Alomari Esraa M, Ng Kam W, Khatri Lokendra, Wulff Shaun S
Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering and Construction Management, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA.
Materials (Basel). 2023 Jul 6;16(13):4867. doi: 10.3390/ma16134867.
Mechanical properties of sandstone, such as compressive strength and young's modulus, are commonly used in the design of geotechnical structures and numerical simulation of underground reservoirs using models such as the digital groundwater, equivalent porous medium, and Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) models. A better understanding of the mechanical behaviors of sandstone under different loading conditions is imperative when assessing the stability of geotechnical structures. This paper highlights the effect of the physical properties (i.e., porosity, mean grain size) and environmental conditions (i.e., water content and confining stress) on uniaxial compressive strength, triaxial compressive strength, and young's modulus of sandstone. A series of uniaxial and triaxial compression experiments are conducted on sandstone formations from Wyoming. In addition, experimental data on sandstones from the literature are compiled and integrated into this study. Prediction equations for the compressive strengths and young's modulus of sandstone are established based on commonly available physical properties and known environmental conditions. The results show that the mean Uniaxial Compressive Strength (UCS) decreases as the porosity, water content, and mean grain size increase. Furthermore, a predictive empirical relationship for the triaxial compressive strength is established under different confinements and porosity. The relationship suggests that the mean peak compressive strength increases at a higher confinement and decreases at a higher porosity. The results and recommendations provide a useful framework for evaluating the strength and deformation of most sandstone.
砂岩的力学性能，如抗压强度和杨氏模量，通常用于岩土结构设计以及使用数字地下水、等效多孔介质和离散裂缝网络（DFN）模型等对地下储层进行数值模拟。在评估岩土结构的稳定性时，必须更好地了解砂岩在不同加载条件下的力学行为。本文着重介绍了物理性质（即孔隙率、平均粒径）和环境条件（即含水量和围压）对砂岩单轴抗压强度、三轴抗压强度和杨氏模量的影响。对来自怀俄明州的砂岩地层进行了一系列单轴和三轴压缩试验。此外，还收集了文献中关于砂岩的实验数据并将其纳入本研究。基于常见的物理性质和已知的环境条件，建立了砂岩抗压强度和杨氏模量的预测方程。结果表明，随着孔隙率、含水量和平均粒径的增加，平均单轴抗压强度（UCS）降低。此外，还建立了不同围压和孔隙率下三轴抗压强度的预测经验关系。该关系表明，在较高围压下平均峰值抗压强度增加，而在较高孔隙率下降低。研究结果和建议为评估大多数砂岩的强度和变形提供了一个有用的框架。
