A Review of Techniques for Measuring the Biot Coefficient and Other Effective Stress Parameters for Fluid-Saturated Rocks

Predicting the behavior of a saturated rock with variations in pore fluid pressure during geo-energy production and storage, deep geological disposal of nuclear wastes, etc. is carried out using the isothermal theory of poroelasticity that incorporates Biot's effective stress principle. Several experimental methods for determining Biot's effective stress parameter have been documented in the literature. The original definition of Biot's effective stress is constantly being extended to account for non-linear and inelastic behavior of the rock. The objective of this study is to review the fundamentals of the original experimental approach for determining Biot's coefficient and other developments, their advantages and disadvantages, and include several case studies. Current techniques are based on different premises: jacketed and unjacketed bulk moduli or compressibility values; volume changes of the bulk and pore fluid from a drained triaxial test on a saturated sample; isotropic-isochoric compression tests on a saturated sample; matching volumetric strains or failure envelopes for dry and saturated samples; variations of rock properties, such as volumetric strain, permeability, compressional and shear wave velocities, with respect to confining stress and pore pressure; estimation of the Biot coefficient from other poroelastic parameters; and approximation of the dry bulk modulus or unjacketed bulk modulus of the rock from mineralogical compositions or ultrasonic wave velocities. This article discusses variations in Biot's effective stress coefficients produced using the different techniques and how factors such as pore geometry, test conditions, stress path, and test temperature affect the Biot's coefficient.