Effect of Intermediate Principal Stress on the Strength, Deformation, and Permeability of Sandstone

Abstract

Although the mechanical behaviors and flow aspects of sandstone have been previously investigated, studies of the effect of the intermediate principal stress (σ2) on the strength, deformation, and permeability of sandstone are lacking. In this work, the mechanical behaviors and permeability of sandstone under true triaxial stress conditions were investigated using a newly developed true triaxial geophysical apparatus. The experimental results showed that with increasing σ2, the peak strength, octahedral effective normal stress, and octahedral effective shear stress of the sandstone increased, and the rate of increase decreased. This is because a larger intermediate principal stress coefficient b has an inhibitory effect on rock strength. In our study, as the ratio of σ2/σ3 increased, the specimen entered compressive strain in the σ2 direction during the first stress drop. The stress and strain path deviations occur during rock failure. The amount of deviation increased as the σ2 increased before the peak stress. This phenomenon indicates that elastic mechanics are not suitable for understanding this sandstone rock during its failure. The permeability evolution of the sandstone under true triaxial stress conditions was measured and analyzed to investigate the effect of σ2. During the complete true triaxial stress-strain experiments, the variation we found in gas seepage velocity could be divided into two stages. Before the first pressure drop, the gas seepage velocity was mainly affected by volume strain. After the first pressure drop, the seepage velocity was affected by the deviator strain, which can change the seepage channels.