Earth 437 Rock Mechanics Final Examination April 05 2002 Earth Sciences Museum

Everyone must answer Question 1 for 20 marks of 100 Then, choose four of Questions 2 to 6 to answer. Each is worth 20 marks of 100. Answer in point form, use diagrams whenever appropriate, c ear y a!e ed. "e as neat as you can. READ !E E" #RE E$AM F#RS %%

&uestion '( Short &uickies( each is worth 2 marks. A short succinct answer p ease. A# Estimate the tota and effective stresses ad$acent to an active norma fau t with these conditions %c ear y state any assumptions you make&# 'epth of ( km, average over!urden weight ) 2(.2 k*+m, -au t p ane is c ay.fi ed so that 1+,/s ip ) 1.0 1ore pressure is 60 21a "# "rief y discuss the ro e of pre.e3isting microcracks, $oints, fissures and other f aws on rock strength at various sca es. 4# 5ketch e3pected diffusion profi es versus radia distance for i6uid diffusion %'arcy&, heat diffusion %-ourier&, and chemica diffusion %-ickian&, using the e3amp e of a dri ing mud in a !oreho e where Tmud 7 To, 4mud 8 4o %for chemica specie 9:;&, and pmud 8 po. '# 5hear!o3 tests on a $oint gave the fo owing va ues for peak shearing resistance# Test *o. *orma stress . k1a 5hear stress at fai ure . k1a 1 <0 0= 2 1<0 202 , (00 ,<< ( >00 (>< < 1000 <00 5ketch a non. inear 2ohr.4ou om! yie d criterion for this test series E# "rief y out ine the physica princip es !ehind microseismic monitoring as app ied to a steep s ope in a deep open pit mine. -# ?ut ine methods you might use for o!taining rock properties of a materia at 2 km depth. An uncased !oreho e is avai a! e, !ut core is not avai a! e.

@# Ahat are the impacts of diagenesis, pore pressure history, and stress history in the compaction !ehavior of an oi reservoir in a sandstone. B# 5ketch the genera shape of the stress tra$ectories f owing around an e iptica opening %use -igure 1B&. Cf v 8 h, indicate where you wou d e3pect shear fai ure to occur and where you wou d e3pect tensi e fai ure to occur. C# Dsing a simp e figure, show the mechanism !y which massive compaction of a thick, ens.shaped % enticu ar& reservoir at depth can give rise to casing shear in the over!urden rocks, and a so to the potentia generation of a norma fau ting mechanism %in a different ocation that the casing shear&. Eou can use the figure to sketch the mechanisms, c ear y a!e ing the diagram if you do so. F# Cn$ection of hot water into a !oreho e changes !oth the pressure and the temperature around the !ore ho e %assume heat transfer is a convective rather than conductive&. Bow how you wou d address and so ve the pro! em of predicting effective stress changes in this case.

&uestion 2( Rheolo)ical Mo*els an* +iscous ,eha-ior A# 5ketch the stress.strain curve and the strain time curve for the rheo ogica mode shown in the -igure for the fo owing oad history# G t ) 0, increased to a va ue of 0.0 : G t ) 2 units, increases to 1.< : G t ) ( units, decreased to 0 : %: ) thresho d stress for the p astic s ider e ement at which it s ips& "# 'raw a simp e rheo ogica mode for a rock $oint with some initia cohesion, and e3p ain how the mode shows# H 5train.weakening !ehavior Bysteresis in deformation response when the oad changes direction

4# A common e6uation that is used to e3press the creep of sa t is the fo owing#

Q 1 3 RT ss = A e o n

where#

ss ) steady.state strain rate

1 ) ma3imum princip e stress 2 ) minimum princip e stress T ) temperature A n Q I ) a constant %different for different fa!ric sa ts& ) an e3ponent %usua y ,.0 is appropriate for deep y !uried sa t& ) activation energy for creep %different for different materia s& ) universa gas constant

Assume n ) ,.0, and a so assume that the e3ponentia term predicts a dou! ing of creep rate for every 1<4 increase in temperature. -or an empty cavern in sa t, how much faster wou d you e3pect c osure to take p ace at 2 km depth, as compared to 1 km depthJ 5tate any assumptions you made to come up with your answer. '# Time dependent !ehavior or weakening eading to arge strains can arise !ecause of diffusion processes. E3p ain how a steep s ope in waste sha e %a spoi pKi e from a coa mine for e3amp e& can show creep !ehavior and de ayed fai ure !ecause of diffusion processes that affect the sha e chunks.

&uestion 3( .ircular /penin) in 0inear Elastic Rock The e6uations for the stresses around a vertica open !oreho e su!$ected to an interna pressure a one %no far.fie d pressure& are given in an attached figure . The :irsch e6uations for a non pressuriLed vertica !oreho e in a natura differentia stress fie d are a so given. A# Ae have a !oreho e case with an impermea! e fi ter cake, so there is no dri ing mud f uids f ow across the !oreho e wa . 5uperpose these two e6uations to give the effective and tota stresses at any point %r,& for this case# pw 8 po, %po is constant with radius& where# pw ) we !ore mud pressure po ) pore pressure in the medium "# 1 ot as a function of radius for the radia ine ) 0, using these va ues# pw ) (0 21a po ) ,< 21a hma3 ) =0 21a hmin ) 60 21a %*ote that the far fie d stresses are given in terms of tota stresses, !ut C want you to p ot the effecti-e tan)ential stress as a function of the radius.& 4# At what va ue of pw wi the tangentia effective stress %& !ecome tensi eJ Ahere wi this happen on the periphery of the !oreho eJ Ahat wi happen in that case if the tensi e strength is a so Lero for the rockJ '# Ai coo ing the rock !y circu ating a dri ing f uid that has a temperature ess than the rock mass increase the tendency for hydrau ic fractureJ -or shear fai ureJ E3p ain your answer !rief y.

&uestion 4( Stresses in the Earth an* Stress Re*istri1ution A# 5tarting from a inear e astic BookeMs Naw %given&, with the isted !oundary conditions for f at. ying strata and assuming inear e astic !ehavior during un oading, derive the fo owing e3pressions# i. An e3pression for h in terms of v for the erosion of ' metres of over!urden with a unit weight of m. Assume that the pressure is a ways hydrostatic %i.e. po ) wL& An e3pression for h and v in terms of p for the case of dep etion.
i = 1 ( ( i - j + k )) E

ii.

where

i ) compressive strain in the i direction. iO ) stress change %in effective stress termsP& i,$,k ) 3,y,L cyc ic E, ) EoungMs modu us, 1oissonMs ratio

-or a deep, atera y e3tensive and re ative y thin reservoir, the fo owing !oundary conditions can !e assumed# 3, y, L ) principa stresses %L indicates the vertica direction& 3, y ) 0 %no atera strains a owed& L ) 0 %for L ) constant, i.e. tota vertica stress remains the same&. 3 ) y and 3 ) y # horiLonta stresses are a ways the same "# Dsing the ! ank graph given with a3es with v on the vertica , h on the horiLonta , and the ine :o ) 1.0 at (<, p ot the fo owing stress path# "uria of a sand to three ki ometers depth, pressures hydrostatic, friction ang e of ) ,0 %no cohesion&. Assume that the frictiona !ehavior contro s the effective stress ratio 'iagenesis that reduces v+h to a va ue of 1.6 at constant depth of !uria and no change in the vertica stress Erosion of the rock from , km depth to 1 km depth, pore pressure remains hydrostatic, rock !ehaves perfect y e astica y with ) 0.2 4# A 2ohr.4ou om! yie d diagram is given for the competent rock after *ia)enesis. Dsing semi.circ es to indicate the stresses, show how the stresses change on the 2.4 diagram as erosion takes p ace. Ai the rock ever fai in shear if we continue erosiona un oadingJ E3p ain how it might fai . '# Cs a inear e astic mode reasona! e for a strong 6uartL sandstone that is !eing un oaded !y erosionJ AhyJ

&uestion 5(

riaxial est Data Anal2sis an* 3lottin)

An attached -igure gives some tria3ia test data. A# 1 ot the 2ohr.4ou om! yie d criterion for this rock. "# 1 ot the re ationship !etween E and ,. Bow did you choose EJ AhyJ 4# Ahat va ue wou d you use for the tensi e strength of this rock in a practica case at a arge sca e %rock s ope, $ointed rock&, and at a sma sca e %20 cm diameter !oreho e&J E3p ain your ogic. '# 'iscuss the va ue of the e astic parameters E and determined from a a!oratory specimens in predicting the deformation !ehavior of# A tower foundation ocated in a $ointed sha e of 1<Q porosity A petro eum reservoir in a 2000 m deep 1<Q porosity imestone !eing dep eted A rock s ope that is approaching insta!i ity The c osure of a sa t cavern at depth

&uestion 4( 5eneral Desi)n #ssues in Rock Mechanics 6 Slope Sta1ilit2 The !asic e ements of engineering design in geomechanics are# @eometry of the structure, ithostratigraphy, choice of @2D 'e ineation of in situ conditions %inc uding stress history& 4onstitutive !ehavior of @2Ds Ana ysis %perhaps severa different types of ana yses wi !e needed& 2onitoring for verification, safetyR @round improvements or approaches to risk mitigation

?ut ine your strategy to achieve a safe and economica design for these two cases# A. A steep rock s ope in a mine that is !eing continuous y deepened. ". A steep rock s ope a!ove a two. ane highway in an ur!an area. Cn !oth cases, the s ope is ocated in a $ointed igneous micaceous schist with the !edding p anes su!para e to the genera inc ination of the s ope face. A sketch of the two cases is provided.