Criteria for defining the required duration of a creep test

Abstract

Time-dependent behaviour of some types of rocks is of the “creep” type, in particular in underground works, mining works, and in measuring procedures of rock properties. Tests used for defining material parameters or parameters relevant to defining a failure or behaviour of a material in the plastic state are usually of significantly shorter duration than the creep test. The duration of creep tests may vary from several hours to several years depending on the material being tested and the phenomenon that is the subject of the research. The required duration of the creep test, which provides reliable definition of the time-dependent material parameters of the rheological model, is a theoretical but also practical issue. The theoretical issue relates to establishing criteria for defining the required duration of the creep test. The practical issue relates to minimizing the duration of the creep test from which the necessary material parameters of the rock mass are obtained for correct numerical calculations. This paper proposes criteria for defining the required duration of a rock creep test, based on analysis of the results of unconfined uniaxial compression tests performed on marly rock samples.