ACOUSTICAL IMAGING AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOFT ROCK AND MARINE SEDIMENTS
Three major goals were accomplished during this phase. First, a study was completed of the effects of stress-induced changes in anisotropic elastic moduli in sandstone. Second, a new method for measuring the anisotropic poroelastic moduli from acoustic data was developed. Third, a series of triaxial experiments were conducted on unconsolidated sands to identify pressure/stress conditions where liquefaction occurs under high confining pressures. Stress-induced changes in anisotropic Young's moduli and shear moduli were observed during deformational pathway experiments. A new method was made for the acquisition of compressional and shear wave velocities along a series of 3-dimensional raypaths through a core sample as it is subjected to deformation. Three different deformational pathway experiments were conducted. During the hydrostatic deformation experiment, little or no anisotropy was observed in either the Young's moduli or shear moduli. Significant deformational anisotropies were observed in both moduli during the uniaxial strain test and the triaxial compression experiment but each had a different nature. During the triaxial experiment the axial and lateral Young's moduli and shear moduli continued to diverge as load was applied. During the uniaxial strain experiment the anisotropy was ''locked in'' early in the loading phase but then remained steady as both the confining pressure and axial stress were applied. A new method for measuring anisotropic Biot's effective stress parameters has also been developed. The method involves measuring the compressional and shear wave velocities in the aforementioned acoustic velocity experiments while varying stress paths. For a stress-induced transversely isotropic medium the acoustic velocity data are utilized to calculate the five independent elastic stiffness components. Once the elastic stiffness components are determined these can be used to calculate the anisotropic Biot's effective stress parameters, {alpha}{sub v} and {alpha}{sub h}, using the equations of Abousleiman et al. (1996). A series of experiments have been conducted, on an initially inherently isotropic Berea sandstone rock sample, to dynamically determine these anisotropic Biot's parameters during deformational pathway experiments. Data acquired during hydrostatic, triaxial, and uniaxial strain pathway experiments indicates that Biot's effective stress parameter changes significantly if the applied stresses are not hydrostatic. Variations, as large as 20% between the axial (vertical) and lateral (horizontal) Biot's effective stress parameters, were observed in some experiments. A series of triaxial compression experiments have been conducted on unconsolidated sand (Oil Creek sand) to determine the pressure/stress conditions which would be favorable for liquefaction. Liquefaction of geopressured sands is thought to be one of the major causative mechanisms of damaging shallow water flows. The experiments were developed to determine if: (1) liquefaction could be made to occur in this particular sand at high confining pressures, and (2) the state of liquefication had the same nature at high pressure conditions typical of shallow water flows as it does in low confining pressure soil mechanics tests. A series of undrained triaxial experiments were successfully used to document that the Oil Creek sand could undergo liquefaction. The nature (i.e., the shape of the deformational pathway in mean pressure/shear stress space) was very similar to those observed in soil mechanics experiments. The undrained triaxial experiments also indicated that this sand would strain soften at relatively high confining pressures--a necessary precursor to liquefaction. These experiments serve as a starting point for a series of acoustic experiments to determine the signature of compressional and shear wave properties as the sand packs approach the state of liquefaction (and shallow water flows).
- Research Organization:
- The University of Oklahoma (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-01BC15302
- OSTI ID:
- 813450
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 30 Apr 2002
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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ACOUSTICAL IMAGING AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF SOFT ROCK AND MARINE SEDIMENTS