Confining Pressures (confining + pressure)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Modelling strain localization in granular materials using micropolar theory: numerical implementation and verification

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 15 2006
Khalid A. Alshibli
Abstract Implementation and applications for a constitutive numerical model on F-75 silica sand, course silica sand and two sizes of glass beads compressed under plane strain conditions are presented in this work. The numerical model is used to predict the stress versus axial strain and volumetric strain versus axial strain relationships of those materials; moreover, comparisons between measured and predicted shear band thickness and inclination angles are discussed and the numerical results compare well with the experimental measurements. The numerical model is found to respond to the changes in confining pressure and the initial relative density of a given granular material. The mean particle size is used as an internal length scale. Increasing the confining pressure and the initial density is found to decrease the shear band thickness and increase the inclination angle. The micropolar or Cosserat theory is found to be effective in capturing strain localization in granular materials. The finite element formulations and the solution method for the boundary value problem in the updated Lagrangian frame (UP) are discussed in the companion paper. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Experimental investigation of slip-stick behaviour in granular materials

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 14 2006
Khalid A. Alshibli
Abstract This paper presents the results of an experimental programme to study load oscillation in granular materials. Spherical glass beads were used in the investigation. Cylindrical specimens were compressed under axisymmetric triaxial loading condition at 25,100,250 and 400 kPa confining pressures. The test parameters included: (i) particle size; (ii) gradation (uniform versus non-uniform specimens); (iii) confining pressure; (iv) loading rate; and (v) specimen density. In general, a slight post-peak principal stress softening was observed as well as a continuous volume increase (dilation) even at relatively high strains. This appears to be caused by the uniform shape and smooth surface of the spherical particles. Load oscillations were observed in the very small, small, and well-graded beads at each confining pressure. For the medium beads, the oscillations appeared at high confining pressure (250 and 400 kPa), and they did not appear in the large beads. The influences of the confining pressure, loading rate, particle size, gradation and specimen density on load oscillation are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Numerical simulation of the fracture process in cutting heterogeneous brittle material

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 13 2002
H. Y. Liu
Abstract The process of cutting homogeneous soft material has been investigated extensively. However, there are not so many studies on cutting heterogeneous brittle material. In this paper, R-T2D (Rock and Tool interaction), based on the rock failure process analysis model, is developed to simulate the fracture process in cutting heterogeneous brittle material. The simulated results reproduce the process involved in the fragmentation of rock or rock-like material under mechanical tools: the build-up of the stress field, the formation of the crushed zone, surface chipping, and the formation of the crater and subsurface cracks. Due to the inclusion of heterogeneity in the model, some new features in cutting brittle material are revealed. Firstly, macroscopic cracks sprout at the two edges of the cutter in a tensile mode. Then with the tensile cracks releasing the confining pressure, the rock in the initially high confining pressure zone is compressed into failure and the crushed zone gradually comes into being. The cracked zone near the crushed zone is always available, which makes the boundary of the crushed zone vague. Some cracks propagate to form chipping cracks and some dip into the rock to form subsurface cracks. The chipping cracks are mainly driven to propagate in a tensile mode or a mixed tensile and shear mode, following curvilinear paths, and finally intersect with the free surface to form chips. According to the simulated results, some qualitative and quantitative analyses are performed. It is found that the back rake angle of the cutter has an important effect on the cutting efficiency. Although the quantitative analysis needs more research work, it is not difficult to see the promise that the numerical method holds. It can be utilized to improve our understanding of tool,rock interaction and rock failure mechanisms under the action of mechanical tools, which, in turn, will be useful in assisting the design of fragmentation equipment and fragmentation operations. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


A constitutive model for the dynamic and high-pressure behaviour of a propellant-like material: Part I: Experimental background and general structure of the model

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 6 2001
Hervé Trumel
Abstract This paper is the first part of a work that aims at developing a mechanical model for the behaviour of propellant-like materials under high confining pressure and strain rate. The behaviour of a typical material is investigated experimentally. Several microstructural deformation processes are identified and correlated with loading conditions. The resulting behaviour is complex, non-linear, and characterized by multiple couplings. The general structure of a relevant model is sought using a thermodynamic framework. A viscoelastic-viscoplastic-compaction model structure is derived under suitable simplifying assumptions, in the framework of finite, though moderate, strains. Model development, identification and numerical applications are given in the companion paper. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


The Role of Dynamic Material Properties in the Performance of Ceramic Armor

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED CERAMIC TECHNOLOGY, Issue 3 2004
James Lankford Jr.
The penetration of ceramic armor by a kinetic energy penetrator is complex, involving a continual process of material damage, micro-crack nucleation, growth and coalescence, and multiaxial failure, all under conditions of high loading rate and inertial confinement. It will be shown that at sufficiently high stress, which usually requires either high loading rates or confinement (these conditions are known to prevail in the region just beneath a penetrator dwelling at the surface of an armor), plastic deformation occurs in ceramics. This deformation appears to limit the strength of most ceramics, since micro-cracks are subsequently nucleated at the sites of the deformation defects and these immediately begin to coalesce into fragments. The constraint/rate-limited flow of these fragments is the physical event that permits the penetration of ceramic armor. This paper considers the implications for modeling armor penetration of laboratory experiments involving both intact and fragmented ceramics tested under compressive loading at high strain rates and under confining pressure. [source]


High-Temperature Rheology of Calcium Aluminosilicate (Anorthite) Glass-Ceramics under Uniaxial and Triaxial Loading

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 11 2001
Balakrishnan G. Nair
The high-temperature creep behavior of two fine-grained (,3 ,m) anorthite-rich glass-ceramics was characterized at ambient pressure and under a confining pressure of ,300 MPa. Experiments were done at differential stresses of 15,200 MPa and temperatures of 1200°,1320°C. Of the two materials, one had a tabular (lathlike) grain structure with finely dispersed second phase of mullite, mostly in the form of ,3,5 ,m grains comparable to that of the primary anorthite phase, whereas the other had an equiaxed grain morphology with fine (,400 nm) mullite precipitates concentrated at the anorthite grain boundaries. The results of creep experiments at ambient pressure showed that the material with the tabular grain structure had strain rates at least an order of magnitude faster than the equiaxed material. Creep in the tabular-grained material at ambient pressure was accompanied by a significant extent of intergranular cavitation: pore-volume analysis before and after creep in this material suggested that >75% of the bulk strain was due to growth of these voids. The equiaxed material, in contrast, showed a smooth transition from Newtonian (n= 1) creep at low stresses to non-Newtonian behavior at high stresses (n > 2). Under the high confining pressure, the microstructures of both materials underwent significant changes. Grain-boundary mullite precipitates in the undeformed, equiaxed-grain material were replaced by fine (,100 nm), intragranular precipitates of silliminate and corundum because of a pressure-induced chemical reaction. This was accompanied by a significant reduction in grain size in both materials. The substantial microstructural changes at high confining pressure resulted in substantially lower viscosities for both materials. The absence of mullite precipitates at the grain boundaries changed the behavior of the equiaxed material to non-Newtonian (n= 2) at a pressure of ,300 MPa, possibly because of a grain-boundary sliding mechanism; the tabular-grained material showed Newtonian diffusional creep under similar conditions. [source]


Processes and forms of an unstable alluvial system with resistant, cohesive streambeds ,

EARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 7 2002
Andrew Simon
Abstract As a response to channelization projects undertaken near the turn of the 20th century and in the late 1960s, upstream reaches and tributaries of the Yalobusha River, Mississippi, USA, have been rejuvenated by upstream-migrating knickpoints. Sediment and woody vegetation delivered to the channels by mass failure of streambanks has been transported downstream to form a large sediment/debris plug where the downstream end of the channelized reach joins an unmodified sinuous reach. Classification within a model of channel evolution and analysis of thalweg elevations and channel slopes indicates that downstream reaches have equilibrated but that upstream reaches are actively degrading. The beds of degrading reaches are characterized by firm, cohesive clays of two formations of Palaeocene age. The erodibility of these clay beds was determined with a jet-test device and related to critical shear stresses and erosion rates. Repeated surveys indicated that knickpoint migration rates in these clays varied from 0·7 to 12 m a,1, and that these rates and migration processes are highly dependent upon the bed substrate. Resistant clay beds of the Porters Creek Clay formation have restricted advancement of knickpoints in certain reaches and have caused a shift in channel adjustment processes towards bank failures and channel widening. Channel bank material accounts for at least 85 per cent of the material derived from the channel boundaries of the Yalobusha River system. Strategies to reduce downstream flooding problems while preventing upstream erosion and land loss are being contemplated by action agencies. One such proposal involves removal of the sediment/debris plug. Bank stability analyses that account for pore-water and confining pressures have been conducted for a range of hydrologic conditions to aid in predicting future channel response. If the sediment/debris plug is removed to improve downstream drainage, care should be taken to provide sufficient time for drainage of groundwater from the channel banks so as not to induce accelerated bank failures. Published in 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Experimental and theoretical investigation of the high-pressure behavior of concrete

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 1 2009
Martin J. Schmidt
Abstract The results of an experimental study aimed at characterizing the behavior of concrete for high confining pressures (up to 500,MPa) are reported. The main characteristics of the response under deviatoric conditions are quasi-linearity in the elastic regime, stress-path dependency, and gradual change from compressibility to dilatancy under increasing deviatoric stress. By performing the cyclic triaxial compression tests with several load,creep,unload and reload cycles, the time influence on the overall behavior was detected. Further, whether the main features of the observed behavior can be described within the framework of elastic/viscoplasticity theory was investigated. For this purpose, Cristescu's (Rock Rheology. Kluwer Academic Publishers: The Netherlands, 1989) approach was used. It was shown that the proposed elastic/viscoplastic model captures the main features of concrete behavior at high pressures. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


SANISAND: Simple anisotropic sand plasticity model

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 8 2008
Mahdi Taiebat
Abstract SANISAND is the name used for a family of simple anisotropic sand constitutive models developed over the past few years within the framework of critical state soil mechanics and bounding surface plasticity. The existing SANISAND models use a narrow open cone-type yield surface with apex at the origin obeying rotational hardening, which implies that only changes of the stress ratio can cause plastic deformations, while constant stress-ratio loading induces only elastic response. In order to circumvent this limitation, the present member of the SANISAND family introduces a modified eight-curve equation as the analytical description of a narrow but closed cone-type yield surface that obeys rotational and isotropic hardening. This modification enables the prediction of plastic strains during any type of constant stress-ratio loading, a feature lacking from the previous SANISAND models, without losing their well-established predictive capability for all other loading conditions including the cyclic. In the process the plausible assumption is made that the plastic strain rate decomposes in two parts, one due to the change of stress ratio and a second due to loading under constant stress ratio, with isotropic hardening depending on the volumetric component of the latter part only. The model formulation is presented firstly in the triaxial stress space and subsequently its multiaxial generalization is developed following systematically the steps of the triaxial one. A detailed calibration procedure for the model constants is presented, while successful simulation of both drained and undrained behavior of sands under constant and variable stress-ratio loadings at various densities and confining pressures is obtained by the model. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Propagation of a shear band in sandstone

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 11 2007
J. J. Riedel
Abstract Closed-loop, servo-controlled experiments were conducted to investigate the development of a shear band in Berea sandstone at various confining pressures. The tests were performed with the University of Minnesota Plane-Strain Apparatus, which was designed to allow the shear band to develop in an unrestricted manner. Measured load and displacements provided estimates of the stress and deformation states whereby dilatancy and friction were evaluated prior to localization. Experiments were stopped at various stages of shear-band development within the strain-softening regime. The specimens displayed a progression of deformation from inception, where the shear band was characterized by a high density of intragranular microcracks and crushed grains, to the tip where the intragranular microcracks were significantly less dense and separated by intact grains. Decreased slip deformation towards the tip of the shear band indicated that localization developed and propagated in plane. Thin-section microscopy showed porosity increase within the shear band was 3,4 grain diameters wide. Increased porosity did not extend beyond the tip of the shear band. A cohesive zone model of shear fracture, used to examine the stress field near the tip, showed similarities to principal compressive stress orientations interpreted from intragranular microcracks. Thus, propagation of the shear band could be associated with in-plane mode II fracture. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Experimental investigation of slip-stick behaviour in granular materials

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 14 2006
Khalid A. Alshibli
Abstract This paper presents the results of an experimental programme to study load oscillation in granular materials. Spherical glass beads were used in the investigation. Cylindrical specimens were compressed under axisymmetric triaxial loading condition at 25,100,250 and 400 kPa confining pressures. The test parameters included: (i) particle size; (ii) gradation (uniform versus non-uniform specimens); (iii) confining pressure; (iv) loading rate; and (v) specimen density. In general, a slight post-peak principal stress softening was observed as well as a continuous volume increase (dilation) even at relatively high strains. This appears to be caused by the uniform shape and smooth surface of the spherical particles. Load oscillations were observed in the very small, small, and well-graded beads at each confining pressure. For the medium beads, the oscillations appeared at high confining pressure (250 and 400 kPa), and they did not appear in the large beads. The influences of the confining pressure, loading rate, particle size, gradation and specimen density on load oscillation are presented and discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Compaction process in sedimentary basins: the role of stiffness increase and hardening induced by large plastic strains

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 13 2004
V. Deudé
Abstract This paper is devoted to the simulation of large strain compaction process in sedimentary basins. Special attention is paid to the effects of large porosity changes on the elastic and plastic mechanical properties of the sediment material. The latter are introduced in the constitutive behaviour in the framework of a micromechanical reasoning. In particular, the proposed approach avoids the problem of negative porosities that are predicted by classical models under high confining pressures. Some closed-form solutions are presented in the simplified case of one-dimensional compaction. While the influence of stiffness increase is shown to be negligible as regards the compaction law, it proves to affect significantly the stress and porosity profiles. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Analytical simulation of the dynamic compressive strength of a granite using the sliding crack model

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 9 2001
H. B. Li
Abstract A sliding crack model is employed to simulate rock strength under dynamic compression. It is assumed that the growth and nucleation of a sliding crack array presented results in the shear fault failure and dominate the mechanical properties of rock material. The pseudo-tractions method is used to calculate the stress intensity factor of the sliding crack array under compression. With the utilization of a dynamic crack growth criterion, the growth of the sliding crack array is studied and the simulated strengths of a granite under dynamic compression are correspondingly obtained. It is concluded that the simulated rock strengths increase with increasing strain rates at different confining pressures, and the rising rates have a trend to decrease with increasing confining pressures. It is also indicated that the simulated rock strengths increase with increment of confining pressure at different strain rates, and the rising rates are almost identical at different strain rates. The simulation results are validated by the experimental data for the granite. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Inelastic constitutive properties and shear localization in Tennessee marble

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 2 2001
D. J. Holcomb
Abstract The inelastic response of Tennessee marble is modelled by an elastic plastic constitutive relation that includes pressure dependence of yield, strain-softening and inelastic volume strain (dilatancy). Data from 12 axisymmetric compression tests at confining pressures from 0 to 100 MPa are used to determine the dependence of the yield function and plastic potential, which are different, on the first and second stress invariants and the accumulated inelastic shear strain. Because the data requires that the strain at peak stress depends on the mean stress, the locus of peak stresses is neither a yield surface nor a failure envelope, as is often assumed. Based on the constitutive model and Rudnicki and Rice criterion, localization is not predicted to occur in axisymmetric compression although faulting is observed in the tests. The discrepancy is likely due to the overly stiff response of a smooth yield surface model to abrupt changes in the pattern of straining. The constitutive model determined from the axisymmetric compression data describes well the variation of the in-plane stress observed in a plane strain experiment. The out-of-plane stress is not modelled well, apparently because the inelastic normal strain in this direction is overpredicted. In plane strain, localization is predicted to occur close to peak stress, in good agreement with the experiment. Observation of localization on the rising portion of the stress,strain curve in plane strain does not, however, indicate prepeak localization. Because of the rapid increase of mean stress in plane strain, the stress,strain curve can be rising while the shear stress versus shear strain curve at constant mean stress is falling (negative hardening modulus). Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Experimental dehydration kinetics of serpentinite using pore volumometry

JOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 4 2007
S. LLANA-FÚNEZ
Abstract A series of dehydration experiments was carried out on both intact rock and cold-pressed powdered samples of serpentinite at temperatures in the range 535,610 °C, 100,170 °C above the onset of the breakdown temperature of 435 °C. Pore water pressures near 120 MPa were servo-controlled using a pore volumometer that also allowed dehydration reaction progress to be monitored through measurement of the amount of evolved water. Effective hydrostatic confining pressures were varied between 0 and 113 MPa. The reaction rate of intact specimens of initially near-zero porosity was constant up to 50,80% reaction progress at any given temperature, but decreased progressively as transformation approached completion. Water expulsion rates were not substantially affected by elevation of effective pressures that remained insufficient to cause major pore collapse. An Arrhenius relation links reaction rate to temperature with an activation enthalpy of 429 ± 201 and 521 ± 52 kJ mol,1 for powdered and intact specimens, respectively. Microstructural study of intact specimens showed extensive nucleation beginning at pre-existing cracks, veins and grain boundaries, and progressing into the interior of the lizardite grains. Extrapolation of these data towards equilibrium temperature provides an upper bound on the kinetics of this reaction in nature. [source]


A REVIEW OF GEOLOGICAL DATA THAT CONFLICT WITH THE PARADIGM OF CATAGENIC GENERATION AND MIGRATION OF OIL

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM GEOLOGY, Issue 3 2005
H. Hugh Wilson
The majority of petroleum geologists today agree that the complex problems that surround the origin, generation, migration and accumulation of hydrocarbons can be resolved by accepting the geochemical conclusion that the process originates by catagenic generation in deeply-buried organically-rich source rocks. These limited source rock intervals are believed to expel hydrocarbons when they reach organic maturity in oil kitchens. The expelled oil and gas then follow migration pathways to traps at shallower levels. However, there are major geological obstacles that cast doubt upon this interpretation. The restriction of the source rock to a few organically rich levels in a basin forces the conclusion that the basin plumbing system is leaky and allows secondary horizontal and vertical migration through great thicknesses of consolidated sedimentary rocks in which there are numerous permeability barriers that are known to effectively prevent hydrocarbon escape from traps. The sourcing of lenticular traps points to the enclosing impermeable envelope as the logical origin of the trapped hydrocarbons. The lynch-pin of the catagenic theory of hydrocarbon origin is the expulsion mechanism from deeply-buried consolidated source rock under high confining pressures. This mechanism is not understood and is termed an "enigma". Assuming that expulsion does occur, the pathways taken by the hydrocarbons to waiting traps can be ascertained by computer modelling of the basin. However, subsurface and field geological support for purported migration pathways has yet to be provided. Many oilfield studies have shown that oil and gas are preferentially trapped in synchronous highs that were formed during, or very shortly after, the deposition of the charged reservoir. An unresolved problem is how catagenically generated hydrocarbons, expelled during a long-drawn-out maturation period, can have filled synchronous highs but have avoided later traps along the assumed migration pathways. From many oilfield studies, it has also been shown that the presence of hydrocarbons inhibits diagenesis and compaction of the reservoir rock. This "Füchtbauer effect" points to not only the early charging of clastic and carbonate reservoirs, but also to the development of permeability barriers below the early-formed accumulations. These barriers would prevent later hydrocarbon additions during the supposed extended period of expulsion from an oil kitchen. Early-formed traps that have been sealed diagenetically will retain their charge even if the trap is opened by later structural tilting. Diagenetic traps have been discovered in clastic and carbonate provinces but their recognition as viable exploration targets is discouraged by present-day assumptions of late hydrocarbon generation and a leaky basin plumbing system. Because there are so many geological realities that cast doubt upon the assumptions that devolve from the paradigm of catagenic generation, the alternative concept of early biogenic generation and accumulation of immature oil, with in-reservoir cracking during burial, is again worthy of serious consideration. This concept envisages hydrocarbon generation by bacterial activity in many anoxic environments and the charging of synchronous highs from adjacent sources. The resolution of the fundamental problem of hydrocarbon generation and accumulation, which is critical to exploration strategies, should be sought in the light of a thorough knowledge of the geologic factors involved, rather than by computer modelling which may be guided by questionable geochemical assumptions. [source]