JOLrRNALOF GEOPHYSICALRESEARCH,VOL. 102,NO.

B2,PAGES3009-3025,FEBRUARY 10, 1997

Thetransition
frombrittlefaultingto cataclastic
flowin
porous
sandstones'
Mechanical
deformation
Teng-fong
Wong,
Christian
David
•,andWenlu
Zhu
Department
ofEarth
andSpace
Sciences,
State
University
ofNewYork
atStony
Brook

Abstract.
Triaxial
compression
experimentswereconducted toinvestigate
theinelastic and
failure
behavior
ofsixsandstones
withporosities ranging from15%to35%.A broadrangeof
effective
pressures
wasusedsothatthetransitioninfailure modefrombrittlefaultingto
cataclastic
flowcouldbeobserved.
In thebrittlefaultingregime,shear-induceddilationinitiates
intheprepeak
stageata stress
levelC' whichincreases
witheffective
mean stress.
Underelevated
effective
pressures,
a samplefailsbycataclastic
flow.Strain
hardening
andshear-enhanced
compaction
initiates
ata stress
levelC* whichdecreases
withincreasing
effective
meanstress.
Thecritical
stresses
C' andC* weremarkedby surgesin acoustic
emission.
In thestress
space,
C*mapsoutanapproximatelyelliptical
yieldenvelope,
inaccordancewiththecritical
stateand
cap
models.
Usingplasticity
theory, theflowruleassociated
withthisyieldenvelopewasused to
predict
porosity
changes
whicharecomparable toexperimental
data.Inthebrittle
faulting
regime
theassociated
flow rulepredictsdilatancyto increase
with decreasing
effectivepressure
in
qualitative
agreement
withtheexperimental
observations.
Thedatawerealsocompared
with
prediction
ofanonassociative
modelontheonset
of shear
localization.
Experimental
datasuggest
thataquantitative
measure
of brittleness
isprovided
bythegraincrushing
pressure
(which
decreaseswithincreasingporosityandgrainsize).Geologicdataontectonicfaultingin
siliciclasfic
formations(of differentporosityandgrainsize)areconsistent
withthe laboratory
observations.

Introduction Jamisonand Stearns,1982; Antonelliniet aI., 1994] and fluid

flow [e.g., Hippler, 1993; Atonellini and Aydin, 1994] in
Whensubjectedto an overall compressiveloading, a rock sandstone formations,aswell asgeotechnical problemsincluding
oftenfails by shearlocalizationor by cataclasticflow. Under reservoircompaction[e.g., Teufelet al., 1991], boreholestability
elevatedtemperatures and pressures,homogeneous plasticflow [e.g., Veekenet al., 1989], anddrilling [e.g.,Suarez-Riveraet al.,
canalsodevelopthroughthermallyactivateddislocationactivity 1990]. In their seminal study, Handin et al. [1963] have
anddiffusivemasstransfer[Paterson,1978]. Cataclasticflow underscored the dominantrole of effectivepressurein controlling
represents the key intermediatestep in the brittle-plastic the transitionfrom brittle faulting to cataclasticflow in porous
transitionin quartzo-feldspathicaggregates[Tullis and Yund, sedimentary rocks.Subsequent research hasshownthat sincethe
1992;Hirthand Tullis, 1994].Recentstudiesof the porosity evolutionof porosityand stressstateare coupled,porosityalso
change andyieldstressin crustalrocksof differentporosities exertsimportantcontroloverfailuremode [Logan,1987; Wong,
havedemonstrated that thereare two fhndamenta!ly different 1990; Scott and Nielson, 1991]. During cataclasticflow,
typesof cataclastic
flow. In low-porosityrocks,dilationof the significantshear-enhanced compactioncan be inducedby the
porespaceis commonlyobserved,andthe yield stresses for this applicationof a deviatoric stress[Schocket al., 1973;Zhanget
typeof dilatantcatac!astic flow show a positivepressure al., 1990a].The reductionin porosityallowsthe rock to work
dependence [Fredrich
et al., 1989;FischerandPaterson, 1989]. harden,thus inhibitingthe developmentof shearlocalization.
Incontrast,appreciableporosity decreases
aregenerally observedAlternatively,the deviatoricstresscan causedilatancy,which
inhigh-porosity rocks[Edmond andPaterson, 1972;Jamison may ultimatelyleadto failureby shearlocalizationand brittle
andTeuJ•l, 1979],andtheyieldstress forthistypeof compactivefaulting underrelativelylow effectivepressure[Dunn et al.,
cataclasticflow decreases with increasing effectivepressure 1973;BernabdandBrace, 1990].
[I•ong
etal.,1992]. Althoughthetwo modesof failureareverydifferenton the
Thisstudyfocuses
on thetransition
frombrittlefaultingto macroscopic
scale,theybothinvolvemicromechanicalprocesses
compactirecataclastic
flowin porous
sandstones.
Thelaboratory which are thoughtto be brittle since pervasivegrain-scale
investigations
provide important physicalinsights
intotectonicmicrocracking
and acoustic emissionactivity[Lockneret al.,
processes
inrelation
to faulting[e.g.,AydinandJohnson,1978; 1992; Wonget al., 1992;Read et al., 1995] are commonly
observed.Coalescenceof the stress-inducedmicrocracksleadsto
shearlocalization,
whereascataclastic
flow is a manifestation
of
Now
atin-•titut
dePhysique
duGlobe,
Strasbourg,
France.
homogeneously
distributed
microcracking
[Mendndez
et aI.,
19961.
Copyright
1997
bythe
American
Geophysical
Union. The rock which has been most thoroughlystudiedin the
Paper
number
96JB03281. laboratory
is Bereasandstone.
Althoughsandstones
of different
01484)227/97/96JB.03281509.00 porosity,
grainsize,cementation
andclaycontent
havealsobeen
3009
3010 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUSSANDSTONES

considered, our understanding of the phenomenology and were from thesame blocks (kindly furnishedbyD.Jeannette)
micromechanics of brittlefaultingandcataclastic flow in these previously studiedby Davidet al. [1994].TheDarley Dale
otherrocksis notascomprehensive. Therefore thefirstobjective sandstone (kindlyfurnished byP. G. Meredith) isconsidered
to
of the presentstudyis to acquirea relativelycomplete setof besimilar tothesamples recentlystudiedbyRead etal.[1995].
mechanical data(includingstress,strain,porositychange,and TheBoise sandstone(kindlyfurnished by J. T. Fredrich)has
acousticemissionactivity)for six sandstones with porosities porosity comparable to the samples studied by Zhang et al.
r"anging from !5% to 35%. For hydrostatic compaction a [1990b]buthasa significantly smallergrainsize.Todifferentiate
previousstudyof Zhanget al. [1990b]hasshownthatthere thetwoblocks, wewill referto theformerandthelatterasBoise
existsa criticalstress
state(corresponding to thecriticaleffective II andBoiseI, respectively.
TheBerea,Boise,DarleyDale,and
pressure for the onsetof grain crushing)which is primarily Kayenta samples werefromcoresperpendicular tobedding,and
controlled by the porosityandgrainsize.UndernonhydrostatictheAdamswilier samples werefromcores parallel
tobedding.
loadingthe failure and compactive yield are characterized by Two suitesof Rothbach samplesparallelandperpendicularto
severalcriticalstressparameters, including thestress at theonset beddingwere investigated, and they will be referredto as
of dilatancy, thepeakstress for brittlefracture,
theyieldstress at Rothbach1 andRothbach2, respectively.
the onset of shear-enhanced compaction,and the effective The sandstonesselectedhave relativelysmallvariationsin
pressure at thetransitionfrombrittlefaultingto cataclastic flow. porositywithinthesame block.The(interconnected) porosity
of
To what extentare thesecritical stressstatescontrolledby the a sample wasdetermined fromtheweightdifference betweenthe
microstructural attributes? Shear-induced dilation and driedandsaturated
core.The grainsizewasdetermined
by
compaction are observedin the brittle fractureand cataclastic measuring the meaninterceptlengthL.•of solidgrainsunder an
flow regimes,respectively. How aretheseinelasticstrainsrelated opticalmicroscope. Sincethe datawill be interpreted using an
to the critical stresses?Plasticity theory [e.g., Desai and elastic contact modelwithimpinging spheres, wealsO) need to
Siriwardane,1984] andbifurcationanalysis[e.g., Rudnickiand estimatethe equivalent grain radiusRg. Fromgeometric
Rice, 1975] have been used to predictthe inelasticporosity probability [Underwood, 1970],it canbe shownthatif thegrains
changeand onsetof shearlocalization,respectively. To what are assumed to be spherical,then the meaninterceptlength is
extent do the experimental observationsagree with the related tograinradius byRg= (3/4)L3.Thegrainsizes forBerea
theoreticalpredictions?The inelastic deformationresultsin andKayentasandstones werereportedby Zhanget al. [!990b],
significantchangesin the pore geometry,which can in turn andgrainsizesfor AdamswillerandRothbach werereported by
influencethe micromechanics of failure aswell as fluid transport David et al. [1994]. In the latter paper the grain radii of
properties.How does the hydraulic permeabilityevolve with Adamswilierand Rothbachsandstones were calculated by the
failure in the brittle faulting and compactivecataclasticflow wrongformula(Rg= L.•/2);thismistake hasbeencorrected in
regimes?To investigatethesequestions,we conducteda parallel Table 1. Grain sizesfor the Darley Dale and BoiseII sandstones
series of experiments on mechanical deformation and weredetermined by us.It shouldbe notedthatwe didnotinclude
permeability evolution,whicharesummarized in thispaperanda the contributions of clay and mica. It is difficultto resolvethe
companion paper[Zhuand Wong,thisissue],respectively. formerunderthe opticalmicroscope, andthe latterhaselongate
geometryvery differentfrom that of a sphere.We believethat
Mechanical Data and Critical Stress States our estimatesof the effectivegrain radii are relevantto the
analysisof grain fractureprocesses which are dominated by
Sandstones Studied microcracks initiatingfrom contactsbetweenthe quartzand
feldspargrains.
The sand}tones wereselectedbecause of theirwiderangeof
porosityandgrainsize.Petrophysical description of therocksis
providedin Table 1. All theKayentasandstone dataandsomeof ExperimentalProcedure
theBereasandstone datawerepreviouslyreportedby Wonget al. Thejacketedsamples were saturated with distilledwaterand
[!992]. The KayentaandBereasandstone samples werefromthe stressedin the conventionaltriaxial configuration at room
sameblocksstudiedby Zhang et al. [1990b]. The Adamswilier temperature. Kerosene wasusedasthe confining medium. Both
and Rothbachsandstones (from the Vosgesmountains,France) confining pressure andporepressure weremonitored bystrain-

Table 1. Petrophysical
Description
of Six Sandstones
Investigated
in This Study
Porosity Mean Intercept Grain Modal
Sandstone O, % LengthL3,mm Radius Analysis
Rg,mm
Adamswilier 22.6 0.12 0.09 quartz71%,feldspar9%, oxides
andmica5%, clay•-11%
Berea 21.0 0.17 0.13 quartz71%, feldspar10%,
carbonate5%, clay~10%
BoiseII 35.0 0.37 0.28 quartz67%, feldspar14%,mica
2%, clay 13%
DarleyDale 14.5 0.22 0.17 quartz66%, feldspar21%, mica
3%, clay 6%
Kayenta 21.0 0.20 0.15 quartz81%,feldspar16%,
carbonate 1%
Rothbach 19.9 0.30 0.23 quartz68%, feldspar16%,oxides
andmica3%,clay
 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATION 1NPOROUSSANDSTONES 3011

gage
pressure
transducers
toaccuracies
of0.5and
0.125
MPa,
respectively.
Alltheexperiments
pressure
of10MPa, with
550MPa.Adjustment
wereconducted
confining
of a pressure
atafixed
pressures
ranging
from
generator
pore
13to
keptthepore 270[
210 .,..
..-
oo

•oo•?a
pressure
constant,
and
monitoring
thepore
volume
change
wasrecorded
thepistondisplacement
witha displacement
transducer
by
of thepressure
generator
(DCDT).Theporosity
change
180
[ 60MPa
150[' ..... ..........
................
..............
...............
wascalculated
fromtheratioof theporevolume
changeto the
initial
bulkvolume of thesample
withanuncertainty
of +_0.1%.
Theaxialloadwasmeasured
accuracy
pressure
vessel
withanexternal
of 1 kN. Thedisplacement
witha DCDTmountedbetween
loadcellwithan
wasmeasuredoutside
themoving
the
{ 6o O,,a
piston
andthefixedupper
platen.
Theuncertainty
oftheaxial 30 _ _ _ axials[ain(%).
displacement
measurement
was10gm.
Except
fortheDarleyDalesandstone
samples
(whichwereof 0I•• 5MPa
diameter
20 mm and length40.6 mm), the cylindricalsamples
haddiameters
of 18.4mm andlength38.1 mm andwerejacketed • O. .. '............
•OMPa
withpolyolefine
tubing.The axial displacement
was servo- ' "" '....... •• 40MPa
controlled
at a fixed rate (corresponding
to a nominalstrainrate _ ,,,q:::,,,
-.....
of 5 x 10'5/s)
whichwassufficiently
slowto ensurefully 4 ""'--
"drained"
deformation.
With a knowledgeof the stiffnessof the
loading
system
(2.38x !0• N/m), the axialdisplacement
of the
samplewasobtained
loading
system
by subtracting the displacement
fromthe apparentdisplacement
of the
recordedby the
o
6 "--,.,,..
.... .........
DCDT,andthe axial strainwas calculatedwith referenceto the
initiallengthof thesample.To calculatethe axial stressfromthe
recorded axial force, effect of bulging was accountedfor by lO
inferringthe relativeincreasein areaof a deformedsampleby Figure 1. Mechanical data for Adamswilier sandstone.
subtracting theaxialstrainfromtheporositychange. Differentialstress
andporositydecreasewereplottedversusaxial
Tomeasure acousticemission(AE) activity duringthe triaxial strain.Effectivepressures
wereas indicated.The solidcurvesare
experiments, we useda piezoelectrictransducer(PZT-7, 5.0 mm for sampleswhich failed by shearlocalization,and the dashed
diameter, 1 MHz longitudinalresonantfrequency)on the flat curvesarefor samples whichfailedby cataclastic
flow.
surface of a steelspacerattachedto thejacketedsample.The AE
signalswere conditionedby a preamplifier (gain 40 dB,
frequency response 1.5 kHz- 5 MHz). To distinguish AE events
fromelectricspikes,a discriminatorwas used to check two
porosityinitiallydecreased,
butnearthe peakstressit reversed
to
characteristicsof the incomingsignal.The detailsweredescribed
an increaseindicatingdilationof the pore space.The dilation
byZhangetal. [1990a].
decreased withincreasingeffectivepressure.
Visualinspection of
postpeak samples confirmed that they failed by shear
Mechanical
Data:Stress,StrainandPorosityChange
localization,
witha thoroughgoing shearbandcuttingacross each
Wewill adoptthe convention that compressive
stresses
and sample.
compactire strains(i.e., shortening
and porositydecrease)
are The dashed curves (for samples deformed at effective
positive,and we will denote the maximum and minimum pressures of 60, 100, and 150 MPa) are representative of the
(compressire)principal stresses
by(• and (•3,respectively.
The compactivecataclasticflow regime.The slopesof the differential
pore
pressure willbedenoted byP/•,andthedifferencebetweenstress-axialstrain curve were nonnegative,and the porosity
theconfining
pressure
(Pc= c•2= (x3)andporepressure
will be decreasedmonotonicallywith deformation. Shear localization
referred
toasthe"effective
pressure"
PelfThecomplete
setof wasnot evidentin samplesdeformedto an axial strainof up to
mechanical
dataforAdamswilier
sandstoneareshown in Figure 30%. The sampledeformedat 40 MPa showeda peakstressand
1.Thetopgraphshowsthedifferential
stress
c•,- (•3versus the strain softening,but the porosity persistentlydecreasedwith
axial
strain
forsixtriaxialcompression
experiments
at a fixed deformation.This "transitional"
modeof failureis manifested
by
porepressureof 10 MPa and with confining pressuresthe development of severalconjugate
shearbandsin thesample.
maintained
at!5,30,50,70,110and160MPa,respectively.
The Additionalinsightsare gainedby plottingthe effectivemean
bottom
graph
shows
porosity
decrease
versus
axialstrain
forthe stress
((x,+ 2%)/3- Ppversus
theporosity
change
(Figures
2a
samesamples. and2b). Previousstudieshavedemonstrated thatthe hydrostatic
Thesamples
deformed
ataneffective
pressuresof5 MPaand and nonhydrostatic (shear)stresses have fundamentally different
20MPaarerepresentative
of thebrittlefaulting
regime.
The effects on the porosity. A hydrostaticstressalways induces
differential
stress
attainedapeak, beyondwhichstrain
softening
porositydecrease. For a poroussandstone, the typicalhydrostat
wasobserved
andthestress progressively
droppedtoa residual(asindicatedby the dashedcurvesin Figure2a and2b) showsan
level.
Theloading
frame was sufficiently
stiff
thatthestress
drop inflectionpointwhichmarksthe criticaleffectivepressurefor the
process
wasstablein everyexperiment.
Thepeakstressshowsa onset of grain crushingand pore collapse,as indicatedby
positive
correlation
witheffectivepressure,
whichistypical
of microstructuraland AE measurements [Zhanget al., 1990b,c].
Mohr-Coulomb
typeof brittle failure
[Paterson,
1978].The This criticaleffectivepressurewill be denotedby P*.
3012 WONGETAL.'MECHANICAL
DEFORMATION
IN POROUS
SANDSTONES

125 asC' (Figure

2a).Thisimpliesthatatstress
levels
beyondC'the
deviatoric
stressfield inducedthe porespaceto dilate.This
phenomenon
iscommonly
observed
inthebrittle
fracture
regime,
;• 100 andwewill referto it as"shear-induced
dilation".
Thisbehavior
is akinto the dilatancyphenomenon
commonlyobserved
in low-
40MPa
• porosity
crystalline
rocks[Brace,1978].Asdiscussed
above,
a
',-.. 75 transitional
typeof failurewasobserved
attheeffective
pressure
of 40 MPa.Beforethepeakstress
wasattained,
theporosity
increased
somewhat
relativeto thehydrostat
(Figure2a),butthen
E 5o therewasanaccelerated
decrease
in porosity
during
thepostpeak
stage.
o 25
AcousticEmissionActivity and Micromechanicsof Failure
Representative
data for AE activityof the Rothbach
I
0 sandstone
are shownin Figures3 and 4. The cumulative
AE
0 1 2 3 4 5
count(dottedcurve)andeffective
meanstress
(solidcurve)
are
porositychange(%) plotted
asfunctionsoftheporosity
changefora sample
deformed
inthebrittle
faulting
(Figure
3a)andcataclastic
flow(Figure
3b)
regimes,
respectively.
Forreference
thehydrostat(dashed
curve)
500 (b) is alsoincludedin thegraphs.IntenseAE activitywasobserved
in boththebrittlefaultingandcataclastic
flow regime.Theonset
of shear-induced
dilation(C') and shear-enhanced
compaction
400
(C*) werebothmarked
bysurges
in AE activity.
In parallel
with

300 -" 150MPa

1.8E4
200 •- 50
1.5E4
LU
.

• 40
1.2E4<•
100
'• 30 9.0E3'•
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 E
E 20 6.0E3:3
porositychange(%) o

Figure2. (a) Shear-induced

dilation
and(b) compaction
in • •0 3.0E3
Adamswilier
sandstone.
The solid curvesshowthe effective
meanstressas a functionof porositychangefor triaxial ' '"-','"' '1',' "•"",,''1'' '1"''' '*'' I , O.OEO
0
compression
testsat fixedeffective
pressures
as indicated. 0.0 0,4 0.8 1,2 1.6 2.0
Failuremodesareindicated.
For reference
thehydrostat
is shown porosity
change(%)
as dashedcurves.The criticalstressstatesC' and C* are
indicatedby the arrows.
.._..250
, (b) ,,' 4.0E5
The nonhydrostatic and hydrostaticloadingsare coupled
togetherin a triaxialcompression experiment.
If the porosity
/
change is solelycontrolled by thehydrostatic
stresses,thenthe o• 2.0E5•
triaxialdata(solidcurves)shouldcoincidewith the hydrostat
(dashed curves)in Figure2. Deviations
fromthehydrostat would
imply that additionalporositychangewas inducedby the
deviatoricstresses.In the cataclasticflow regime,the triaxial
E• 1.0E5
o:
curvefor a giveneffectivepressure coincidedwiththehydrostat 5o
upto a criticalstress
state(indicated
by C* inFigure2b),beyond
which there was an accelerateddecreasein porosity in
• 0 O.OEO
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
comparison
to the hydrostat.
At stresslevelsbeyondC* the porosity
change(%)
deviatoricstressfield providedsignificantcontribution
to the
Figure
3. Cumulative
acoustic
emission
(dotted
curve)and
compactive
strain,andthisphenomenon isreferredto as"shear- effective
meanstress
(solidcurve)
as'functions
of porosity
enhanced
compaction" [Curranand Carroll,1979, •'ong et aL, change
inRothbach
sandstone.
Thesamples
failed
by(a)brittle
1992]. fracture
ateffective
pressure
of20MPa,Rothbach
1,and
(b)
In contrast,
theporosity
change
behavior pressurescataclastic
ateffective flowateffective
pressure
of 140MPa,Rothbach
2.
of 5 and 20 MPa was suchthat the compactiondecelerated
in Forreference
thehydrostat
isshown
asthedashed
curves,
The
comparison
to the hydrostat
beyondcriticalstress marked criticalstressstatesC' andC* are indicatedby the arrows.
states
 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUS SANDSTONES 3013

shear localization in brittle rocks. However, a number of

f O0 100 technical challenges have to be overcome before the
unambiguousdeterminationof AE focal mechanismcan be
80 80 obtained[Locknet,1993]. Consequently, the elucidationof the
damagemechanismsrequiresthe complementaryinput from
• 60 60• microstructuralobservations.MenJndezet al. [1996] recently
observedtwo distinctmodesof damageevolutionfor shear-
induceddilationandshear-enhanced compaction.
Since very little intragranularcrackingwas observedbefore
the peak stresshad been attained,Mendndezet al. [1996] infer
20 20 that in the prefailurestage(from C' to peak stress)the intense
AE activityis primarilydueto intergranular cracking(probably
O-- 0 related to the shear ruptureof lithified and cementedgrain
0 2 4 6 8
contacts) which allows the grains to move relative to one
axial strain(%) another,thus inducingan overall dilation of the pore space.
!ntragranularcracksdo not initiate until near the peak stress.
35O Typically, they first develop in isolated clusters,and their
subsequent coalescence resultsin shearlocalizationin the post-
'300 3OO
peak stage. In contrast,intragranularcrackingdominatesthe
•250 shear-enhanced compactionprocessthroughoutthe cataclastic
flow regime.The surgein AE activity at the criticalstressC*
marks the onsetof "Hertzianfractures"emanatingfrom grain
200 200• contacts.These intragranularcracks extend acrossthe grains,
150 resultingin comminution andporecollapse.

100 100
Critical Stress States
so
We have shown selectedmechanical, AE, and microstructural
data for the Adamswilier, Rothbach, and Berea sandstones
8 12
respectively.Due to spacelimitation, we cannotdetail here all
axial strain(%) the data accumulated for the six sandstones.Instead, we have
Figure
4. Acoustic
emission
rate(dottedcurve)anddifferential identified and characterized several critical stress and
stress
(solid curve) as functionsof axial strain in Rothbach deformationparameters to emphasizethe featurescommonto all
sandstone.
Thesamples arethe sameas thoseshownin Figure3 the experimentaldata and to provide a basisfor quantitative
whichfailedby (a) brittle fractureat effectivepressureof 20 comparison.
MPa,Rothbach 1 and(b) cataclasticflow at effectivepressure
of In the brittle regime we focus on the stressat the onsetof
140MPa, Rothbach 2. The critical stress states C' and C* are
shear-induced dilation C' and the peak stress.Table 2 includes
indicated
bythearrows.
all our samplesfor whichthesetwo criticalstresses canbe clearly
determined.In Figure5 the compileddataare shownin the stress
space,with coordinates
givenby the effectivemeanstress
P(=
theporosity
measurements,
the AE data were alsousedto map ({s•+ 2(s.0/3
- Pp)andthedifferential
stress
Q ( = (r•- (x,0.For
outthesetwo critical stress states. completeness,
wehaveincluded
in Figure5 theextensive
dataset
Wepresent
the data in Figures3a and 3b to emphasize
the on Bereasandstone
of Khanet al. [ 1991], who pickedthe critical
important
connection
between andAE activity. stress states by a combination of mechanical and AE
porositychange
We alsoplottedour data as AE rate versusaxial strainand measurements.
The choiceof ? and Q has the advantagethat
differential
stress
asis moretypicallydone[Scholz,
1968].In the these two variables are directly related to the first and second
brittle
regime
theAE rateshowedan accelerated
increase
nearC' invariantsof the stresstensor,respectively.However, it should
andpeaked in thepostfailure
regionafterthe peakstress had be noted that the conventionaltriaxial test correspondsto a
beenattained(Figure4a). Our observations
are in qualitative particular
loadingpath.Forexample,theRothbach
1 experiment
agreementwith the more detailed AE studies on Berea sandstone shownin Figure3a corresponds
to a bilinearpath in the P-Q
byLocknetetal. [1992]andonDarleyDalesandstone
byRead space:the initialhydrostatic
loadingcorresponds
to a horizontal
etal.[1995].
In thecataclastic
flowregime,
theAE rateshowed path along the P axis up to 20 MPa and the subsequent
anaccelerated
increase
nearC* andpeakedafterthesample had applicationof differential
stress
correspondsto a linearpathwith
undergone
a certainamountof shear-enhanced compaction a slopeof 3:1.The valuesof œandQ corresponding to C' (the
(Figure
4b).Forall thesandstoneswe investigatedtheAE rate opendownward trianglein Figure5) andto thepeakstress (the
wasgenerally flow regime,in agreement soliddownwardtriangle)canbe pickedfrom theverticalaxesin
higherin thecataclastic
withtheobservation
ofZhang
etal. [1990a]
onBerea sandstoneFigures3a and4a, respectively.
thatcompactivedeformation
ismoreefficientin generating
AE Thepeakstress data(solidsymbols)
mapoutthebrittlefailure
•tivitythan
itsdilatant
counterpart. envelope.The data for shear-induced
dilation(opensymbols)
AE activityin rockis identified
with damage
processes,showthatC' alsohasa positivecorrelationwithmeanstress,but
including
microcracking,
frictional
slip,andporecollapse.
The thepressure
sensitivity
is somewhat
less.Manyprevious
studies
accurate
location
of hypocenter
reveals
thespatial
complexity
of have shownthat the peak stresshas a strongdependence
on
damage
andprovides
important
insights
intotheevolution
of porosity,
aswellassecondary
dependences
oncementation
and
3014 WONG ET AL.' MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUS SANDSTONES

Table2. Compilation
of Mechanical
Datafor Sandstone
Samples
WhichFailedby ShearLocalization

Onsetof Shear- Young's Pore CompactionInternal Dilatancy Hardening

Factor
s-
InducedDilationC' PeakStress Modulus Compressibility Factor Friction Factor

0'3
-pp ch-o'• o'•-cy.•, 4 AcP
MPa E,GPa fl•,104 MPa / Ae, Parameterfl hcr/E hmin/E
-
(MPa) (MPa) A•P/AeP /t

Adamswilier
5 30 75 5.69 16.80 -0.70 0.49 0.33 -0.18 -0.09
20 43.5 103 8.03 7.42 -0.18 0.49 0.10 -0.14 -0.08
40 90 115 7.78 8.38 0.32 0.49 -0.21 -0.08 -0.08

Berea
5 !5 85.5 6.93 81.67 -1.44 1.04 0.56 -0.30 -0.07
10 36 102 9.70 16.67 -0.53 1.04 0.26 -0.22 -0.07
15 39 126 8.95 13.42 -0.41 1.04 0.21 -0.20 -0.06
40 82.5 177 11.64 9.09 0.I 0 0.70 -0.06 -0.12 -0.03

Boise II
5 21.6 28.5 2.20 46.54 0.11 0.53 -0.07 -0.12 -0.09
10 24 33 3.33 28.30 0.35 0.53 -0.23 -0.08 -0.02
15 30 33 2.46 39.48 0.50 0.53 -0.35 -0.06 -0.01

Darley Dale
5 18 63 4.80 43.94 -1.56 1.02 0.59 -0.30 -0.06
10 34.5 79 6.45 20.65 -1.2I 1.02 0.50 -0.28 -0.03
20 51 129 9.90 22.21 -0.48 1.02 0.24 -0.22 -0.02

Rothbach(1)
20 24 79.7 7.98 12.29 0.09 0.45 -0.05 -0.11 -0.10

Rothbach(2)
5 24 66 6.62 25.59 -1.35 0.70 0.54 -0.24 -0.04
35 60 127 9.81 10.27 0.17 0.70 -0.10 -0.11 -0.03

Kayenta
20 110 9.82 19.00 0.00 0.84 0.00 -0.15 -0.10

clay content[Dunn et al., 1973; Logan, 1987; Verniket al., compileddataare plottedin the P-Q stressspace.For reference,
1993]. Presumably,thesemicrostructural attributesmay also the Mohr-Coulombpeak stressesare also includedas solid
exert similar influences on C'. However, our databaseis too symbols.For completeness, we includedin Figure6a theBerea
limitedfor suchcorrelation analysis.More extensive
experiments sandstone data of Jamisonand TeufeI[1979], who reported an
aredesirable to addressthisimportantquestion. extensivedata set on the transitionalregime.Severalimportant
In the cataclasticflow regime we focuson the stressat the featuresshouldbe noted.First, dilatantdeformationis limitedto
onsetof shear-enhanced compaction C*. Table3 includesall our a relativelysmall subsetof the stressspace.This seems to be
samplesfor which C* can be clearly determinedfrom the characteristicof porous siliciclastic rocks. Second,the
porosityand AE measurements. In Figures 6a and 6b the compactive yield envelopesfor the onsetof shear-enhanced
compaction represents a negativecorrelationbetween
P andQ at
268 -
the critical states. Third, shear-enhanced compactionand
BRITTLE FRACTURE cataclasticflow canoccurovera broadrangeof stress conditions.
The compactiveyield envelopeof Berea sandstone hasstress
values more than 5 times those of Boise sandstone.Sincethe
156
formerhasa porosityof 21% andthelatter35%, onemayinfer
m• that porosityexertsimportantinfluenceoverthe compactire
I
[] ,,ll
yield behavior.However,othermicrostructuralparameters
may
199
SANDSTONE C' peak
V alsobeimportant sincethereis considerable
discrepancy
between
[]
Berea
Darley Dale
theyieldenvelopes
of BereaandKayenta
sandstones,
bothof
i,i A Rothbach 1 whichhaveporosityof 21%. Last,datafor Rothbach
sandstone
59
Rothbach 2 cored
intwoorientations
(parallel
andperpendicular
tobedding)
Adamswilier
Boise I I
suggest
thatthe compactire
yield stresses
for Rothbach
2 are
somewhathigher.However,the mechanical datafor this
l] I . !
8 58 168 158
sandstone (especially
for Rothbach
1) showconsiderable
EFFECTIUEMEAN STRESS P, MPa
variability
fromsample tosample.
Moresystematic
investigation
is desirable to confirm this trend.
Figure5. Peakstress
(solidsymbols)
andC' (opensymbols),
the
stressstateat the onsetof shear-induced
dilation,are shownin
ElasticModuliandCompaction
Rate
theP (effective
meanstress)
andQ (differential
stress)
space.
The dataare compiled
in Table2. Notethe positive
slopes. We characterized
the elasticandinelasticresponses
by two
AdditionalBereadataof Khanet al. [1991] arealsoincluded. setsof parameters.
In a triaxial
compression
test,theinitial
 WONG ET AL.' MECHANICAL DEFORMATION1NPOROUSSANDSTONES 3015

Table3. Compilation
of Mechanical
DataforSandstone
Samples
WhichFailedby
Compactive
Cataclastic
Flow

Onsei
ofShear-Enhanced
Young's pore ComPactionInelastic
Compaction,
C* Modulus CompressibilityFactor Compaction
Factor
c•-Pu,
MPa.c•1- ø.3,
MPa E,GPa ,8•,104
.M.
Pa
-t AtI)/A, Aqvø/A•
p
Adamswilier
60 123 10.36 8.50 0.42 0.42
100 114 10.38 9.80 0.70 0.70
150 78 10.54 13.94 0.84 0.83
Berea
160 210 11.23 1.59 0.50 0.49
250 195 12.87 1.46 0.60 0.60
Boise II
20 32 2.35 15.67 0.69 0.62
30 25 3.35 9.03 0.80 0.77
35 11 1.63 9.16 0.85 1.03

DarleyDale
100 204 8.84 1.19 0.27 0.26
200 200 13.45 0.93 0.48 0.52

Rothbach(1)
50 89.7 10.50 9.83 0.09 0.09
1O0 111 9.69 2.62 0.47 0.46
140 84 9.70 2.26 0.65 0.64
200 30 10.98 2.09 0.93 0.97

Rothbach(2)
1!0 136 8.75 1.87 ß 0.60 0.60
150 126 13.33 1.83 1.02 1.04

Kayenta
150 180 14.70 1.46 0.71 0.71
250 96 15.00 1.41 1.00 1.05

response to theapplicationof differentialstressis approximately constituents

[Simmonsand Wang, 1971]. We usedthe Voigt-
elastic.The Young'smodulusE can be determinedfrom the Reuss-Hillaverage[Hill, 1952] of an aggregatemade up of
initialslopeof a plot of the differentialstressversusaxialstrain quartz,feldspar,
andcalcite(with [3s= 2.65 x 104•Pa4, 2.17 x
(Figure1). The independent determination of a secondelastic 104• Pa4, and 1.49 x 10'n Pa4, respectively)accordingto
modulus
is morecomplicated.
If theporepressureis maintained compositionin Table 1. Overthepressure
rangeof consideration
then the pore compressibilityis defined to be here,the decrease
constant, of 13s
withincreasingpressure
is expected to be
[Zimmerman,
1991] of secondorder.The sumof the volumepercentages of the three
phaseswas normalizedto 100%, and the contributions from
minor minerals(clay, mica, and oxides)were neglectedbecause
of the paucityof elasticmoduli data and uncertaintyabouttheir
exact compositions. Using this procedure,we estimatedthe
whereVTi istheinitialbulkvolume of thesample (atroom intrinsiccompressibilities to be 2.60 x !0 't• Pa4 (Adamswilier),
conditions),
V4•is the porevolume(undercurrent effective2.53 x 104•Pa4 (Berea),2.57 x 10-n Pa4 (BoiseII), 2.54 x 10'•
pressure
condition),
and (I) is the currentporosityvalue.The Pa4 (DarleyDale),2.56 x 104tPa-x(Kayenta)and2.56 x 104•Pa4
bracketed
term
corresponds
totheslopeofaplotoftheporosity(Rothbach). Theeffectivebulkmoduliwerethenevaluated using
changeversus
effective
mean stress
(Figures 2aand2b)atthe (2).
initial
application
ofdifferential
stress
(i.e.,atthepoint
whereP Since the failure mode is sensitive to whether the inelastic
-•Pc-Pp).
Theelasticmoduli
E and[34•
of selected
samplesdeformationis dilatantor compactive,we alsocharacterizedthe
deformed
inthebrittle
fracture
andcataclastic
flowregimes
are porositychangebehaviorat the criticalstressstatesin termsof
compiled
inTables
2 and3,respectively. the "compaction
factor"A•/Ae, definedto be the ratiobetween
Knowingthe pore compressibility,the effectiveincrementalchangeof the porosity(I) and axial strain•. This
compressibility
(corresponding
to the bulkresponse
of the parameterwasdetermined fromtheslopeof curvessuchasthose
porous
sandstone)
anditsreciprocal
(thebulkmodulus
K) canbe in the bottomgraph of Figure 1. In the brittle fractureand
evaluated
by[Walsh,
1965] cataclastic
flow regime,ArI)/zX•
valuesweredetermined
fromthe
slopesat the peakstressand at the onsetof shear-enhanced
K-- / (13+ (V13,) (2) compaction,
respectively.
where
it,denotes
theintrinsic
compressibility
ofthe(porosity-Thecompaction
factorssocalculated
represent
theratioof the
free)
solid
matrix
material
whichcanbe inferred
froman total strains,which includethe elasticand inelasticcomponents.
appropriate
average
of the elasticmoduliof the mineral Since we have estimatedthe elastic modu!i, we can also estimate
3016 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUS SANDSTONES

Discussion
compactlue
I Berea
yield
enuelopes
IOarleg
Dale Grain CrushingPressure:A Quantitative Measure
O I Kayenta of Brittleness
ß II I Rothbach
2
IRdamswiller Determination
of the criticalstressand deformation
• O [] O•O I Bolsell n
parameters
wouldnotbepossible without
a fairlycomplete
data
set.In particular,
theparallel
measurements
ofporosity
change
andAE activityarecrucial
forthistypeof study. Several
features
of thefailuremodeandmechanical behavior should
benoted.
[]
First,therearetwodistinct
modes of failure:shear
localization
at
t, oo a relativelylow effectivepressure or homogeneous cataclastic
L•o, ............. • .... -'-..... '7.... • ...... flowatelevated pressures.In thefirstmode,boththepeakstress
I 1II 211 $11 411
EFFECTIUE MEAN STRESS P, 1'4ra
andC' showpositivepressure dependence(Figure5). Asforthe
secondmode, the inelasticdeformationis associated with
significant
shear-enhanced compaction andworkhardening, and
(b) zig
!o_•_e_._c
._.s_sco thedifferential
stressfortheonsetof shear-enhancedcompaction
IPerpendlcuar(Z)
[] ß decreaseswith increasing meanstress(Figure6). Second, the
15l
parallel
(1] O ß sign of the compactionfactor changesin the transition from
C!
brittle faulting to cataclasticflow. Typically, this transition
occursat an effectivepressure Pbdt• 0.15 P* (Figure7). In the
190
transitional
regimethebehavioris morecomplex.
A samplemay
havea positive
valueof A•/Ae atthepeakstress
andyetfailby
strain softeningand developmentof conjugateshearbands.
Third, since one end of the compactiveyield envelope is
"anchored" at a locationof the P axiscorresponding
to œ*, this
impliesthatif a rockrequiresa relativelyhigheffectivepressure
I 51 I II 151 261 251
EFFECTIUEHEIIN STRESS P, MPa
for graincrushingto occur,thenthe criticalstressstatesforthe
onsetof shear-enhanced compaction arealsoexpectedto behigh.
Figure 6. (a) Stressstate C* at the onsetof shear-enhanced In otherwords,P* actsasa scalingparameterfor themagnitudes
compaction(open symbols)and peak stressfor brittle fracture of the compactiveyield stressesC* and the transitionpressure
(solidsymbols) areshownin theP (effectivemeanstress)andQ Pbdt.This is illustratedby plottingthe six yield envelopesfrom
(differentialstress)space.Note that the compactiveyield Figure 6a in the normalizedstressspace,with coordinates in
envelopeshave approximatelyelliptical shapeswith negative
P/P* andQ/P* (Figure8). In this sensethe criticalpressure ?*
slopes.Data for six sandstones are shown.(b) Comparison of
criticalstressstatesfor Rothbachsandstone
samples coredin two providesa quantitativemeasureof the "brittleness" of a porous
siliciclastic rock.
differentdirections.
Samplesperpendicular
to beddingseemto
havehigheryield stresses.
The dataarecompiledin Table3.
-5

ASSOCIATED FLOW RULE:

-- parabolic envelope
--- elliptic cap
an "inelasticcompactionfactor" by subtracting the elastic
componentfrom the total strain.At a givenstressstatewe can
determinethe ratio between the differential stressand axial strain dilatant
z-1
A(o]-o3)/A•from the slopeof curvessuchasthoseshownin the
topgraphof Figure1. Fora triaxialcompression
experimentwith (Pc-Pf}/P*
the conf'mingand pore pressuresmaintainedconstant,it can :5 0.50 11.75 1.gl

readilybeshownthattheinelastic compaction
factorisgivenby

A• (A•/A•) - •13,[A(.]-.3)/A•]/3
• = . (3)
A• 1- [6(0] -03)/6•]/E Adamswilier ""' '•, []
s•.compactlue "-,, ',,
Boise II
Boththetotalandinelastic
compaction factorsarecompiled DarleyDale
in Tables2 and3, andtheinelastic
factors
areplotted versusthe Kayenta
Rothbach 1
effectivepressure(normalized
to thecriticaleffective
pressure
P*) in Figure7. Experimentally
determinedcompaction factors
Rothbach
2
will be comparedwith plasticitytheorypredictions
in a later
section.
It should to Figure7. Inelastic
benotedthat6•/6e > 0 and< 0 correspond compaction
factorasfunction
of effective
compactireand dilatantprocesses, respectively.In the brittle pressure (normalized by the grain crashing pressure).
faultingregime,sincewe determined thecompaction
Experimentaldataarecompared
factorsat plasticitymodelsassuming
withtheoreticalpredictionsof
normality.The dashedcurvesare
the peakstressfor whichA(o•-o3)/Ae= 0, thetotal andinelastic calculated
from the associated
flow rule for the two elliptical
compactionfactors are identical. The data for the sandstones (compactive
yield)capsshownin Figure
8. Thesolid
curve
is
showvery similar trends.Overall there is a monotonicincrease fromtheassociated
flowrulefortheparabolic
envelope
(for
of AG/6• withincreasing
effective
pressure. brittlefracture)shownin Figure8.
 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUSSANDSTONES 3017

[1994] and the presentstudy,we have also addedfour data sets

___
parabolic
envelope
..... ellipticalcap
o
on unconsolidated materials: Ottawa sand under elevated
temperaturesandpressures [Dewersand Hajash, 1995], coarse
I :1,'
r..
I ,=, sand[Talwaniet aI., 1973],andglassspheres[Garbrecht,1973;
Yin and Dvorkin, 1994]. Noting that the magnitudeof P* is
primarilycontrolledby the porosityand grainsize,Zhanget al.
[1990b] formulateda Hertzianfracturemodelthatpredicts

ß (4)
&,',
with n • -3/2. It can be seenfrom Figure 9 that our new
compilation of data is in reasonableagreementwith this
t
I
theoreticalprediction.In thismicromechanicalmodelthe porous
rock is idealizedas a randomlypackedassemblage of spherical
I 1.2 1.4 9.6 1.8 1
particlesof severaldistinctsizes.Under hydrostaticloading,the
NORHIILIZEDEFFECTIUEHEIIN STRESS,
neighboringgrains are in normal contact and tensile stress
Figure
8. Stress
state
C* at theonset concentration
of'shear-enhanced is inducedin the vicinity of the circle of contact
compaction
(open
symbols)
andpeakstress
forbrittle
fracture
between two impinging grains[Johnson,1985]. The maximum
(solid
symbols)
areshownin thenormalized
P-Qspace.tensilestressis attainedat the perimeterof the contactarea,and
Effective
meanstress
anddifferential
stress
arebothnormalizedthe stressintensityfactorK• of a preexistingflaw locatedat the
bythe
grain
crushing
pressure.
Most
oftheC*data
arebracketed
contact region is approximatedby that of an edge crack
bythe
twoelliptical
caps(dashed
curves),
corresponding
to(5) [Wilshaw, 1971]. Hertzian fracture can initiate if K• reachesa
with
(¾,8)
=(0.5,0.5)and(0.5,0.7),respectively.
Thepeak
stresscriticalvaluegivenby the fracturetoughnessKt½.Assumingthat
data
arefittedwitha parabolic
fracture
envelope
(solidcurve)
the preexistingflaw dimensionscalesas the grain dimensionR,
corresponding
to (7)with(Po,qo)= (0.49,0.62).Keyasin
Figure
6. Zhanget al. [1990b]showedthat this initiationconditionwould
requirethe criticalpressureP* to scale with the porosityand
grainradiusin accordancewith (4).
Since
microstructural
parameters
(suchasporosityandgrain The Zhanget al. [1990b]modelhas beenextendedin two
size)
exertimportantcontrol graincrushing recent studies. Without making any assumptionson the
overthehydrostatic
process
[Zhangetal.,1990b],
theyshould
similarly the correlationbetweenflaw and grain sizes, Brzesowslcy
influence [1995]
compactive
yieldenvelope.
Wehaveupdated
ourcompilationof analyzedtheinfluenceof flaw statistics
on graincrushing.
Going
P*asa function
of initialporosity
ß andgrainradiusR in Table beyondthe initiationstage,Shahand Wong[1996]analyzedin
4. Otherthannew data for five sandstones
from David et aI. some detail the propagation behaviorof Hertzianfracture.

Table4. Compilation
of Experimental
DataonTheCriticalEffective
Pressure
for the
Onsetof GrainCrushingUnderHydrostatic
Loading

Grain'' GrainCrushing
Material Reference Radius Porosity Pressure
, , , ,
R, mm ß œ*, MPa

Spheres
Glasssphere Garbrecht[1973] 2.38 0.33 7.4
Glass bead Yinand Dvorkin [ 1994] 0.23 0.35 50

Unconsolidated Sand
Angularcoarsesand LeeandFarhoomand [1967] 1.4 0.52 2
Subrounded coarse LeeandFarhoomand [1967] 1.4 0.47 4
Ottawa sand Larnbe
andWhitman [1969] 0.55 0.375 28
Ottawasand(200øC) DewarsandHajash[1995] 0.1 0.40 50
Ottawa sand Zoback
[1975] 0.19 0.31 55
Coarse sand Talwani
etal. [1973] 0.325 0.35 60
Ottawasand(150øC) Dewars
andHajash[1995] 0.1 0.40 70
Consolidated Rocks
Boise sandstone II thisstudy 0.28 0.35 42
Boise sandstone I Zhang etal. [1990b] 0.46 0.35 75
Adamswilier Davidetal. [1994] 0.09 0.226 190
Rothb'ach sandstone Davidetal. [1994] 0.228 0.199 240
Lance sandstone Schock etal. [1973] 0.125 0.085 300
Kayentasandstone Zhang etal. [1990b] 0.15 0.21 300
St Peter sandstone Zhangetal.[1990b] 0.14 0.29 340
Fontainebleau Davidetal. [1994] 0.188 0.136 350
DarleyDale sandstonethis study 0.167 0.145 360
Bereasandstone Zhanget al. [1990b] 0.13 0.21 380
Yakunobasalt Shimada[1991] 0.15 0.07 400
Oughtibridge
ganisterHirthandTullis[1989] 0.055 0.074 > 1200
3018 WONGETAL.:MECHANICAL
DEFORMATION
IN POROUS
SANDSTONES
_

i i"1 i till I I I ! I •lll I ' I I

' i ! ! i Ills I
compaction,
thegrain
contacts
aresubjected
tooblique
loading
ONSET OF GRAIN CRUSHING: suchthattheresolved tangential
component is somewhat
less
hydrostatic loading thanthe frictionalresistance.
The stressfieldandfracture
o. 1888
mechanicsof thisscenariowereanalyzedrecently byShahand
Wong[1996].Theirresults showthatthe somewhat smaller
enhancements intensile
stress
andK• arestilladequate
toinitiate
graincrushing at meanstresses
significantly
lowerthanP*,in
agreement
withthelaboratory
datashownin Figures
6 and8.
188
Relation
Between
Compactive
YieldSurface
andPorosity
Reduction

Thenegative
pressure
dependenceof thecompactive
yield
envelope
hasbeenwidelyobserved
in soilmechanics
[Chen,
18 1984;DesaiandSiriwardane,
1984].Therefore
soilplasticity
formulations
suchas the criticalstate[Schofield
andWroth,
1968] and cap [DiMaggio and Sandlet, 1971] modelscan
I-I consolidated
rock
providea constitutive
frameworkfor the analysis
of cataclastic
'l • unconsolidated
sand
flow. To use plasticitytheory,we first needto identify an
ß glass
spheres appropriate yield function.In criticalstatesoil mechanics,
bo•
, , , , ,•,.i .... ,.,,I , , , ..... I circular
andellipticallociin theP-Q spacehavebeenproposed.'
6.881 8.81 8.1 1 For soil it is commonlyassumed that the yieldlocuspasses
throughthe origin, but this restrictioncan be relaxedfor
porosity x grain radius • R, mm cemented materials
[Wood,1990].In the capmodelanelliptical
Figure 9. Criticaleffectivepressure for the onsetof grain cap is commonlyadopted[DiMaggioand Sandlet,1971].As
crushingunderhydrostatic loading(/>*) as a functionof the shownin Figure8, mostof ournormalizeddataarebracketed
by
productof initial porosity((I)) and grainradius(R). The data theellipticalloci (dashedcurves)givenby
follow an approximately linear trend with a slopeof-3/2
(equation
(4)). Thedataarecompiled in Table4. (p/p,_¾)2 (Q/p,)2
+ =1
(1-¾)2 82
Althoughadditionalcomplexitiesare incorporated into these with peaksat (% •5)= (0.5, 0.5) and(0.5, 0.7), respectively.
Two
models,the predictionsof P* as a functionof (I) andR are datapointsfor BoiseII andfor Bereasandstones fall outside
the
qualitatively
similarto (4) above. boundsof the two elliptical caps.The Boise samples failedat
Our microstructural observations on Berea sandstone show relativelylow stressvalues,and thereforemeasurements of C*
that grain crushingand pore collapseare alsothe dominant may have significanterrors.
The two experimentsfor Bereawere
micromechanical processes flow regime.The conducted
in the cataclastic at effectivepressuresvery nearP*. The differential
initiationof grain crushingand pore collapsein a triaxially stresslevelsfor compactiveyield were relativelylow,andthe
compressed sandstoneare similar to those operativein valuesof the normalizeddataare sensitiveto smallvariabilityof
hydrostaticallycompacted samples,with microcracks radiated P* amongsamples.
from grain contactswith a geometryreminiscentof tensile In plasticitytheorythe conventional
approach
is to associate
indentationfractures.However, there is an importantdifference withtheyieldenvelope
(equation
(5)) a flowrulewhichsatisfies
betweenthe nonhydrostatically and the hydrostaticallyloaded the "normality"condition[Drucker,1951].We provide the
samples. The stress-inducedmicrocracking in a samplestressed mathematicaldetailsin an appendix.
The normality condition
beyondC* hasa preferredorientationsubparallel to c•, whereas places
restrictive
constraintsontheplasticstrain
increments,
and
cracking in a samplehydrostatically compacted to beyond?* is specifically
for axisymmetric loadingit requires
theinelastic
relativelyisotropic[Mendndezet al., 1996]. compaction
factorto begivenby thefollowingexpression:
The anisotropy in microcracking indicatesthatthelocalstress
field at a grain contact is strongly influencedby the AcI>P
- 3- 3 . (6)
nonhydrostaticloading. In addition to the normal loading AeP l+[8/(l_¾)12[(?_¾p,)/(3Q)]
inducedby the meanstress,a tangentialloadingis inducedby the
differential stresses. The tensile stress concentration at an The theoreticalpredictions
for the compaction
factorasa
impinginggraincontactmay be significantly enhanced by such functionof theeffectivepressure Pc-Pp (normalized
bythe
tangentialloading.The end-member casewith a tangentialforce crushing
pressureP*) areshown asdashed curves
inFigure7.
sufficientlyhigh to overcomethe frictionalresistanceon the Theyareassociated withthetwoellipticalcapsshowninFigure
contactsurface(characterized f) was 8.Onanelliptical
by the frictioncoefficient captheeffectivemean stress
P isgivenbythe
analyzedby Hamiltonand Goodman[1966], who showedthat larger
rootof the equationAP'-- 2Bœ + C = 0, withthethree
at the trailingendof the contactregionis coefficients
the stressconcentration A=9(1-7) 2+82,B=9(1-T)2(Pc-Pp)+•'TP*,
enhanced by a factorof 15.5f This is probablyan upperbound
on the tensilestressenhancement, sincerelativegrainmovement C=9(1- ¾)2(Pc- Pp)2+•2(2¾ - I)P'2 , andthedifferential
was not evident in samplesloaded to C*, implying that the stress byQ = 3 [P-(Pc- Pp)].
tangentialloadingwas not sufficientto causeslippageof the Forhydrostaticloading thecompaction factorattains
its
grain contactand therefore,at the onsetof shear-enhancedmaximum valueof 3 whentheeffective pressure
equalsthe
 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATIONIN POROUSSANDSTONES 3019

critical
crushing
pressure
P*.Although
this
isthevalue
tobe As elaborated
in the appendix,
the associated
flow rule and
expected
ofarelatively
isotropic
rock,
wearenotaware
ofany normality
conditionimplythattheinelastic
compactionfactoris
experiments
inwhich theindividual
strain were givenby
components
measured
during
hydrostatic
compaction
uptoP*. At a lower AcI)p 3
effective
pressure,
adifferential
stress
(Q> 0)isnecessary
forthe -----= 3- (8)
A•P l+(2m/3)(P/ P*-Po)
onset
ofshear-enhanced
compaction,
andthenormality
condition
requires
acompaction
factor
which
issignificantly
lower
than
3. wherethe effectivemeanstressP is given by the smallerroot of
Thelaboratory
dataare comparablein magnitude
to the theequation
AP2+ BP+ C= 0,withA = -•/6/3rn,B= •/6/3(2mpo
theoretical
prediction
foreffective
pressures
down
to0.5P* orso
- 3),C= •/6/3[(qo'mpo 2)' 3(Pc-Pp)/t'*I,
andthedifferential
(Figure
7).Previous
studies oncarbonate
rocks
[Elliott
and stressby Q = 3 [P - (Pc-Pp)].
Thetheoretical
prediction
forthe
Brown,
1985]andsalineice [Schulaon
andNickolayev,
1995]
indicate
similar
agreement
betweenexperimentandtheory.The compactionfactor
asa functionoftheeffectivepressure
Pc-Pp
(normalized
by thecrushing pressure
P*) is shownasthesolid
minimum valueof 0 for the inelasticcompaction
factor
curvein Figure7. It is associated
with the parabolicfailure
(corresponding
tothepeakofthecap)isattained
attheeffectiveenvelopeshownin Figure8.
pressure
Pc- Pp= (¾-/5/ 3)P* . In the vicinityof this The normalityconditionrequiresthe inelasticcompaction
effective
pressure
a sample
failsin a transitional
modewithan factorto benegative
in thebrittleregime,at effective
pressures
mountof inelastic
compactionwhichis consistentlygreaterthan
rangingfrom0 to (Po- qo/3)P*. While the laboratory
datado
thetheoretical
prediction.The discrepancy suggests that the
indicatedilatancyand thereforeagreequalitativelywith the
associative
flow rule andnormalityconditionare not applicable
inthetransitional
regime.
theory,thereis significant discrepancy betweenthemagnitudes
of the theoretically predictedand experimental values.This
In summary,our data for the onset of shear-enhanced
tendency for anassociated flowruleto consistently overestimate
compactionin sixsandstones arein generalagreementwiththe themagnitude of dilatationat brittlefailurehaspreviously
been
plasticity
models in two respects.First,theyieldenvelopes
are notedin soil[Chen,1984;DesaiandSiriwardane, 1984]andin
approximatelyelliptical,with stressmagnitudeswhichscaleas low-porosity rock [Senseny et al., 1983]. We couldhaveused
thegraincrushing
pressure
P*. Second,
the experimental
some othermathematical
equationsto characterize
the failure
measurements
of inelasticcompactionare comparableto the
envelope,but significantdiscrepancy betweenthe associated
predictions
of theassociativeflow rule andnormalitycondition dilatationandexperimental observation
is still expected
unlessa
foreffective
pressuresrangingfrom - 0.5 P* to P*. However,it
nonassociativeflow rule is adopted.
shouldbe notedthat both the criticalstateand cap modelsalso
In their seminalpaperon shear localizationin pressure-
includevery specificpredictionson the strain hardeningand
sensitive, dilatant materials, Rudnicki and Rice [1975]
compaction behavior which are not tested here. For Berea
formulatedan isotropichardeningmodel for rockswith three
sandstone, Wonget al. [1992] showedthat during cataclastic parameterscharacterizingthe inelasticand failure behavior:an
flowthe yield envelopeexpandsas a functionof decreasing
internal friction parameterg, a dilatancy factor 13, and a
porosity,in qualitativeagreementwith the theoreticalmodels.
hardeningmodulush. Mathematical detailsof the elastic-plastic
Nevertheless, quantitative comparisonwith the theoretical constitutive equation and the scheme by which the three
predictionswouldrequiredetailedmeasurements of stress,strain
parameterswere extractedfrom experimentaldataare discussed
andporositychangesduring cyclic loadingto "probe"the in the Appendix.The flow law is nonassociative providedthat 13
expanding yieldenvelope.It is desirableto pursuea systematic • Ix.It canbe seenfrom the numericalvaluescompiledin Table
studyofthisquestion.
1 that 13< Ix, implyingthe inelasticdilationwaslessthanwould
be predictedby normality.
BrittleFailureEnvelope, Di!atancy,andOnsetof Shear
Localization
Rudnicki and Rice [1975] showed that the inceptionof
localizationrequiresthe hardeningcoefficientto attaina critical
Inthebrittlefractureregime, theconventional approach isto valuehcrgivenby
characterize
the peakstresswith a linearfailureenvelope
[Drucker
andPrager,1952].However, experimental
dataover
anextended
range of effective
pressures
usually
showa nonlinear hcr
E -_18(1-
(g-[3)
2 3-•
v)- 1([3
+Ix+3N)
2. (9)
trend
(Figure
5). A number of empirical
equations
[e.g.,Hock
and
Brown,
1980;
Vernik
etal.,1993]havebeen Asan Foraxisymmetric
proposed. loading,
N-- 1/•/3andtheabove
equation
example,
we consider
the parabolic usedby impliesthat hcr is usuallynegative.Thereforeshearlocalization
failureenvelope
Khan
etal.[1991]
tofit theirBerea
sandstone
data.Taking
into under triaxial compressioncan occur only if the sample
account
thescaling
of thecriticalstress withP* (Figure8), undergoesstrainsoftening.The first term in the aboveexpression
states
wemodify
theirequationbyusing thenormalized asthe representsthe influenceof nonnormality,but it representsa
stresses
variables: relativelysmallcontribution
to hcr,which is primarilycontrolled
by the sum of 13and g in the secondterm. Sincethe failure
envelopeis convex(Figure 5), the local slopeand thereforetx
Q qo=- m P -po .
p•- (7) decrease somewhat with increasing effective pressure. The
overall dilatancyand therefore[3 also decreasewith increasing
Thesolidcurve
inFigure 8 corresponds
toaparabolic
envelopeeffectivepressure. The netconsequence is for her/E to become
withthepeak
at(Po,qo) = (0.49,
0.62).
Wehave chosen
m= qo/ lessnegativewith increasingeffectivepressure(Table2).
(l'po)2
sothat
theparabolawhen extrapolated
tobeyondthepeak Acousticemission[Locknetet al., 1992] and microstructural
will
intersect
thehorizontalaxisatP= P*.Except
fortheBoise[Mendndezet al., 1996]observations on Bereasandstone indicate
sandstone
data,
thisfailure
envelopeprovides
areasonable
fitto that the onsetof shear localizationoccursin the post-failure
thepeakstress
datainthebrittle
faulting
regime. stage,in qualitativeagreement
with the theoreticalprediction.To
3020 WONG ET AL.' MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUS SANDSTONES

Table 5. Compilationof ExperimentalDataon TheCriticalEffectivePressure

for the
TransitionFromBrittleFaultingto Catac!astic
Flowin Siliciclastic
Rocks
Porosity Grain Transition
RockType Reference rp Radius Pressure
R, mm Pbdt, MPa

Heavitreequartzite Hirth and Tullis[1989] 0.006 0.105 > 1000

Oughtibridgeganister HadizadehandRutter[1983] 0.074 0.056 600-700

Tennessee sandstone Rutter and Hadizadeh[ 1991] 0.075 0.075 400

Tennessee sandstone Scottand Nielson[199I] 0.06 0.088 >70

Yakuno basalt Shimada[ 1991] 0.07 0. I5 107-25!
Lance sandstone Schocket al. [1973] 0.085 0.125 300

Gosford sandstone EdmondandPaterson[1972] 0.13 0.10 100-200

Adamswillersandstone this study 0.226 0.09 60

Buntersandstone GowdandRumreel[1980] 0.15 0.138 90-100

Darley Dale sandstone this study 0.145 0.167 50-100

Bereasandstone this study 0.21 0.13 50-100

Bereasandstone Jamisonand Teufel[! 979] 0.17 0.13 80-100

Kayentasandstone Wonget aI. [1992] 0.2I 0.15 50-99

Rothbachsandstone this study 0.199 0.228 20-50

BoiseII sandstone this study 0.35 0.28 10-20

,. .

pinpointthe onset of localizationwould requirevery detailed in each sample which failed by the development
of a
microstructural observations and acoustic emission locations of
thoroughgoing
shear band. The corresponding
hardening
all oursamples.Sincethisis well beyondthescopeof thepresent coefficient is denoted by h,,in, and the numericaldata are
study,we will insteadtry to place a lower bound on hcr by compiled in Table2. Thelaboratory datashowthattheslope of
determining
the maximumnegativeslopein the post-failurestage thestress-strain curvesin thepostfailure
stageismoregentle
ata

i i i , I ,,, I
{a} : I I ll[,% -%•,• ....... I ........ I
lb}

!• 1888 •. 1068
-x ''.,•'"'"-,
• cataclastic
flou•
x '"" tectonic "', ',
_ 199 brittle • 109 faulting
faulting xx
x []
x xx,v X,, E]

.• le • IO

x )m:•< x 'x,,, ',,,

,,

,,,

.=- i Enu'ada
&Navajo ss,I::[:!Wingate
sandstone,
1 failuremodes
of SanRafaeldesert,UT Colorado
siliciclastic rocks x Punchbowlfault
sandstone,
CA
• NorthScapasandstone
Orkney,Scotland
[] cataclasticflow Cambrianquartzite, i• Lyonssandstone,
X brittlefaulting Moinethrustzone Boulder
fault,
CO
8. I .... ' ........ •'-( :-' ........ ' 8.1
8.881 8.8! 8.1 8.861 8.81 8.1

porosity x grain radius ß R, mm porosity x grain radius • R, mm

Figure10.(a)Thefailure modes atfixedeffective

pressures
of 14siliciclastic
rocks
areplottedversus theproduct
ofinitialporosity (•) andgrainradius (R).Theexperimentaldataarecompiled inTable5. Effective
pressuresfor
the.transitionfrombrittlefractureto cataclastic
flowarebracketed bythetw• dotted lineswithslopes of-3/2,
corresponding to (10).(b)Effectiveoverburdenpressuresforoccurrenceof tectonic
faultingin siliciclastic
rock
formationsareplotted versustheproduct ofporosity(tp)andgrainradius(R).Thedataarecompiled in Table6.
Thepressure isestimated fromtheoverburden depthassuminghydrostatic
porepressureina compressional setting.
Forreference thedotted lines
forthetransition
pressures
fromFigure 10aareincluded.Thegeologic dataallfallin
thebrittlefaultingregime,in agreement
withthelaboratory
data.
 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUS SANDSTONES 3021

higher
effective
pressure
(Figure
1),and
therefore siliciclasticrockswith porositiesrangingfrom <1% to 35%.
themagnitude
ofh• decreases
withincreasing
effective
pressure.
This
trend
is Althoughmany of the classicalstudieson the low-temperature
inqualitative
agreement
with
thetheoretical
prediction
onheras brittle-ductiletransitionwere conductedover limitedrangesof
afunction
oftheeffective
pressure(Table
2).However, there is effectivepressureand did not measurethe porositychangesor
significant
difference
between thetheoretically
predicted
herand AE activities,theyusuallyincludequalitativecharacterizationof
experimentally
observed
lower bound hmi,,,
withtheformer beingthe failuremodeas a functionof effectivepressure.Rutterand
less
byasmuchas1orderofmagnitude. Hadizadeh [1991] provided a relatively comprehensive
Thediscrepancy
suggeststhatthemodelhasnotcaptured all compilation,from which we obtainedmost of the datafor Table
the
important
features
ofconstitutivebehavior
responsible
forthe 5. We have addeddata from the presentstudy and plottedthe
inception
of shear
localizationin thebrittleregime.Stress-transitionpressureversus•R in Figure 10a. Two dashedlines
induced
anisotropy
in the elasticandinelasticdeformationis (with slope of-3/2 on the log-log plot) bracketthe effective
neglected.
Theisotropic
hardening
model thattheinitial pressuresover
assumes which the failure mode transition occurs, in
and
subsequent
yieldsurfaces
aresmooth, reasonable
butmicromechanical agreement
withthepredictionof equation(10).
considerations
suggest
thatvertex-like
structures
(corners)
may The empiricalrelation(10) can also be testedwith geologic
develop
in subsequent
yield surfaces. are data.We havecompileddataontectonicfaultingin six sandstone
Theseprocesses
alestabilizing
andtendtodecreasethemagnitudeofher[Rudnicki formations
in Table6. Thesestudies arechosen becausetheyall
andRice,1975;Rudnicki,1977;Chauand Rudnicki,1990].A includecharacterizationof porosity,grainsize,andoverburden
constitutive
equationincorporating may depthz. Differentstylesof faultingwereinvolved.In somecases
these complexities
provide
predictions
ontheonset
of shear
localization are the initial faulting style is poorly constrained.
which To establish
inbetter
agreement with experimentalobservations.However, contact with the laboratorydata, we estimatethe effective
of the additional constitutive parmeters overburden
characterization pressureby (p-pw)gz,with saturateddensityp --
necessitate
theuseof loadingconfigurations
suchas planestrain 2250 kg m'3andwaterdensityPw= 1000kg m'•. This choiceof
Ordetal., 1991]androtaryshear[e.g.,Olsson,1992], densitiesis appropriatefor a relatively poroussandstoneat
[e.g.,
whicharenotaxisymmetric. hydrostatic
porepressure.
Effectiveoverburden
pressure
would
be lower if the pore pressureis super-hydrostatic.
In a
CriticalPressurefor the Transition From Brittle Fracture compressionaltectonic environment,the effective overburden
toCompactive
CataclasticFlow pressure
isanalogous
totheeffective
pressure
ch- Ppin a triaxial
compression experiment.
For strike-slipandextensional
settings,
Ourexperimentaldataindicatethatthe transition
from brittle
faultingto compactivecataclasticflow occursat a critical it corresponds toanupperbound on ch - Pp.
Effective overburdenpressuresare plotted versus •R in
effective
pressure
(Pbdt)thatscalesasthe graincrushingpressure
P*,whichisprimarilycontrolledby the initialporosityandgrain Figure 10b. If the experimentallybased criterion for brittle-
ductile transitionis applicableto tectonic faulting, then the
size(equation(4)). Hence one would expectthe porosityand
effective overburdenpressuresfor the occurrenceof brittle
grainsizeto exertsimilar influenceover the transitionpressure
Pbdt:
faulting (inferred from geologic data) should fall below the
transitionboundary(indicatedby the dashedlinesin Figure10b).
at ( R) ( o) Indeed,thegeologicdataall fall withinthe brittlefaultingregime
as inferredfrom the laboratorydata. In this sense,the tectonic
withn •-3/2. Thisempiricalrelationis testedwith dataon 13 faulting and experimentaldataare in agreement,implyingthat

Table 6. Compilationof GeologicData onthe Overburden

Depthof TectonicFaultingin
SiliciclasticRock Formationsas a Functionof Porosityand Grain Size

Grain Overburden
FaultZone/RockType Reference Radius Porosity Depth,
R (mm) ß km

Colorado National Monument

Wingatesandstone JarnisonandStearns[1982] > 0.05 0.2 2

SanRafael Desert,Utah
Entradasandstone Aydin[ 1978],Stokes[ 1986] 0.1 0.25 1.864
Navajosandstone Aydin[1978],Stokes[1986] 0.05 0.24 2.039

Moine thrustzone,Scotland
Cambrianquartzite Blenkinsop
andRutter[1986] 0.1 0.15 0.9-7

Punchbowlfault zone,Calilbmia
Sandstone ChesterandLogan[1986] -0.2* 0.11 2-4

Boulderfault, Colorado
Lyonssandstone ,4ndersand •?iltschko[1994] ~ 0.!25 # 0.05 < 3.5

NorthScapafault,Orkney,Scotland
NorthScapasandstone Hippler[1993] 0.095 0.05- 0, I < 2.5

* Estimated
frommicrograph
of thefaultrockin thepublication.
#Inferred
fromtheauthors'
description
ofthesandstone
as"fine-to-medium-grained."
3022 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICALDEFORMATIONIN POROUSSANDSTONES

(10) provides
a first-order
descriptionof theinfluence of porosity 4. In the brittlefaultingandtransitional
regimes,
the
andgrainsizeon the transitionfrom brittlefaultingto cataclastic associated
flow rule predicts dilatancyto increase
with
flow in geologicsettings.A more thoroughcomparison would decreasing effective
pressure.
Though in qualitative
agreement
requiregeologicdataovera broaderrangeof overburden depths. with experimental observations
on porositychange,the
This studyfocuseson the controlof porosityand grain size theoretical
predictions
aresignificantlyhigherin magnitude.
onthelow-temperature brittle-ductile
transitionin laboratory
and Rudnicla'
andRice's[!975] localizationanalysis
predicts
the
tectonicenvironments.However,we arenot suggesting thatother onsetof shearlocalization
at a Critical
hardeningcoefficiem
microstructuralattributes(such as cementation,clay content, whichis significantly
morenegative thanexperimental
data•
sorting, and preexistinganisotropy)do not influencethe Better
agreementmaybeprovided bya constitutive
modelwhich
inelasticity and failure mode. It should also be noted that the accounts
for stress-induced
anisotropy
andvertex-like
features
secondaryinfluencesof temperatureand strainrate on the brittle onthesubsequent
yield envelopes.
failure processes have been neglected.At this point thereis a
paucity of data pertaining to these questions,and further Appendix: Plasticity Theory and Localization
systematic study would be helpful toward the physical
Analysis
understanding of theseeffectsin a typicalgeologicsetting. Our
results are also applicableto geotechnicalapplications.In For an isotropicmaterialthe initial yield behaviorcanbe
reservoirengineering,the stabilityof a deepboreholehasbeen characterized
in thestress
(cvu)
spaceasa function
of three
stress
found to be sensitivelydependenton the extent of work invariants
[Fung, !965]. In particular,
a yield envelope
hardening induced by shear-enhancedcompaction [e.g., (empirically
determinedby conventional triaxialtests)which
is
Santorelliet al., 1986; Veekenet al., 1989].Perforationdamage dependentonly on the effedtivemeanstress? anddifferential.
commonlyoccursby grain crushing[Papamichoset al., 1993]. stress
Q canbe generalized to a yieldfunctiondependent onthe
In percussive and rotarydrilling, the compaction zonemodifies first and second stress invariants
the stressfield in the proximity of the indenterand reducesthe
efficiencyof the overalldrilling process[Miller and Cheatham,
1972;Suarez-Riveraet aL, 1990].
The rock deformation data summarized here provide )2+(cv22-1X33
J2 = [(c•11-c•22 )2+(C•33--CVll
)2]/6
importantconstraintson the formulationof constitutivemodels
for othergeologicalproblems.Continuumplasticitymodelshave +c•12
2+0'232
+c•132 (A1)
been adoptedfor the analysesof carbonate[Brownand Yu,
1988], shale [$teigerand Leung, 1991], sediment[Jonesand which arerelated to P andQ by I]=3P and3J2=Q 2.
Addis, 1986] and fault gouge[Scottet al., 1994] deformation. Consequently an elliptical cap given by (5) for axisymmetric
Rutter and Neumann[1995] suggestedthat the extractionof loading correspondsto the following yield functionin the
graniticmagmainvolvesa deformation mechanism analogousto generalstressspace:
shear-enhanced compaction. Our resultson the applicability
and
limitationof associative
sandstone
and nonassociativeplasticitymodelsto
may provideusefulinsightson deformationprocesses
f(cv/j)
=(II-C)2
.2 + =0 ½2)
in theseothergeomaterials.
witha = 3 (1-¾)P*, b = 8/•/3P*, andc = 3¾P*. Attheonset
of
Conclusion
shear-enhancedcompaction,if the inelasticdeformation
follows
Drucker's [1951] postulate of material stability,then •e
1. The transitionfrombrittlefaultingto compactive cataclastic following"normality"conditionapplies:
flow in a poroussandstone occursat an effectivepressure that
scalesas the grain crushingpressure.The transitionpressure a.f.
decreases with increasingporosityand grain size in accordance Az•
=ac•/d
with a power law. This impliesthat a more porousand coarse-
grainedrock tends to be less brittle, and the grain crushing where A• denotes theplasticincrement ofthestraintensorand
pressure representsa quantitative measure of brittleness. A• isa positive scalar.
Substitutingtheyieldfunction(A2)in•o
Geologicdata on tectonicfaulting in si!iciclasticformations(of (A3), we obtainthe ratiobetween the volumetric and•xi•l
different porosity and grain size) are consistentwith the strains:
laboratorydata.
2. In the brittle faulting regime, shear-induceddilation Aei•= 1862(I1
-c) - (A4)
initiatesin the prepeakstageat a stresslevelC'. BothC' andthe A$1P
1 a2(2611
-cv22
-c•33)+662(I1
-c)
peakstressincreasewith effectivemeanstress.In the cataclastic
flow regime, inelastic deformation is associatedwith strain Theplastic
strain
components
arerelated
totheinelastic
strains
hardeningand shear-enhanced compaction,initiatingat a stress estimated
fromourlaboratory
data.Sincetheplastic
component
level C* which decreaseswith increasingeffectivemeanstress. of volumetric
strain
is dominated
by porositychange,wehave
CriticalstresslevelsC' and C* arebothmarkedby surgesin AE Ae••A •'. Theaxialcomponentof plastic
strain
issimply
activity.
3. The compactiveyield stressC* mapsout an approximately Aesp
1=Ae•' . Substituting
into(A4),theinelastic
compaction
ellipticalyield envelope,in agreementwith the criticalstateand factor
canbe expressed in thespecific
formfortriaxial
capmodels.Magnitudeof C* increases with decreasing porosity compression
givenby (6) in thetext.
and grain size. Porosity changespredictedby the flow rule In thebrittle
fractureregime theparabolic
failure
envelope
associated with the yield envelopeare in reasonableagreement given by equation (8) for axisymmetric loading can
withexperimental datain thecataclastic
flow regime. generalized
toayield function intermsofthefirst
and
 WONG ET AL.: MECHANICAL DEFORMATION IN POROUS SANDSTONES 3023

stress
invariants: sandstone the slopewas determinedby consideration of other
data for peak stressfrom Wonget al. [1992] not includedin
= 0 (^5) Table 2. It shouldbe notedthat g as definedby Rudnickiand
f(•/j) = ---•-•---
CZo-0:1
•-0:2 Rice[1975] is lessthantan{, the"coefficientof internalfriction"
commonlyassociated with the Mohr-Coulombfailure envelope.
where
Cto
+3ctl
+9(z2
=0' with 0:o=Xfg/3(qo-mpo), As a matterof fact,it canbe shownthat for triaxialcompression
tests

el=2•/'g/9mpo
and
0:2
=-xfg)27m'
Atthe
peak
stress,
ifthe 2x/'•'
sin q>.
inelastic
deformation
follows
Drucker's
[1951]
postulate
of • =
3 - sinq0
(A•O)
material
stability,
then thenormality
condition
(A3)implies
that
theratio
betweenthe(plastic)
volumetric
andaxialstrains
is After somealgebraicmanipulation,
it can alsobe shownthatthe
given
by hardeningparameteris givenby

zSe•_3- 6 (A6)
AglP
1 2-x/-•
(0:1
+20:211)
If weassume
thatAe/•=AOp, thentheinelastic
compaction wherethetangentmodulush,ancorresponds to the localslopeof a
factorcanbe expressed
in the specificformfor triaxial plot of the differentialstressversusaxial strain(suchas Figure
compression
given
by(8)inthetext. !) in a conventionaltriaxialtest.In this studywe estimatedg and
In the brittle regime, a nonassociative
elastic-plastic[3 at the peak stressfor all sampleswhich failed by shear
constitutive
equation
wasproposed
byRudnicki
andRice[1975]. localization,includingthosein the transitionalregime which
Initiationof inelasticdeformationis governedby the yield failed by development of conjugateshearbandsshowingstrain
criterion softening(h < 0) andslightlypositivecompaction
([3< 0).

f(c•
ij) =xf•-2
- -•-ll- k=0 (^7)Acknowledgments.We are grateful to JoanneFredrich, Daniel
Jeannette,and Phil Meredith for providing the Boise, Vosges,and
wereg andk areparameters the internalfriction Darley
characterizing Dale sandstonesamples,respectively.Experimentson the
Kayentasandstonewereperformed by JiaxiangZhang,andsomeof the
andcohesion,
respectively.
Thisyieldfunctionis identicalto that modalandgrainsizeanalyses wereconducted by Ann Cox andDaniel
proposed
byDruckerandPrager[1952],andif the normality Jeannette. We have benefited from discussions with Yves Bemab6,
condition
is imposed,then the inelasticcompaction
factoris JoanneFredrich,BeatrizMen6ndez,Gene Scott, Ketan Shah,and Larry
given
by-3g/(•/3- g).Asdiscussed Teufelduringvariousstagesof thisproject.We thankMike Batzle,John
in thetext,theassociated
Rudnicki,and Steve Mackwell for their critical reviews.The second
flowruleoverestimates
the rock'spotentialto dilate.To better authorwas supported
by Elf Aquitaineand the FrenchMinist•redes
characterize
porositychange, a dilatancyfhctor13(correspondingAffairesEtrang•reson a postdoctoral
fellowshipduringhisstayat Stony
totheratioof theplasticvolumetricstrainto theshearstrain)is Brook. This researchwas supportedby the Office of Basic Energy
incorporatedin the nonassociative formulation.The strain Sciences, Department of EnergyundergrantDEFG0294ER14455 and
(and softening) behavior is characterizedby a by NATO undergrantCRG-910927.
hardening
parameter
h, whosesignis positive(or negative)for the prepeak
stage.As elaboratedby Rudnicki[1984], the References
(orpostpeak)
parametersg, 13,andh evolvewith the inelasticdeformation
and Anders,M.H., andD.V. Wiltschko,Microfracturing,paleostress, andthe
theplastic
straintensoris described
by growthof faults,J. Struct.Geol.,16, 795-815,1994.
Antonellini,M., andA. Aydin,Effectof faultingon fluid flow in porous

t•:i5
=1__ I ' 1('
Gij • {Jkl }.t
h(2•2+• ij 2Xf• kl+'•A(C•kk
2AIj +pp(A8) )1 sandstones:
Antonellini, Petrophysical
properties,
AAPG
M.,A.Aydin,
deformation bands Bu!l.,
78,
355-377,
inporous and D.D. Pollard,
sandstones
Utah,J. Struct.Geol., 16, 941-959, 1994.
Microstructure
atArches of
National
Park,
Aydin,A., Smallfaultsformedasdeformation
bandsin sandstones,
Pure
with
thedeviatoric
stress
tensor
c•0'=cv
./i- (o• / 3)8/j. In the Appl.Geophys., 116,913-930,1978.
above
equationwe havefollowedRudnickiand Rice's[1975] Aydin, A., and A.M. Johnson,Developmentof faults as zonesof
convention,
takingtensilestresses
to bepositive. deformationbandsand as slip surfacesin sandstone,Pure Appl.
Theconstitutive
parameters
canbe extracted
from triaxial Geophys, 116,931-942,1978.
Bemab6, Y., and W.F. Brace, Deformation and fracture of Berea
compression
experiment
data in the followingmanner.If we sandstone,in The Brittle-Ductile Transition in Rocks, Geophys.
assume
thatzX• • AOp, thenthedilatancy
factor
isgivenby Monogr.Serf.Vp;/56, editedby A.G. Dubaet al., pp.91-101,AGU,
Washington,
D.C., 1990.
Blenkinsop,
T.G., andE.H. RutteLCataclasticdeformation of quartzite
[3= - • /x•p/ Ag
p ,
(A9)Brace,
in the Moine ThrustZone, ,L.Struct. Geol., 8, 669-682, 1986.
W.F., Volumechangesduringfractureandfrictionalsliding:A
(3-A• p / Agp)
review,PureAppl.Geophys., 116, 603-614, 1978.
Brown,E.T., andH.S. Yu, A modelfor the ductileyieldof porousrocks,
Thedifference
in signconvention
between
thedilatancy
and lnt. J. Numer.Anal. MethodsGeomech.,12, 679-688, 1988.
compaction
factors
shouldbe noted:if AOp / AaP < 0, then[3>
Brzesowsky,R., Micromechanics of Sand Grain Failure and Sand
0.According
to(A7),thefriction
parameterg canbeevaluated Compaction, Ph.D.thesis,UtrechtUniv., Utrecht,Netherlands,
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