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Fabric evolution and crack propagation in salt during consolidation and cyclic compression tests

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Abstract

It is of great interest to describe and quantify the evolution of microstructure for a better understanding of rock deformation processes. In this study, 2D microstructure images of salt rock are analyzed at several stages of consolidation tests and cyclic compression tests to quantify the evolution of the magnitude and orientation of solidity, coordination, local solid volume fraction, and crack volume. In both the consolidation and the cyclic compression tests, the deformation of aggregates achieved by grain rearrangement is greater than that achieved by the deformation of an individual grain. In the consolidation test, the aggregates are rearranged into horizontal layers of coordinated grains, the orientation distribution of grain indentations is quasi-uniform, and the size of the pores reduces and becomes more uniformly distributed. As a result, salt rock microstructure becomes more homogeneous. The increase in local solid volume fraction in the lateral direction is correlated with an increase in the oedometer modulus. In the cyclic compression tests, grain-to-grain contact areas decrease due to the redistribution of grains and the propagation of intergranular cracks. Aggregates are reorganized into columns of coordinated grains. Intergranular opening-mode cracks tend to develop in the axial direction, while intergranular shear-mode cracks propagate preferentially in the lateral direction. The lateral components of the fabric tensors of coordination and local solid volume fraction decrease, which result in an increase in the Poisson’s ratio. The fabric descriptors used in this work allow a better quantification and understanding of halite deformation processes and can be used in other types of rocks encountering similar deformation mechanisms.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the US National Science Foundation, under grants CMMI 1362004/1361996 (Collaborative research: Linking Salt Rock Deformation Regimes to Microstructure Organization) and CMMI 1552368 (CAREER: Multiphysics Damage and Healing of Rocks for Performance Enhancement of Geo-Storage Systems—A Bottom-Up Research and Education Approach).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Xianda Shen

  2. Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Jihui Ding

  3. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ilia Lordkipanidze & Chloé Arson

  4. Center for Tectonophysics, Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Judith S. Chester & Frederick M. Chester

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  1. Xianda Shen
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Correspondence to Xianda Shen.

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Shen, X., Ding, J., Lordkipanidze, I. et al. Fabric evolution and crack propagation in salt during consolidation and cyclic compression tests. Acta Geotech. 16, 1679–1697 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-01117-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-020-01117-1

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