Experimental investigation and micromechanics-based damage modeling of the stress relaxation mechanical properties in gray sandstone

The geomechanical behaviors of the gray sandstones under dry and fully saturated conditions are investigated by both of experimental and numerical studies in this paper. Conventional triaxial compression tests and single-stage stress relaxation tests are performed on cylindrical specimens under these two different states. The experimental results show that both peak strength and elastic modulus are reduced due to the presentence of the pore water which is contributed the weakening. While the typical incomplete attenuation characteristics of the two states are only having slight difference, the final stress relaxation extent under the statured condition is larger than the dry condition when the strain ratio is the same. Based on the pioneering work, a new micromechanical damage-friction coupling constitutive model with containing fewer parameters and each being physically meaningful for the stress relaxation is proposed here. Its chief novelty lies in considering both the instantaneous plastic internal variables and relaxation load to build the relationship between model's parameter and experimental data. The single-stage relaxation tests of the sandstones are well-benchmarked with this model, which indicates that the proposed new model can capture the incomplete attenuation features of stress relaxation behavior of gray sandstones.

Automated summary

The geomechanical behaviors of gray sandstones under dry and fully saturated conditions were investigated through experimental and numerical studies. The presence of pore water contributed to the reduction of both peak strength and elastic modulus. A new micromechanical damage-friction coupling constitutive model was proposed to capture the incomplete attenuation features of stress relaxation behavior of gray sandstones.