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Experimental Investigation of Time-Dependent Deformation in Brittle Marcellus Shale

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Abstract

Coal mining activity disturbs the natural equilibrium of in situ stress state such that the induced stresses deform the surrounding rock mass. Although the installation of roof supports typically prevents rock deformation, rock mass failure may still occur in bolted roof. The erratic failure of rock mass after few days to months and years of excavation is the result of time-dependent deformation of roof rock under constant surrounding stresses. In the current research, the triaxial laboratory creep experiments proved that Marcellus shale exhibits time-dependent deformation under constant stress that was smaller than the failure strength. However, unlike conventional experimental results, the time-dependent deformation did not depend on the level of constant stress. The often-neglected initial state of specimens and intrinsic heterogeneity highly influenced the time-dependent failure of Marcellus shale.

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All data used to support the findings of the current study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Sarah Brown, Johnathan E. Moore, and Bryan Tenant at the National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, WV, for the X-ray CT scan of shale specimens. The authors would also like to thank Dr. Karen Martin and Sarah McLaughin from Animal Models and Imaging Facility (AMIF) of West Virginia University (WVU) for providing access to Bruker CTAn software.

Funding

Financial support for this work was provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (No. 200–2016-92214).

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  1. Department of Mining Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA

    Neel Gupta & Brijes Mishra

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  1. Neel Gupta
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  2. Brijes Mishra
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Correspondence to Brijes Mishra.

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Gupta, N., Mishra, B. Experimental Investigation of Time-Dependent Deformation in Brittle Marcellus Shale. Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration 38, 1943–1953 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42461-021-00462-3

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