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The UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) recommended, in 2006, that geological disposal coupled with safe and secure interim storage should have been the way forward for the long-term management of the UK’s higher activity wastes. The design of the underground repository contemplates the presence of bentonite plugs to seal access galleries and deposition boreholes and hence the interaction between the clay-based backfill material and the underground water. Remote monitoring of the fluid saturation of the barrier, the waste canisters and of the surrounding subsurface Geological Disposal Facility environment assumes a relevant importance to guarantee the safety of the repository and to increase the confidence and the reliance of the communities living in areas potentially affected by the repository over time. This remote monitoring of the Engineered Barrier System represents a technical challenge due to the unsuitability of some of the traditional geotechnical techniques or to the intrinsic unreliability of many geophysical prospecting techniques in providing information about the evolution of the Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical-Chemical coupling of the system over long timescales up to and including post-closure evolution. In this project, I offer an initial approach to an innovative way of using mineral magnetism, and, in particular, I analyse the possible exploitation of corrosion-induced variations of the magnetic properties of several magnetic materials to monitor water saturation in the Engineered Barrier System and its evolution through time. Initially the reactivity of several natural and synthetic materials is tested under different “extreme” conditions to analyse the feasibility of the research concept and identify the materials more adapt to carry out the job. The effects that the corrosion of the magnetic materials has on the clay matrix is also analysed in detail throughout all the thesis work. The initial tests lead to the identification of specific transitions in the hysteretic behaviour of three of the initial candidates (Nd-Fe-B, AlNiCo and SmCo alloys). These three materials are subsequently tested under conditions closer to a real “evolved” Barrier System, where the groundwater interacts, with cementiferous grout producing hyperalkaline leachates. The final tests consider the temporal evolution (after 4, 8 and 12 months) of the magnetic properties of these materials in a dysoxic environment under imposed fluid-flow. The results show a clear change in the hysteretic properties of the three materials analysed and the feasibility of the monitoring of the Barrier fluid saturation in the short-term. Furthermore, the corrosion of the magnets, under the conditions applied, did not cause formation of non-swelling clays.

Recently, images of the inside of the human body have been produced non-invasively using nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr). The technique involves placing the patient in a strong, homogeneous magnetic field. The heart of any nmr imaging system is the magnet that produces this field and this thesis is concerned with the design and testing of such magnets. Various computer programs have been written that allow the designer to model a magnet either in terms of axisymmetric coils, or in terms of the discrete conductors that simulate the actual form of the winding. The axisymmetric program automatically optimises the design so as to produce a uniform field, and the data from this program may be used directly to generate an appropriate helical or spiral winding. These programs not only allow the designer to produce a suitable design, but also to put tolerances on the dimensions of the conductors and formers that support the winding. The problem of removing inhomogeneities produced by dimensional inaccuracies and surrounding ferromagnetic materials is also considered. A nmr probe system has been developed that allows the homogeneity of a magnet to be assessed independently of the stability of its power supply. The probe has been used for field measurements in a magnet designed using the above techniques, and the results are presented.

Wave energy converters (WECs) are relatively new power sources under rapiddevelopment. WECs utilize permanent magnets to generate power and theperformance of these magnets have a great impact on the produced effects in theWECs. This paper is primarily constructed to investigate the magnetic and mechanicalproperties of a specific kind of permanent magnets, referred to as Y40. The paperalso gives a comprehensive review of magnetic materials in general, slightly focusingon magnetic stability. Literature studies has been made to get an understanding ofhow the Y40 magnets will perform under external influences such as reversed field,temperature change and mechanical stress. Further, a compression test has beenmade to examine the Y40s solidity. From the results of the tests and from theinformation provided in literature it is considered to be little to no risk for the Y40sto lose magnetization due to external influences. However, because of theirassembled structure, the Y40 magnets are very likely to break in their joints duringpressure lower than what is expected in the WECs.

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The contact area between two rollers or cylinders was investigated both theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical investigation was based on Hertzian theory, while the experimental method used was based on the measurement of contact resistances. The variables in the investigation were the applied force, skew angles between roller axes, and roller diameters. The experimental results showed contact areas much smaller than predicted by Hertzian theory. This was expected, as Hertzian theory does not account for the rough surfaces of real bodies. Extensive tables of Hertzian contact areas for various roller sizes and skew angles are included. / Master of Science