skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Mapping the mechanical properties of rocks using automated microindentation tests

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JB012248· OSTI ID:1501368
 [1];  [2]
  1. Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, Paris (France)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

A microindentation scanner is constructed that measures the spatial fluctuation in the elastic properties of natural rocks. This novel instrument performs automated indentation tests on the surface of a rock slab and outputs 2-D maps of the indentation modulus at submillimeter resolution. Maps obtained for clean, well-consolidated, sandstone are presented and demonstrate the capabilities of the instrument. We postulate that the elastic structure of sandstones correlates well with their visual appearance. Moreover, we observe that the probability distribution of the indentation modulus fluctuations across the slab surfaces can be modeled using a lognormal probability density function. To illustrate possible use of the data obtained with the microindentation scanner, we use roughly 10 cm × 10 cm scans with millimeter resolution over four sandstone planar slabs to numerically compute the overall drained elastic moduli for each sandstone sample. We demonstrate that such numerically computed moduli are well modeled using the multicomponent form of the Hashin-Shtrikman lower bound that employs the observed lognormal probability distribution for the mesoscopic-scale moduli (the geometric mean works almost the same). We also compute the seismic attenuation versus frequency associated with wave-induced fluid flow between the heterogeneities in the scanned sandstones and report relatively small values for the inverse quality factor (Q-1<10-2) in the seismic frequency band 102 Hz < 104 Hz. The numerically computed frequency dependence in the attenuation varies from one type of sandstone to another, and we determine vital anisotropy in the attenuation associated with waves propagating in different directions.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); European Union Seventh Framework Program
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1501368
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth, Vol. 120, Issue 10; ISSN 2169-9313
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 8 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (30)

Finite difference modeling of Biot's poroelastic equations at seismic frequencies journal January 2006
The relation between load and penetration in the axisymmetric boussinesq problem for a punch of arbitrary profile journal May 1965
ASTM Standard D7012-14: Standard Test Methods for Compressive Strength and Elastic Moduli of Intact Rock Core Specimens under Varying States of Stress and Temperatures standard August 2017
Effects of partial water saturation on attenuation in Massilon sandstone and Vycor porous glass journal June 1982
Inverse Problem Theory and Methods for Model Parameter Estimation book January 2005
Sonic properties of rocks under confining pressure using the resonant bar technique
  • Lucet, Nathalie; Rasolofosaon, Patrick N. J.; Zinszner, Bernard
  • The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, Vol. 89, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1121/1.400643
journal March 1991
Seismic attenuation due to wave-induced flow: WAVE-INDUCED FLOW LOSSES journal January 2004
Computed Seismic Speeds and Attenuation in Rocks with Partial gas Saturation journal April 1975
Relationships between compressional‐wave and shear‐wave velocities in clastic silicate rocks journal April 1985
Upscaling: a review journal January 2002
Determination of unconfined compressive strength and Young's modulus of porous materials by indentation tests journal April 2001
An improved technique for determining hardness and elastic modulus using load and displacement sensing indentation experiments journal June 1992
Measurement of hardness and elastic modulus by instrumented indentation: Advances in understanding and refinements to methodology journal January 2004
On the generality of the relationship among contact stiffness, contact area, and elastic modulus during indentation journal March 1992
Boussinesq's problem for a rigid cone journal October 1948
Ultrasonic borehole velocity imaging journal May 2006
Stress relaxations at low frequencies in fluid-saturated rocks: Attenuation and modulus dispersion journal January 1981
Quasi-static finite element modeling of seismic attenuation and dispersion due to wave-induced fluid flow in poroelastic media journal January 2011
A method for interpreting the data from depth-sensing indentation instruments journal August 1986
Centimeter scale heterogeneities and microstratifaction in sedimentary rocks journal August 1984
Poroelastic finite difference modeling of seismic attenuation and dispersion due to mesoscopic-scale heterogeneity journal January 2007
Nanoindentation mapping of mechanical properties of cement paste and natural rocks journal November 2007
The Effect of Pressure on the Rigidity of Rocks. II journal February 1938
Velocity and attenuation of elastic waves in finely layered porous rocks journal June 1995
Low‐frequency dispersion and attenuation in partially saturated rocks journal July 1993
Probabilistic approach to inverse problems book January 2002
Seismic attenuation: Effects of pore fluids and frictional‐sliding journal January 1982
On the correlation between material structure and seismic attenuation anisotropy in porous media journal April 2014
Fluid mobility and frequency-dependent seismic velocity — Direct measurements journal January 2006
Caractérisation mécanique de géomatériaux par micropénétration: Calibration et applications journal March 2009

Cited By (2)

Seismic attenuation and dispersion in poroelastic media with fractures of variable aperture distributions journal January 2019
Seismic attenuation and dispersion in poroelastic media with fractures of variable aperture distributions posted_content March 2019

Similar Records

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
mechanical properties of rocks
indentation
poroelasticity
attenuation