolates through the barrier. If the rainfall rate is increased from 0.0255 to 0.141 cm/day, the percolation becomes 14% of the applied rainfall. This indicates that fluxes leaving the bottom of the repository increase only slightly, although the rainfall rate for wet conditions is approximately 5 times larger than for dry conditions. Under dry conditions a slightly negative pressure develops in the bottom of the low-permeability clay layer. However, this desaturation does not affect the integrity of the clay.