Effects of crystal orientation, temperature, deviatoric stress, and confining stress on creep of rock salt

The creep of rock salt greatly influences the performance and safety of rock salt caverns when they are used as an underground repository for oil, nuclear waste, or other hazardous materials. Creep may cause shearing of casings of oil wells drilled through thick layers of salt rock formation. The crystallographic structure of salt rock grains, in-situ deviatoric stress changes caused by excavation, confining stress from the surrounding environment, and ambient temperature can have a significant impact on the creep behavior of rock salt. Although the creep behavior of polycrystalline rock salt has been extensively studied by many researchers, the creep behavior of single-crystal natural rock salt is not yet fully understood. This paper investigates the influence of crystal orientation, temperature, deviatoric stress, and confining stress on the creep behavior of single-crystal and polycrystalline rock salt. 42 long-term creep experiments with various temperatures, confining stresses, and deviatoric stresses were conducted on natural single-crystal specimens. The temperatures were 20, 100, and 150 °C, the confining stresses were 0.1, 1.0, and 5.0 MPa, and the various deviatoric stresses were applied in different loading directions with respect to the specimen's crystal orientations. Additionally, 18 long-term creep experiments were performed on synthetic polycrystalline specimens with wet grain boundaries at temperatures of 20, 100, and 150 °C, at confining stresses of 0.1, 1.0, and 5.0 MPa, and various deviatoric stresses. The effects of the mentioned experimental conditions on the accumulated axial strain, transient strain rate, and steady-state strain rate during the creep of rock salt were then examined and discussed in detail. Moreover, the influence of temperature, deviatoric stress, and confining stress on the steady-state creep of single crystal rock salt is examined within the context of existing polycrystalline creep data available in the literature.