Stress and Strain Heterogeneity and Persistence in Uniaxially‐ and Triaxially‐Loaded Sandstone

Bose, Subham; Thakur, Mohmad M.; Shahin, Ghassan; Shanks, Katherine; Das, Amlan; Park, Jun‐Sang; Kenesei, Peter; Sharma, Hemant; Hurley, Ryan C.

doi:10.1029/2025JB033263

Stress and Strain Heterogeneity and Persistence in Uniaxially‐ and Triaxially‐Loaded Sandstone

Journal Article · Tue Mar 31 00:00:00 EDT 2026 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2025JB033263· OSTI ID:3028467

Bose, Subham ^[1]; Thakur, Mohmad M. ^[1]; ^[1]; Shanks, Katherine ^[2]; Das, Amlan ^[2]; Park, Jun‐Sang ^[3]; ^[3]; Sharma, Hemant ^[3]; ^[1]

Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)
Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS)
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)

Two critical questions in brittle rock mechanics are how rocks developed localized strains and to what extent internal stress heterogeneity controls this localization and subsequent macroscopic failure. Definitive answers have not yet been found, but would provide insight into rock fracture mechanics as relevant to hydrocarbon extraction and sequestration. Here, we use synchrotron X‐ray tomography (XRT) and 3D X‐ray diffraction (3DXRD) during uniaxial and triaxial tests on Nugget and Bentheimer sandstones to examine strain and stress localization prior to mechanical failure. 3DXRD was used to measure intra‐granular lattice strains which were used to compute elastic stress tensors of each grain. Digital volume correlation (DVC) was applied to XRT images to determine the strain field in the sample. Both samples featured marked spatial heterogeneity, localization, and temporal persistence of elevated stresses and strains during their mechanical deformation toward failure. Both samples featured a majority of grains with at least one principal stress component that was tensile, a signature of the influence of heterogeneity on stress transmission. Measurements further revealed that compressive stress orientations and statistics evolved in a similar manner to those of inter‐particle forces in loose granular materials, with triaxially‐compressed rock exhibiting enhanced grain stress heterogeneity compared to uniaxially‐compressed rock. Our results complement recent work by others who employed XRT and scanning 3DXRD to study triaxially‐compressed sandstone, but extend those results to uniaxial compression, sandstones of varied porosity, and grain stress measurements throughout the 3D full extent of the samples rather than in a single layer examined with scanning 3DXRD.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; SC0023024

Other Award/Contract Number:: DMR‐1829070

OSTI ID:: 3028467

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 131; ISSN 2169-9356; ISSN 2169-9313

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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