Time-Dependent Poromechanical Responses of Saturated Cylinders

Abstract

The uniaxial, hydrostatic, and triaxial tests of saturated cylindrical rock samples are very common in a rock mechanics laboratory. The conventional solution for the mechanical responses of the sample under such testing conditions (an axial load and a confining pressure) is trivial within the elastic range. For saturated samples, however, these elastic solutions can only be applied to the drained or undrained cases, and there has been a lack of transient analyses of cylindrical samples under such tests, taking into account the pore fluid pressure buildup and the coupling effects, especially for samples with low permeability. In this paper, poroelasticity is employed to develop the solution for saturated cylindrical samples subjected to an axial load and a confining pressure. Significant poroelastic effects on the tests were observed through the analyses of a uniaxial test and a triaxial test based on the proposed poroelastic solution. Without consideration of the poroelastic effects, erroneous interpretations of the testing results can be expected.