Micromechanical analysis of damage in saturated quasi brittle materials

In this paper, we propose a micromechanical analysis of damage and related inelastic deformation in saturated porous quasi brittle materials. The materials are weakened by randomly distributed microcracks and saturated by interstitial fluid with drained and undrained conditions. The emphasis is put on the closed cracks under compression-dominated stresses. The material damage is related to the frictional sliding on crack surface and described by a local scalar variable. The effective properties of the materials are determined using a linear homogenization approach, based on the extension of Eshelby’s inclusion solution to penny shaped cracks. The inelastic behavior induced by microcracks is described in the framework of the irreversible thermodynamics. As an original contribution, the potential energy of the saturated materials weakened by closed frictional microcracks is determined and formulated as a sum of an elastic part and a plastic part, the latter entirely induced by frictional sliding of microcracks. The influence of fluid pressure is accounted for in the friction criterion through the concept of local effective stress at microcracks. We show that the Biot’s effective stress controls the evolution of total strain while the local Terzaghi’s effective stress controls the evolution of plastic strain. Further, the frictional sliding between crack lips generates volumetric dilatancy and reduction in fluid pressure. Applications of the proposed model to typical brittle rocks are presented with comparisons between numerical results and experimental data in both drained and undrained triaxial tests.     

Reflection and refraction of attenuated waves at boundary of elastic solid and porous solid saturated with two immiscible viscous fluids

The propagation of elastic waves is studied in a porous solid saturated with two immiscible viscous fluids.The propagation of three longitudinal waves is represented through three scalar potential functions.The lone transverse wave is presented by a vector potential function.The displacements of particles in different phases of the aggregate are defined in terms of these potential functions.It is shown that there exist three longitudinal waves and one transverse wave.The phenomena of reflection and refraction due to longitudinal and transverse waves at a plane interface between an elastic solid half-space and a porous solid half-space saturated with two immiscible viscous fluids are investigated.For the presence of viscosity in pore-fluids,the waves refracted to the porous medium attenuate in the direction normal to the interface.The ratios of the amplitudes of the reflected and refracted waves to that of the incident wave are calculated as a nonsingular system of linear algebraic equations.These amplitude ratios are used to further calculate the shares of different scattered waves in the energy of the incident wave.The modulus of the amplitude and the energy ratios with the angle of incidence are computed for a particular numerical model.The conservation of the energy across the interface is verified.The effects of variations in non-wet saturation of pores and frequencies on the energy partition are depicted graphically and discussed.     

From the onset of damage to rupture: construction of responses with damage localization for a general class of gradient damage models

We propose a construction method of non-homogeneous solutions for the traction problem of an elastic damaging bar. This bar has a softening behavior that obeys a gradient damaged model. The method is applicable for a wide range of brittle materials. For sufficiently long bars, we show that localization arises on sets whose length is proportional to the material internal length and with a profile that is also a material characteristic. From its onset until the rupture, the damage profile is obtained either in a closed form or after a simple numerical integration depending on the model. Thus, the proposed method provides definitions for the critical stress and fracture energy that can be compared with experimental results. We finally discuss some features of the global behavior of the bar such as the possibility of a snapback at the onset of damage. We point out the sensitivity of the responses to the parameters of the damage law. All these theoretical considerations are illustrated by numerical examples.     

Analyzing the deformation of a porous medium with account for the collapse of pores

The generalized rheological method is used to construct a mathematical model of small deformations of a porous media with open pores. Changes in the resistance of the material to external mechanical impact at the moment of collapse of the pores is described using the von Mises–Schleicher strength condition. The irreversible deformation is accounted for with the help of the classic versions of the von Mises–Tresca–Saint-Venant yield condition and the condition that simulates the plastic loss of stability of the porous skeleton. Within the framework of the constructed model, this paper describes the analysis of the propagation of plane longitudinal compression waves in a homogeneous medium accompanied with plastic strain of the skeleton and densification of the material. A parallel computational algorithm is developed for the study of the elastoplastic deformation of the porous medium under external dynamics loads. The algorithm and the program are tested by calculating the propagation of plane longitudinal compression shock waves and the extension of the cylindrical cavity in an infinite porous medium. The calculation results are compared with exact solutions, and it is shown that they are in good agreement.     

DOUBLE-MEDIUM CONSTITUTIVE MODEL OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIAL IN UNIAXIAL TENSION AND COMPRESSION

Based on elasto-plasticity and damage mechanics, a double-medium constitutive model of geological material under uniaxial tension and compression was presented, on the assumption that rock and soil materials are the pore-fracture double-medium, and porous medium has no damage occurring, while fracture medium has damage occurring with load. To the implicit equation of the model, iterative method was adopted to obtain the complete stress-strain curve of the material. The result shows that many different distributions (uniform distribution, concentrated distribution and random distribution) of fractures in rock and soil material are the essential reasons of the daedal constitutive relations. By the reason that the double-medium constitutive model separates the material to be porous medium part, which is the main body of elasticity, and fracture medium part, which is the main body of damage, it is of important practical values and theoretical meanings to the study on failure of rock and soil or materials containing damage.     

Attenuated Wave Field in Fluid-Saturated Porous Medium with Excitations of Multiple Sources

This research addresses the investigation of an elastic wave field in a homogeneous and isotropic porous medium which is fully saturated by a Newtonian viscous fluid. A new methodology is developed for describing the wave field in the medium excited by multiple energy sources. To quantify the relative displacements between the fluid and solid of the medium, the governing equations of the elastic wave propagation are derived in the form of displacements specially. The velocities and attenuation of the waves are considered as functions of viscosity and frequency. Making use of the Hankel function and the moving-coordinate method, a model of the wave motion with multiple cylindrical wave sources is built. Making use of the model established in this research, the relative displacement between the fluid and the solid can be quantified, and the wave field in the porous media can then be determined with the given energy sources. Numerical simulations of cylindrical waves from multiple energy sources propagating in the porous medium saturated by viscous fluid are performed for demonstrating the practicability of the model developed.     

Constitutive equation of a gas-filled two-phase medium

A set of equations governing the consolidation of a two-phase medium consisting of a porous elastic skeleton saturated with a highly compressible liquid (gas), is described. The homogenization method was utilized to deduce the equations. For the equivalent macroscopic medium, mass and momentum conservation equations and the flow equation of pore liquid are presented. Sample material constants were calculated using laboratory test results which were carried out at the Institute of Geotechnics, Technical University of Wroclaw.     

黏弹性准饱和土中球空腔动力特性

在频率域内研究了内水压力作用下分数导数型黏弹性准饱和土中球空腔的稳态动力响应. 通 过引入与孔隙率有关的应力系数合理地确定了介质和孔隙水共同承担的内水压力值. 将土骨 架和衬砌分别视为具有分数导数本构模型的黏弹性体和多孔柔性材料, 基于Biot两相介质模 型, 通过引入位移势函数解耦得到了内水压力作用下分数导数型黏弹性准饱和土中半封闭球 形空腔的位移、应力和孔隙水压力解析表达式. 考察了物性和几何各参数对球形空腔动力响 应的影响, 结果表明: 分数导数本构模型更合理地描述了土体的动力学行为; 饱和度对应力 和孔隙水压力影响较大, 而对位移影响较小.     

Fracture behaviour in tension of viscoplastic porous metallic materials saturated with liquid

The present work extends the investigation which has been initiated in Parts I and II of this study (Martin, C.L., Favier, D., Suéry, M., 1997a. Viscoplastic behaviour of porous metallic materials saturated with liquid, part I: constitutive equations. Int. J. Plasticity 13, 215–235; Martin, C.L., Favier, D. Suéry, M., 1997b. Viscoplastic behaviour of porous metallic materials saturated with liquid, Part II: experimental identification on a Sn–Pb model alloy. Int. J. Plasticity 13, 237–259) to the tensile behaviour of viscoplastic porous metallic materials saturated with liquid. Simple tensile experiments together with ring extension tests are carried out to study the fracture behaviour of this class of material. Ring tests consist in applying an internal pressure on a specimen with a ring shape. A Sn–Pb model alloy with a dendritic microstructure is used to characterise the behaviour of the material up to fracture. The liquid presence is accounted for to derive the intrinsic behaviour of the solid skeleton. The collected data are then incorporated in the model framework presented in Part I. A simple modification of the model allows the treatment of the strong asymmetry between tension and compression which is exhibited by these materials.     

Avalanches in dry and saturated disordered media at fracture in shear and mixed mode scenarios

We investigate shear and mixed mode fracture scenarios in inhomogeneous dry and fully saturated porous media with a 2D central force lattice model. For the fully saturated case we adopt the extended Biot's theory. The bars of the lattice break only under traction which is a common assumption in lattice models for rocks. The breaking process is simulated with a continuous damage model where after a partial failure event, spring elements are assigned a new failure threshold sampled from a uniform distribution. We investigate avalanche behaviour of the damaging events as well as the pressure evolution and the existence of pressure jumps linked to the breaking events in the disordered medium. In pure shear fracture the behaviour differs from that observed previously with the same model for prevailing tearing conditions. Power law distribution of the damaging events does not hold anymore and the overall behaviour is brittle without intermittent crack tip advancement. Pressure fluctuations are however observed. In a mixed mode scenario some of the features observed under prevailing tearing conditions are recovered such as the overall elasto-plastic behaviour. An estimate of the time needed for the internal rearrangements within a loading step is given.     

Coupled hydro-mechanical effects in a poro-hyperelastic material

Fluid-saturated materials are encountered in several areas of engineering and biological applications. Geologic media saturated with water, oil and gas and biological materials such as bone saturated with synovial fluid, soft tissues containing blood and plasma and synthetic materials impregnated with energy absorbing fluids are some examples. In many instances such materials can be examined quite successfully by appeal to classical theories of poroelasticity where the skeletal deformations can be modelled as linear elastic. In the case of soft biological tissues and even highly compressible organic geological materials, the porous skeleton can experience large strains and, unlike rubberlike materials, the fluid plays an important role in maintaining the large strain capability of the material. In some instances, the removal of the fluid can render the geological or biological material void of any hyperelastic effects. While the fluid component can be present at various scales and forms, a useful first approximation would be to treat the material as hyperelastic where the fabric can experience large strains consistent with a hyperelastic material and an independent scalar pressure describes the pore fluid response. The flow of fluid within the porous skeleton is defined by Darcy's law for an isotropic material, which is formulated in terms of the relative velocity between the pore fluid and the porous skeleton. It is assumed that the form of Darcy's law remains unchanged during the large strain behaviour. This approach basically extends Biot's theory of classical poroelasticity to include finite deformations. The developments are used to examine the poro-hyperelastic behaviour of certain one-dimensional problems.     

A Micropolar Theory of Porous Media: Constitutive Modelling

The extension of the classical mixture theory by the concept of volume fractions leads to the theory of porous media. In this article, the theory of porous media is generalised to micropolar constituents. The kinematic relations and the balance equations for a porous medium are developed without restricting the number of constituents. Based on the entropy inequality, the general form of the constitutive equations are derived for a binary medium consisting of a porous elastic skeleton saturated by a viscous pore-fluid. Both constituents are assumed to be compressible. Handling the saturation constraint by a Lagrangian multiplier leads to a compatibility of the proposed model to so-called hybrid and incompressible models.     

Hydraulic fracturing of a saturated porous medium-I: General theory

This investigation deals with the problem of steady state hydraulic fracture in an infinite isotropic fluid-saturated elastic porous medium induced by a uniform pressure applied to the crack surfaces. A quasi-static approach is employed in the study. A boundary value problem is formulated and then analyzed by means of the Fourier transform associated with the Wiener-Hopf technique. Stress intensity factor and potential energy release rate are found by asymptotic analysis and the superposition principle as functions of the speed of crack propagation. The material breakdown process at the crack tip is discussed based on Dugdale's model. Finally, a brief discussion of the effect of pressure drop on the hydraulic fracture process and the decrease in crack speed during crack extension is included.     

Hydrogel as a Medium for Fluid-Driven Fracture Study

In this paper we describe how to construct polyacrylamide hydrogels to study the processes linked with hydraulic fracturing. These transparent, linearly elastic and brittle gels permit fracturing at low pressures and speeds allowing accurate measurements to be obtained. In the context of hydraulic fracturing, the broad range of modulus and fracture energy values that are attainable allow experimental exploration of particular regimes of importance. We also describe how material properties may be deduced from hydraulic fracturing experiments. Lastly, we analyse the fracture surface patterns that emerge from fluid-driven cracks occurring within the medium. These patterns are similar to those that have been observed in other materials and we comment on their fractal-like nature.     

Material instabilities of anisotropic saturated multiphase porous media

This paper analyses the material instability of fully saturated multiphase porous media. On account of the fact that anisotropic mechanical behaviours are widely observed in saturated and partially saturated geomaterials, the anisotropic constitutive model developed by Rudnicki for geomaterials is used to model the anisotropic mechanical behaviour of the solid skeleton of saturated porous geomaterials in axisymmetric compression test. The inertial coupling effect between solid skeleton and pore fluid is also taken into account in dynamic cases. Conditions for static instability (strain localisation) and dynamic instability (stationary discontinuity and flutter instability) of fully saturated porous media are derived. The critical modulus, shear band angle for strain localisation, and the bound within which flutter instability may occur are given in explicit forms. The effects of material parameters on material instability are investigated in detail by numerical computations.     

Hydraulic fracturing of a saturated porous medium-II: Special cases

This investigation deals with the problem of steady state hydraulic fracture in an infinite isotropic fluid-saturated elastic porous medium induced by a uniform pressure applied to the crack surfaces. A quasi-static approach is employed in the study. A boundary value problem is formulated and then analyzed by means of the Fourier transform associated with the Wiener-Hopf technique. Stress intensity factor and potential energy release rate are found by asymptotic analysis and the superposition principle as functions of the speed of crack propagation. The material breakdown process at the crack tip is discussed based on Dugdale's model. Finally, a brief discussion of the effect of pressure drop on the hydraulic fracture process and the decrease in crack speed during crack extension is included.     

Equations of the mechanics of porous media saturated with liquid and gas

The approach proposed by Podil'chuk [1] is used to derive a system of equations of motion for saturated porous media, allowance being made for the mutual influence of the solid, liquid, and gas phases. The permeabilities of the anisotropic porous medium are assumed to depend on the direction. It is shown that when there are no gas phases and the liquid is incompressible the system of equations reduces to the general equations of the theory of elasticity of an anisotropic body with fictitious stress components. For a porous medium saturated with liquid, the relationships between the permeabilities and the anisotropy constants are obtained. The motion of liquid in an elastic porous medium in the form of an orthotropic cylindrical region with a cavity in the form of a circular cylinder is considered as an example.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Mekhanika Zhidkosti i Gaza, No. 4, pp. 82–87, July–August, 1981.     

Explosion Dynamics in Saturated Rocks and Solids

Non-elastic pore deformations and crack propagations are the principal causes of dynamic damage in rocks and soils. In the case of downhole blasting from wellbores, these two mechanisms compete with each other. Therefore, to carry out a mechanical analysis of rock blasting, a sufficiently complete model that takes these various mechanisms into account has to be developed. To address this issue, this paper proposes the use of an elastic–plastic model, which includes a yield condition with a non-associated plastic flow rule, the effects of pore fluid saturation, and a brittle failure criterion under extension. The results presented in this paper describe underground explosions with spherical motion (cavity growth under the internal pressure of detonated gases without leakage into the formation), typical for oil or water reservoirs. The governing equations are written in a Cartesian system of coordinates for the case of spatial dynamic medium deformation. For this case, Cartesian coordinates are more convenient than spherical coordinates because they avoid numerical difficulties connected with the non-divergent terms of the non-linear form of the Biot–Frenkel equations. The numerical method uses the Wilkins approach, which has been generalized for the model described in this paper. The dilatancy of the material during plastic deformation is neglected for simplicity. The numerical results show that, when using typical parameters for relatively “soft” porous skeleton, the plastic flow overcomes the brittle failure. An extension zone only appears near the cavity. The results also show the presence of the two Biot P-waves. The second Biot wave, however, is only seen in the case of an extremely high permeability rock. Furthermore, in the case of the first Biot wave, the saturating liquid and the solid skeleton particles are moving with different velocities in a 100 darcy rock and with the same velocity in a 0.01 darcy rock. Calculated radial particle velocities as a function of the scaled radius are close to measured velocities in rigid dense media but are larger than measured ones in clays. It is suggested that the difference is due to different levels of water saturation, assumed full saturation in the calculation, partial saturation in the experiments.