Empirical Exploration of Deformation Mechanisms in Deep Rock Exposed to Multiple Stresses

TL;DR

This study uses a novel triaxial apparatus to empirically investigate how different principal stresses influence deformation and failure mechanisms in deep rock, revealing key stress-dependent behaviors and limitations in existing models.

Contribution

It provides new experimental insights into deformation mechanisms of deep rock under genuine triaxial stress states, highlighting the effects of principal stresses on strength, strain, and failure modes.

Findings

Maximum strength is significantly affected by minimum and intermediate principal stresses.

Peak strain decreases with increasing intermediate and minimum principal stresses.

Young's modulus increases exponentially with confining pressure and linearly with intermediate stress.

Abstract

To avoid the impact of inherent natural imperfections on experimental outcomes during testing, a recently designed genuine triaxial apparatus has enabled the replication of conditions where the three principal stresses exhibit varying magnitudes. This setup facilitates the examination of fracture behaviors in materials similar to the 4-series under genuine triaxial stress states. The experimental findings revealed that the maximum strength experiences significant influence from the minimum principal stress and the intermediate principal stress in genuine triaxial stress conditions. Specifically, for a fixed minimum principal stress ({\sigma}3), there is a progressive reduction in peak strain as the intermediate principal stress ({\sigma}2) increases. Moreover, as the minimum principal stress ({\sigma}3) rises, the magnitude of peak strain diminishes. The Young's modulus of the specimens exhibits an exponential increase with the augmentation of confining pressure, and it demonstrates a linear growth pattern as the intermediate principal stress increases. Additionally, the cohesion force is observed to rise while the internal friction angle decreases with the elevation of the intermediate principal stress. The failure modes of the specimens in genuine triaxial stress conditions can be categorized into three types, all of which exhibit a specific angle between the fracture surface and {\sigma}3, ranging from 50 to 62 degrees. Furthermore, a comparison between the computed range and the actual measurement range of the fracture angle highlights several limitations in the relationship between the fracture angle ({\theta}) and the internal friction angle ({\phi}) within the Coulomb criterion, particularly in rocks containing complex fracture systems.