P.L.P. Wasantha

Energy monitoring and analysis during deformation of bedded-sandstone: use of acoustic emission.

This paper investigates the mechanical behaviour and energy releasing characteristics of bedded-sandstone with bedding layers in different orientations, under uniaxial compression. Cylindrical sandstone specimens (54 mm diameter and 108 mm height) with bedding layers inclined at angles of 10°, 20°, 35°, 55°, and 83° to the minor principal stress direction, were produced to perform a series of Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) tests. One of the two identical sample sets was fully-saturated with water before testing and the other set was tested under dry conditions. An acoustic emission system was employed in all the testing to monitor the acoustic energy release during the whole deformation process of specimens. From the test results, the critical joint orientation was observed as 55° for both dry and saturated samples and the peak-strength losses due to water were 15.56%, 20.06%, 13.5%, 13.2%, and 13.52% for the bedding orientations 10°, 20°, 35°, 55°, and 83°, respectively. The failure mechanisms for the specimens with bedding layers in 10°, 20° orientations showed splitting type failure, while the specimens with bedding layers in 55°, 83° orientations were failed by sliding along a weaker bedding layer. The failure mechanism for the specimens with bedding layers in 35° orientation showed a mixed failure mode of both splitting and sliding types. Analysis of the acoustic energy, captured from the acoustic emission detection system, revealed that the acoustic energy release is considerably higher in dry specimens than that of the saturated specimens at any bedding orientation. In addition, higher energy release was observed for specimens with bedding layers oriented in shallow angles (which were undergoing splitting type failures), whereas specimens with steeply oriented bedding layers (which were undergoing sliding type failures) showed a comparatively less energy release under both dry and saturated conditions. Moreover, a considerable amount of energy dissipation before the ultimate failure was observed for specimens with bedding layers oriented in shallow angles under both dry and saturated conditions. These results confirm that when rock having bedding layers inclined in shallow angles the failures could be more violent and devastative than the failures of rock with steeply oriented bedding layers.

Effect of joint orientation on the hydromechanical behavior of singly jointed sandstone experiencing undrained loading

The hydromechanical behavior of singly jointed sandstone under undrained triaxial conditions was studied. Maximum induced pore water pressure was observed to increase with increasing joint orientation from 0° to 45°, for all confining pressures considered. For a 60° joint orientation, a considerable drop in maximum induced pore water pressure was observed (relative to the neighboring 45° and 75° joint orientations), under 4 and 10 MPa of confinement. At 25 MPa of confinement, the drop in maximum induced pore water pressure for the 60° joint orientation was not so pronounced. These observations were explained in terms of failure mechanism (sliding versus shearing) for the different joint orientations. For sliding failure, pore water pressure at failure did not decrease significantly from the maximum value, whereas a marked pore water pressure decrease (after maximum) was observed in the process of sample loading when failure involved intact material rupture. Peak differential stress values at different joint orientations showed that the critical joint orientation was 60° and increasing confining pressure can reduce the influence of joints on the compressive strength of rock. Volumetric strain data showed that dilation-related volume increase at or close to failure is significant for joint orientations of 0°, 30°, 45°, and 90°, but not for orientations of 60° and 75° at confining pressures of 4 and 10 MPa. At 25 MPa of confinement, none of the samples showed a considerable dilation-related volume increase. The results illustrate the major influence of failure mechanisms (as governed by joint orientation, confining pressure, etc.) on the hydromechanical response of jointed rock.

The Taguchi approach to the evaluation of the influence of different testing conditions on the mechanical properties of rock

Laboratory testing is often used to derive the mechanical properties of rock. Testing conditions heavily influence the results of such laboratory experiments in which factors, including the water content, diameter of samples, slenderness of sample and strain (or loading) rates are of great importance. This paper evaluates the influences of four major test conditions: water content, strain rate, sample diameter and sample slenderness, on the peak uniaxial compressive strength (UCS) and modulus of elasticity (MoE) of sandstone. Following the Taguchi approach, an experimental study was conducted on cylindrical sandstone specimens, and the results were interpreted using signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results reveal that water content is the most influential test condition for peak UCS and the influence of sample diameter, slenderness and strain rate decreases in the cited order. MoE is greatly affected by sample slenderness, whereas the other three test conditions show an approximately similar and smaller influence. These characteristics were further verified by the ANOVA results. These behaviours are consistent with the results reported in the literature. Finally, the Taguchi approach, which is a very useful and versatile technique, which has not been effectively applied in rock mechanics and rock engineering, was successfully used to evaluate the influences of different test conditions on the peak UCS and MoE of laboratory rock samples.

Constitutive models describing the influence of the geometry of partially-spanning joints on jointed rock mass strength: Regression and fuzzy logic analysis of experimental data

Using existing experimental data from Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) testing, constitutive models were produced to describe the influence of joint geometry (joint location, trace length and orientation) on the UCS of rock containing partially-spanning joints. Separate approaches were used to develop two models: a multivariable regression model, and a fuzzy inference system model. Comparison of model predictions to the experimental data demonstrates that both models are capable of accurately describing the UCS of jointed rock with partially-spanning joints using information relating to joint geometry. However, according to the statistical evaluation methods used for performance evaluation, the multivariable regression model was significantly more accurate. Analysis of predictions made by the fuzzy inference system model showed that it was capable of resolving certain peculiarities in the influence of partially-spanning joint orientation on the compressive strength of rock that, from rock mechanics and fracture mechanics theory, should be expected. The multivariable regression model, whilst more accurate, did not recognise these peculiarities. Due to the additional insight that can be gleaned from the fuzzy inference system modelling, we recommend the use of the fuzzy inference system constitutive model in combination with the multivariable regression model.