Abstract Summary
- Several thermal modelling exercises of a bentonite laboratory test are conducted to inspect the relevance of different model aspects, especially vapour loss. - The case is a thermo-hydraulic test in which a temperature gradient is applied to a bentonite specimen. The steady-state temperatures are well captured. However, the transient values are not. - Vapour loss is a possible heat sink missing in the model. Nevertheless, the vapour mass that would make the model match the experimental values is 100 times the estimated vapour leakage. This makes it unlikely that vapour loss is the main cause of the mismatch.
