Effective stress paths and pore-pressure responses during undrained shear along the bedding planes of varved Fort William Clay

1991 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 804-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. D. Eigenbrod ◽  
J. B. Burak

Previous studies of the varved sensitive clays from the Thunder Bay area indicated that the geotechnical properties were influenced by their layered structure. When sheared along the bedding planes, double strength envelopes were apparent, with strength parameters depending on the stress levels applied. Thus, a series of consolidated isotropical undrained triaxial tests with pore-pressure measurements was carried out on specimens with the varves inclined to the vertical axis. A number of unusual results were observed: (i) low B-values for presumably saturated samples; (ii) failure of the specimens along the clay seams at stress levels above precompression load, exhibiting highly compressive behaviour and considerable cohesion; (iii) failure of the specimens in the silt seams at stress levels below the precompression load, exhibiting dilatancy and a lower cohesion than in the normally consolidated range; (iv) slightly anisotropic elastic deformation behaviour almost up to failure for testing in the precompression range; however, strongly anisotropic, largely nonelastic behaviour in the normally consolidated stress range, indicating larger stiffnesses vertically than horizontally. The stress paths in the normally consolidated stress range suggested also that consolidation of the clay seams occurred during undrained shear owing to internal dissipation of pore pressures into dilating silt seams. Key words: varved sensitive cemented clay, pore-pressure response, undrained shear, internal pore-pressure dissipation, anisotropic elastic behaviour, critical-state conditions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 224 (3) ◽  
pp. 1523-1539
Author(s):  
Lisa Winhausen ◽  
Alexandra Amann-Hildenbrand ◽  
Reinhard Fink ◽  
Mohammadreza Jalali ◽  
Kavan Khaledi ◽  
...  

SUMMARY A comprehensive characterization of clay shale behavior requires quantifying both geomechanical and hydromechanical characteristics. This paper presents a comparative laboratory study of different methods to determine the water permeability of saturated Opalinus Clay: (i) pore pressure oscillation, (ii) pressure pulse decay and (iii) pore pressure equilibration. Based on a comprehensive data set obtained on one sample under well-defined temperature and isostatic effective stress conditions, we discuss the sensitivity of permeability and storativity on the experimental boundary conditions (oscillation frequency, pore pressure amplitudes and effective stress). The results show that permeability coefficients obtained by all three methods differ less than 15 per cent at a constant effective stress of 24 MPa (kmean = 6.6E-21 to 7.5E-21 m2). The pore pressure transmission technique tends towards lower permeability coefficients, whereas the pulse decay and pressure oscillation techniques result in slightly higher values. The discrepancies are considered minor and experimental times of the techniques are similar in the range of 1–2 d for this sample. We found that permeability coefficients determined by the pore pressure oscillation technique increase with higher frequencies, that is oscillation periods shorter than 2 hr. No dependence is found for the applied pressure amplitudes (5, 10 and 25 per cent of the mean pore pressure). By means of experimental handling and data density, the pore pressure oscillation technique appears to be the most efficient. Data can be recorded continuously over a user-defined period of time and yield information on both, permeability and storativity. Furthermore, effective stress conditions can be held constant during the test and pressure equilibration prior to testing is not necessary. Electron microscopic imaging of ion-beam polished surfaces before and after testing suggests that testing at effective stresses higher than in situ did not lead to pore significant collapse or other irreversible damage in the samples. The study also shows that unloading during the experiment did not result in a permeability increase, which is associated to the persistent closure of microcracks at effective stresses between 24 and 6 MPa.


SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Saeed Rafieepour ◽  
Stefan Z. Miska ◽  
Evren M. Ozbayoglu ◽  
Nicholas E. Takach ◽  
Mengjiao Yu ◽  
...  

Summary In this paper, an extensive series of experiments was performed to investigate the evolution of poromechanical (dry, drained, undrained, and unjacketed moduli), transport (permeability), and strength properties during reservoir depletion and injection in a high-porosity sandstone (Castlegate). An overdetermined set of eight poroelastic moduli was measured as a function of confining pressure (Pc) and pore pressure (Pp). The results showed larger effect on pore pressure at low Terzaghi’s effective stress (nonlinear trend) during depletion and injection. Moreover, the rock sample is stiffer during injection than depletion. At the same Pc and Pp, Biot’s coefficient and Skempton’s coefficient are larger in depletion than injection. Under deviatoric loading, absolute permeability decreased by 35% with increasing effective confining stress up to 20.68 MPa. Given these variations in rock properties, modeling of in-situ-stress changes using constant properties could attain erroneous predictions. Moreover, constant deviatoric stress-depletion/injection failure tests showed no changes or infinitesimal variations of strength properties with depletion and injection. It was found that failure of Castlegate sandstone is controlled by simple effective stress, as postulated by Terzaghi. Effective-stress coefficients at failure (effective-stress coefficient for strength) were found to be close to unity (actual numbers, however, were 1.03 for Samples CS-5 and CS-9 and 1.04 for Sample CS-10). Microstructural analysis of Castlegate sandstone using both scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscope revealed that the changes in poroelastic and transport properties as well as the significant hysteresis between depletion and injection are attributed to the existence and distribution of compliant components such as pores, microcracks, and clay minerals.


Geophysics ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 948-956 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas H. Green ◽  
Herbert F. Wang

The pore pressure response of saturated porous rock subjected to undrained compression at low effective stresses are investigated theoretically and experimentally. This behavior is quantified by the undrained pore pressure buildup coefficient, [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] is fluid pressure, [Formula: see text] is confining pressure, and [Formula: see text] is the mass of fluid per unit bulk volume. The measured values for B for three sandstones and a dolomite arc near 1.0 at zero effective stress and decrease with increasing effective stress. In one sandstone, B is 0.62 at 13 MPa effective stress. These results agree with the theories of Gassmann (1951) and Bishop (1966), which assume a locally homogeneous solid framework. The decrease of B with increasing effective stress is probably related to crack closure and to high‐compressibility materials within the rock framework. The more general theories of Biot (1955) and Brown and Korringa (1975) introduce an additional parameter, the unjacketed pore compressibility, which can be determined from induced pore pressure results. Values of B close to 1 imply that under appropriate conditions within the crust, zones of low effective pressure characterized by low seismic wave velocity and high wave attenuation could exist. Also, in confined aquifer‐reservoir systems at very low effective stress states, the calculated specific storage coefficient is an order of magnitude larger than if less overpressured conditions prevailed.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 819-834 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed M. Morsy ◽  
D.H. Chan ◽  
N.R. Morgenstern

An effective stress constitutive model to study the problem numerically of creep in the field is presented. A double-yield surface model for the stress–strain–time behaviour of wet clay is described. The model adopts the concept of separating the total deformation into immediate and delayed components. The yield surfaces employed are the modified Cam-clay ellipsoid and the Von Mises cylinder inscribed in the ellipsoid. The proposed numerical scheme incorporates the pore pressure based on field observations into a finite element analysis. An interpolation technique is used to determine the pore pressure at every element. A field example is presented to illustrate the interpolation technique procedure. The scheme not only avoids the complexity of making predictions of pore-water pressure, but also allows the analysis to be carried out in terms of effective stresses based on the actual observed pore pressure. Two stress integration algorithms based on the implicit calculation of plastic strain are implemented and tested for the double-yield surface model. A numerical simulation of stress-controlled drained creep tests confirms the numerical procedure. Key words : constitutive equations, creep, finite element, stress integration algorithms, effective stress approach, pore-water pressure.


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