Gas permeability of a compacted bentonite–sand mixture: coupled effects of water content, dry density, and confining pressure

2015 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 1159-1167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang-Feng Liu ◽  
Frédéric Skoczylas ◽  
Jean Talandier

The gas-tightness of compacted bentonite–sand mixtures is important to the total sealing efficiency of geological repositories. The initial aim of this work was to determine whether the combination of a high confining pressure (Pc) and incomplete saturation could cause a bentonite–sand mixture to become gas-tight. The results show that the physical characteristics of the materials (degree of saturation, Sr; porosity, [Formula: see text]; and dry density, ρd) are very sensitive to changes in the applied confining pressures and their own swelling deformation (or shrinkage). The combination of these changes affects the sample’s effective gas permeability (Keff). For materials prepared at a relative humidity (RH) of 98%, Keff decreased from 10−16 to 10−20 m2 when Pc increased from 1 to 7 MPa. This means that gas-tightness can be obtained for a compacted bentonite–sand mixture when the materials experience a series of changes (e.g., w, Sr, [Formula: see text], and ρd). In addition, larger irreversible deformation (or hysteresis) was observed during the loading–unloading cycle for the sample with higher water content. This phenomenon may be attributed to larger interactions between the macrostructural and microstructural deformations and the decrease of preconsolidation pressure during hydration.

Geofluids ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Zhi-jun Zhang ◽  
Yao-hui Guo ◽  
Ya-kun Tian ◽  
Lin Hu ◽  
Xi-xian Wang ◽  
...  

Particle flow numerical simulation software (PFC3D) was utilized to establish the consolidated-undrained triaxial compression test numerical models of mine tailings with different dry densities to deeply investigate the macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of mine tailings in a tailing pond in Hunan Province. Comparing the results of the simulation and the laboratory experiment, the mesoscopic parameters of the particle flow numerical simulation were obtained through continuously adjusting the mesoscopic parameter with the higher degree of agreement between the stress-strain curve, the peak strength, and the elastic modulus as the determining standard. The macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of mine tailings were studied from the perspectives of stress-strain, axial strain-volume strain, coordination number, particle velocity vector, and contact force between particles. After numerous numerical tests, it was found that the PFC3D simulation results are consistent with experiment results of the dry density tailing samples under different confining pressures; compared with the high confining pressure, the simulation test results at lower confining pressures were more with that of the laboratory tests; low density and high confining pressure both have inhibitory effect on the dilatancy characteristics of triaxial samples; with the same confining pressure, the dilatancy tendency of low dry density samples is suppressed comparing with the high dry density samples. The initial coordination number of the numerical model is large, which proves that the contact degree of the model is good to some extent.


2012 ◽  
Vol 446-449 ◽  
pp. 1454-1457
Author(s):  
Wen Jing Sun ◽  
De An Sun ◽  
Jin Yi Zhang

The strength, deformation and hydro-mechanical behaviours of a compacted unsaturated Gaomiaozi bentonite-sand mixture under undrained condition are studied by conducting a series of isotropic compression tests and triaxial shear tests under constant water content. During undrained isotropic compression testing, void ratio and suction decrease while degree of saturation increases. The stress-strain relations are obtained from undrained triaxial shear tests. The volume contraction and lateral expansion can be observed. The suction decreases with increasing shearing. The net confining pressure and initial dry density affect the initial rigidity, undrained shear strength, volumetric deformation and hydro-mechanical behaviour.


2020 ◽  
Vol 114 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-118
Author(s):  
Roman Schuster ◽  
Gerlinde Habler ◽  
Erhard Schafler ◽  
Rainer Abart

AbstractPolycrystalline calcite was deformed to high strain at room-temperature and confining pressures of 1–4 GPa using high-pressure torsion. The high confining pressure suppresses brittle failure and allows for shear strains >100. The post-deformation microstructures show inter- and intragranular cataclastic deformation and a high density of mechanical e$$ \left\{01\overline{1}8\right\} $$011¯8 twins and deformation lamellae in highly strained porphyroclasts. The morphologies of the twins resemble twin morphologies that are typically associated with substantially higher deformation temperatures. Porphyroclasts oriented unfavorably for twinning frequently exhibit two types of deformation lamellae with characteristic crystallographic orientation relationships associated with calcite twins. The misorientation of the first deformation lamella type with respect to the host corresponds to the combination of one r$$ \left\{10\overline{1}4\right\} $$101¯4 twin operation and one specific f$$ \left\{01\overline{1}2\right\} $$011¯2 or e$$ \left\{01\overline{1}8\right\} $$011¯8 twin operation. Boundary sections of this lamella type often split into two separated segments, where one segment corresponds to an incoherent r$$ \left\{10\overline{1}4\right\} $$101¯4 twin boundary and the other to an f$$ \left\{01\overline{1}2\right\} $$011¯2 or e$$ \left\{01\overline{1}8\right\} $$011¯8 twin boundary. The misorientation of the second type of deformation lamellae corresponds to the combination of specific r$$ \left\{10\overline{1}4\right\} $$101¯4 and f$$ \left\{01\overline{1}2\right\} $$011¯2 twin operations. The boundary segments of this lamella type may also split into the constituent twin boundaries. Our results show that brittle failure can effectively be suppressed during room-temperature deformation of calcite to high strains if confining pressures in the GPa range are applied. At these conditions, the combination of successive twin operations produces hitherto unknown deformation lamellae.


Geophysics ◽  
1936 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-379
Author(s):  
M. Mott‐Smith

This article describes experiments on the flow and rupture of rocks under compression, tension, and torsion, while at the same time subjected to a high confining pressure supplied through a liquid surrounding the specimen. The hydrostatic pressure of this liquid could be measured very accurately and could be maintained constant. In addition, a “differential” stress was applied to the specimen, and the deformation was measured directly. By using the high pressure technique of P. W. Bridgman the confining pressure was carried up to 13,000 atmospheres, equivalent to a depth in the earth’s crust of 28 miles, and four times that available to F. W. Adams in his pioneering experiments (1901–1917).


2021 ◽  
Vol 2076 (1) ◽  
pp. 012006
Author(s):  
Jianxiang Tong ◽  
Hengyang Wang ◽  
Yuyi Wang ◽  
Ya Zhang ◽  
Xiaohe Huang

Abstract Taking the tight sandstone core of Shengli Oilfield as the experimental sample, this paper studies the permeability variation of the tight sandstone under different confining pressures. The experimental results show that when the pore pressure is constant, the measured gas permeability of core decreases with the increase of confining pressure. Power function is more reasonable to describe the influence of confining pressure on permeability of tight sandstone between power function and exponential function. Analyze the impact of confining pressure on gas permeability of tight sandstone cores by using permeability change rate coefficient D and coefficient S.


2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 54-66
Author(s):  
Aysar Hassan Subair ◽  
Ala Nasir Aljorany

Soil-structure frictional resistance is an important parameter in the design of many foundation systems. The soil-structure interface area is responsible for load transferring from the structure to the surrounding soil. The mobilized shaft resistance of axially loaded, long slender pile embedded in dense, dry sand is experimentally and numerically analyzed when subjected to pullout force. Experimental setup including an instrumented model pile while the finite element method is used as a numerical analysis tool. The hypoplasticity model is used to model the soil adjacent to and surrounding the pile by using ABAQUS FEA (6.17.1). The soil-structure interface behavior depends on many factors, but mainly on the interface soil's tendency to contract or dilate under shearing conditions. To investigate this tendency, three piles with different surface roughness and under different confining pressures are used. A dilation behavior is observed in the relation of the average shaft resistance with the axial displacement for piles with rough and medium roughness surfaces, while contraction behavior is noticed when shearing piles with smooth surfaces. A large shear strength degradation of about (10%) reduction in the shaft resistance is observed under low confining pressure compared to a lesser reduction value of about (2%) under high confining pressure. Good agreement is obtained between the experimental and the numerical results.


Author(s):  
Shun Kimura ◽  
Hideharu Takahashi ◽  
Ari Hamdani ◽  
Masanori Aritomi ◽  
Susumu Ozaki ◽  
...  

Compacted bentonite materials are often considered as a buffer material in the geological radioactive waste disposal. This bentonite is expected to fill up the space between the waste and the surrounding ground by swelling. Therefore, understanding the surrounding ground, i.e., groundwater behavior in bentonite, as a buffer material, is essential in order to evaluate the bentonite buffer performance and guarantee long-term safety. The monitoring system of the water saturation level in compacted bentonite is required because water content in buffer material may influence its elastic properties. In this study, the correlation between water content and elasticity in unsaturated compressed bentonite was experimentally evaluated. The evaluation was done by measuring the sound velocity of both longitudinal wave and transverse wave. As a result, it can be confirmed that ultrasonic velocities could evaluate a degree of saturation and bulk modulus of compacted bentonite.


1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 478-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideo Komine ◽  
Nobuhide Ogata

Compacted bentonites are attracting greater attention as back-filling (buffer) materials for repositories of high-level nuclear waste. However, since there are few studies about the swelling characteristics of compacted bentonites, it is first necessary to clarify the fundamental swelling characteristics in detail. For this purpose, various laboratory tests on the swelling deformation and swelling pressure of compacted bentonites were performed and the results analyzed. The following conclusions were drawn from the study. (i) The curve of swelling deformation versus time is strongly dependent on the initial dry density, vertical pressure, and initial water content. The maximum swelling deformation, however, is almost independent of initial water content, and the maximum swelling deformation increases in proportion to the initial dry density, (ii) The maximum swelling pressure increases exponentially with increasing initial dry density, whereas the maximum swelling pressure is almost independent of initial water content. (iii) The swelling mechanism of compacted bentonite was considered on the basis of the swelling behavior of swelling clay particles such as montmorillonite. Furthermore, a model of the swelling characteristics and a new parameter (swelling volumetric strain of montmorillonite), which were able to evaluate the swelling characteristics of compacted bentonite, were proposed. Key words : bentonite, laboratory test, nuclear waste disposal, swelling deformation, swelling pressure.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 4859
Author(s):  
Xiao Xu ◽  
Guoqing Cai ◽  
Zhaoyang Song ◽  
Jian Li ◽  
Chongbang Xu ◽  
...  

Most soil mechanics theories are limited to strain hardening and shrinkage under high compressive stresses, and there are some shortcomings in the selection of suction or degree of saturation as the water content state varies in the constitutive models of unsaturated soil. Based on the triaxial shear tests of unsaturated compacted soil (a silt of high plasticity) with different water content and confining pressure (low-confining), a shear dilatancy model of unsaturated soil based on the mass water content is proposed in this paper. The influence of the water content on the shear deformation characteristics of the unsaturated soil is analysed. The stress–dilatancy relationship and the prediction equation of the minimum dilatancy rate of the unsaturated soil under different water content and different confining pressure are provided. Selecting the mass water content as the state variable, a constitutive model suitable for the dilatancy of unsaturated soil is established. The method of determining model parameters based on the mass water content is analysed. The applicability of the model is verified by comparisons between the predicted and experimental results.


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