Sand Mass Production in Anisotropic Stresses from Lab to Field Predictions

Sand onset and sand rate predictions are important in hydrocarbon production to optimize production, increase recovery, and reduce costs and the environmental footprint. Recent laboratory results on Castlegate sandstone from sand production tests in a True Triaxial test system have revealed that stress anisotropy plays an important role not only on sand onset but also in sand rate. The results confirmed our hypothesis that stress anisotropy means earlier sand produced but less sand. The laboratory results also revealed the effect of fluid saturation, i.e., oil, brine or irreducible water saturation on sand onset and sand rate. They allow the calibration of SandPredictor, a field sand prediction model, for stress anisotropy and production before and after water breakthrough. A field case analysis demonstrated the effects and showed the importance of in situ stress anisotropy and watercut on sand mass and rate.

Comparative Analysis of Common Strength Criteria of Soil Materials

In this paper, the common failure criteria of existing soil materials, such as the Mohr–Coulomb criterion, Drucker–Prager criterion, Lade–Duncan criterion, Matsuoka–Nakai criterion andAC-SMP criterion are systematically discussed, and the applicability of these criteria is quantitatively analyzed through the true triaxial test results of loess, so as to provide reference for the accurate selection of specific criteria in engineering practice. The failure criteria are classified from several aspects, such as whether the influence of the intermediate principal stress and the change of spatial moving plane are considered, analyzed and discussed, respectively. According to the true triaxial test results of undisturbed loess, the difference of strength criterion between the three-dimensional failure plane and p-q plane is analyzed, and based on the true triaxial test data of undisturbed loess, the error analysis of each failure criterion is carried out. The results show that the AC-SMP criterion is in good agreement with the test results, and can accurately evaluate the true triaxial test of loess. For different soil materials or different stress states, it is necessary to select appropriate failure criteria. This study shows how to choose the corresponding failure criterion under specific circumstances, so as to better satisfy the theory and practice and provide reference for engineering.

Experimental Study on Thermal Expansion Behavior of Concrete under Three-Dimensional Stress

Concrete is widely used in underground engineering and bears three-dimensional stress transmitted by overlying load. When a fire occurs, the thermal expansion of concrete structure under such stress state is different from that under stress-free state. For this purpose, a self-developed real-time high-temperature true triaxial test system was applied to investigate the thermal expansion behavior of concrete under three-dimensional stress state. The thermal expansion strain of concrete under the three-dimensional stress undergoes strain increasing and strain stabilizing stages. At 600°C, the maximum thermal expansion strain of concrete under the three-dimensional stress is 0.75%. The average coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete under three-dimensional stress condition was then calculated, and its value reaches the minimum of 8.68 × 10−6/°C at 200°C and the maximum of 13.41 × 10−6/°C at 500°C. Comparing the coefficient of thermal expansion of concrete under stress-free condition given by Eurocode, it is found that the three-dimensional stress has an obvious restraint on the thermal expansion of concrete. The research results can provide theoretical basis for the stability analysis of underground engineering concrete structures under high-temperature environment.

Assessment of the Mechanical Behaviour of Granular Media by DEM-Based True Triaxial Tests

This study presents the numerical simulation of a true triaxial test by means of the discrete element method (DEM). Experimental results performed on Toyoura sand are employed as reference and the calibration methodology is explained. Physical aspects of the real soil, such as the grain size distribution and the relative density, are considered during the generation of the virtual sample. It is shown that the main aspects of the macro-mechanical behaviour of granular soils during compression loading can be fairly represented by the idealised simulations with particles.

The Application of Improved Duncan-Chang Model in Unloading Soil

On the basis of the representative samples of silty clay found in Wuhan, China, the lateral unloading of soil’s stress path produced by excavating foundation pit engineering, was simulated by triaxial experiment. A series of consolidated- drained true triaxial test and normal triaxial test were conducted. According to the results of tests, the parameter of the Duncan-Chang Model was determined. A modulus formula was used for the foundation soil in the lateral unloading stress path tests to replace the modulus formula of Duncan-Chang Model based on the σ3 =const . Moreover, the Duncan- Chang hyperbola nonlinear elastic constitutive model was used to simulate the plane strain test. A method to improve the ability of Duncan-Chang model in order to take into account the effects of the intermediate principal stress on the strength and deformation was presented as well as all the model parameters were also determined. The adaptability of the model for unloading the stress path was verified by comparing the theoretical stress-strain relationship and empirical stress-strain relationship.