A Mechanical Model for Permafrost Thaw Subsidence

1977 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 183-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Mitchell

A mechanical model describing permafrost subsidence has been developed and correlated with a full scale field test performed by the Atlantic Richfield Company and Exxon Company, USA at Prudhoe Bay. The permafrost mechanical response is modeled with a linear stress-strain relation that incorporates pore pressure reduction as the subsidence loading mechanism. The pore pressure reduction is due to the phase change of pore ice upon thaw and was verified by field test measurements. The mechanical response of the well casing is included in the model with no slip assumed between casing and permafrost. The thaw subsidence model explains several features observed in the field test. The pore pressure reduction mechanism produces an upward rebound of the permafrost base, resulting in compressive casing strains above the base and tensile strains below. The pore pressure loading also produces an inward lateral motion of the thawed-frozen interface. The inward motion, together with layers of different soil types, produce the alternating compressive and tensile strains measured in the field test. These alternating strains can be significant, depending on permafrost lithology.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yevhen Holubnyak ◽  
Willard Watney ◽  
Tiraz Birdie ◽  
Dana Wreath ◽  
George Tsoflias ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (12) ◽  
pp. 1756-1768
Author(s):  
Jahanzaib Israr ◽  
Buddhima Indraratna

This paper presents results from a series of piping tests carried out on a selected range of granular filters under static and cyclic loading conditions. The mechanical response of filters subjected to cyclic loading could be characterized in three distinct phases; namely, (I) pre-shakedown, (II) post-shakedown, and (III) post-critical (i.e., the occurrence of internal erosion). All the permanent geomechanical changes such, as erosion, permeability variations, and axial strain developments, took place during phases I and III, while the specimen response remained purely elastic during phase II. The post-critical occurrence of erosion incurred significant settlement that may not be tolerable for high-speed railway substructures. The analysis revealed that a cyclic load would induce excess pore-water pressure, which, in corroboration with steady seepage forces and agitation due to dynamic loading, could then cause internal erosion of fines from the specimens. The resulting excess pore pressure is a direct function of the axial strain due to cyclic densification, as well as the loading frequency and reduction in permeability. A model based on strain energy is proposed to quantify the excess pore-water pressure, and subsequently validated using current and existing test results from published studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 413-417
Author(s):  
Chunfang Meng ◽  
Michael Fehler

As fluids are injected into a reservoir, the pore fluid pressure changes in space and time. These changes induce a mechanical response to the reservoir fractures, which in turn induces changes in stress and deformation to the surrounding rock. The changes in stress and associated deformation comprise the geomechanical response of the reservoir to the injection. This response can result in slip along faults and potentially the loss of fluid containment within a reservoir as a result of cap-rock failure. It is important to recognize that the slip along faults does not occur only due to the changes in pore pressure at the fault location; it can also be a response to poroelastic changes in stress located away from the region where pore pressure itself changes. Our goal here is to briefly describe some of the concepts of geomechanics and the coupled flow-geomechanical response of the reservoir to fluid injection. We will illustrate some of the concepts with modeling examples that help build our intuition for understanding and predicting possible responses of reservoirs to injection. It is essential to understand and apply these concepts to properly use geomechanical modeling to design geophysical acquisition geometries and to properly interpret the geophysical data acquired during fluid injection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1020 ◽  
pp. 206-211
Author(s):  
Yu Feng Li ◽  
Yan Yi Xiong ◽  
Cheng Yang Fan ◽  
Zhi Jun Wang ◽  
You Cai Xiao

The mechanical behavior of polyethylene (PE) co-polymerized with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) was studied by using molecular simulations. Simulation configurations consisted of aligned PE chains with POSS attached to the central chain and amorphous PE chains with different content POSS. From the simulations with aligned PE chains with POSS, it was found that the method for reinforcement was due to dislocation pile-up at POSS, and above a critical stress the dislocations traverse the POSS causing a sawtooth variation in the load-displacement curve. The stress-strain curves for amorphous PE-POSS bulk showed distinct elastic and plastic straining stages. Plastic straining consisted of hardening and slipping segments attributed to dislocation pile-up and chain sliding. Computational results were used to develop a reinforcement model to describe the mechanical response of PE-POSS bulk under uniaxial tension.


2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 828-839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keshab Sharma ◽  
Lijun Deng

This paper presents a field test program of a large-scale soil–footing-structure system designed with a rocking foundation in a cohesive soil to examine the behaviour of the system and to provide case histories for possible performance-based seismic design of foundations. The rocking system was subjected to slow cyclic loadings at various drift ratios up to 7%. Twenty-four tests were conducted for foundations with varying initial factors of safety against the bearing failure, loading directions, rotation amplitudes, and embedment. A geotechnical investigation was carried out to determine soil properties before and after the experiments. The system performance indices, such as damping, stiffness, settlement, and re-centering capability, were quantified and compared with the published literature. Field test results showed that the strength and unit weight of soils at footing edges were increased due to rocking, for the present cohesive soil. The rocking moment capacity increased slightly with the increasing soil strength. An empirical equation for the secant stiffness was developed. The rocking system on the cohesive soil exhibited superior performance in terms of small residual settlement and large re-centering capability. Footing’s mechanical response was quantified using strain gauge readings. The footing remained elastic in tension; the transient soil–footing contact areas were estimated with strain gauges, and they agreed very well with the measured or calculated contact areas.


1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (01) ◽  
pp. 10-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.E. Forman ◽  
G.A. Secor

Abstract The initiation of fracture in a rock mass subjected to the impingement of a continuous water jet has been studied. The jet is assumed to place a quasistatic pressure loading on the surface of the rock, which is treated as a saturated, porous-elastic, isotropic, and homogeneous half-space. While this pressure loading is held constant, the impinging water flows through the rock according to Darcy's law and pressurizes the fluid in the pores. The pore pressure distribution couples with the stress field due to the surface loading to produce an effective stress field, which can start tensile fracturing directly under the load. At various time intervals after initial impingement, the effective-stress field is computed using finite element methods and the results, together with the Griffith criterion for tensile failure, produce the loci of the zones of fracture initiation. The behavior of these zones is displayed as a function of the two jet parameters - pressure and nozzle diameter - and the five rock properties: Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio, tensile strength, porosity and permeability, and time. To experimentally verify that pore pressure plays an important role in the mechanism of rock fracture due to jet impingement, thin sheets of copper (0.001 to 0.005 in.) were placed between a continuous jet (up to 20,000 psi) and the surface of a block of Indiana limestone. The purpose of the copper sheet was to allow the pressure of the jet to be transmitted to the rock, but to prevent water from entering the pore structure. Using pressure substantially greater than the threshold pressure of pressure substantially greater than the threshold pressure of limestone (3,500 psi) where penetration always occurred in the absence of the copper sheet, placement of the sheet was sufficient to prevent any visible damage from occurring to the rock surface, provided the jet did not penetrate the copper first. provided the jet did not penetrate the copper first Introduction The method by which a water jet penetrates and fractures a rock mass is highly complicated and poorly understood. This is mainly because the rock is subjected during the impact to several separate processes, each of which can cause failure. Failure can result from the effects of dynamic stress waves, static pressure loading and erosion. The degree of failure caused by each mechanism is, of course, dependent on the rock properties and jet parameters. parameters. In the first few microseconds of impingement, a subsonic jet pressure on the rock surface reaches the so-called "water hammer" pressure on the rock surface reaches the so-called "water hammer" pressure of pvv(c) and then drops to the nozzle stagnation pressure pressure of pvv(c) and then drops to the nozzle stagnation pressure of approximately 1/2 pv2. (p = fluid density, v = jet velocity, and v(c) = velocity of compression waves in the liquid.) During this initial period of impact, large-amplitude compressive waves are caused to emanate from the point of impingement. Upon reflection off a free surface, these waves become tensile and can cause spalling failures. This mode of failure is usually important with pulsed jet impingement. For continuous jets the spalling effects are small and will be neglected for this study. During the impingement process, the water of the jet flows into the accessible pore space of the rock mass. Since in a continuous jetting process the jet applies a quasi-static pressure loading to the rock surface, the water in the pores is pressurized while the surrounding rock mass is simultaneously stressed. The intent of this paper is to describe the role played by this static pressure loading coupled with the pore-pressure distribution, or pressure loading coupled with the pore-pressure distribution, or the "effective stress," in the first moments of penetration. In studying the process, we will take into account the influence of jet parameters and rock properties. In the course of the impingement process, the jet pressure loading is constantly being redistributed over the crater as it is formed. During this progressive removal of material, erosion is also contributing. The process of erosion is in itself highly complex, so no attempt will be made to characterize it here. EFFECTS OF STATIC PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION-ZERO PORE PRESSURE It has been shown by Leach and Walker that a water jet emanating from the nozzle depicted in Fig. 1 applies a quasi-scatic pressure loading to the surface upon which it is impinging. SPEJ P. 10


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document