Experimental study of poromechanical behavior of Callovo-Oxfordian claystone in undrained triaxial compression and extension tests

Abstract

The Callovo-Oxfordian (COx) claystone is selected as the host rock in the French project for geological disposal of radioactive waste. In its initial state, the host rock is fully saturated. Due to the low permeability, the pore fluid pressure can locally evolve in a quasi undrained condition due to subsequent mechanical and thermal loading, and then significantly affects deformation and cracking process of geological barrier. Most previous studies were carried out in quasi drained conditions or with constant pore pressure. Poromechanical behavior of COx claystone in undrained condition has been so far rarely investigated. In the present work, we carry out a new series of laboratory tests. Two representative loading paths are considered: triaxial compression with constant confining pressure and triaxial extension with constant mean stress. The variations of strain and pore pressure are measured during the tests. It is found that the poromechanical behavior of the claystone is clearly affected by loading path. The failure strength is higher in triaxial compression than in extension. The evolution of pore fluid pressure is correlated with volumetric strain. Compared with the results obtained in drained tests, it seems that the Terzaghi effective stress can be used for the description of pore fluid pressure effect on failure strength.