Fracture initiation and propagation in intact rock—A review

The initiation and propagation of failure in intact rock are a matter of fundamental importance in rock engineering. At low confining pressures, tensile fracturing initiates in samples at 40%-60% of the uniaxial compressive strength and as loading continues, and these tensile fractures increase in density, ultimately coalescing and leading to strain localization and macro-scale shear failure of the samples. The Griffith theory of brittle failure provides a simplified model and a useful basis for discussion of this process. The Hoek-Brown failure criterion provides an acceptable estimate of the peak strength for shear failure but a cutoff has been added for tensile conditions. However, neither of these criteria adequately explains the progressive coalition of tensile cracks and the final shearing of the specimens at higher confining stresses. Grain-based numerical models, in which the grain size distributions as well as the physical properties of the component grains of the rock are incorporated, have proved to be very useful in studying these more complex fracture processes.

The Stability Criterion Model and Stability Analysis of Waxy Crude Oil Pipeline Transportation System Based on Excess Entropy Production

Based on the theory of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, considering the dynamic effect of molecular diffusion and the change in thermodynamic parameters caused by wax precipitation, the phenomenological relations of different thermodynamic "force" and "flow" interactions were derived. The corresponding thermodynamic model of a waxy crude oil pipeline transportation system was built, and then, the excess entropy production expression was proposed. Furthermore, the stability criterion model of the pipeline transportation system was established on the basis of Lyapounov stability theory. Taking the oil pipeline in Daqing oilfield as an example, based on the four parameters of out-station temperature, out-station pressure, flow rate and water content, the stable and unstable regions of the system were divided, and the formation mechanisms of the two different regions were analyzed. The experimental loop device of wax deposition rate was designed, and then, the wax deposition rate under the four parameters was measured. The results showed that the stable region of the wax deposition rate fluctuation was basically in accordance with the stability region analyzed by the criterion model established in this paper, which proved that the stability criterion model was feasible for analyzing the stability of the waxy crude oil pipeline transportation process.

Evaluation of Different Predictor Models for Detailed Soil Particle-Size Distribution

An accurate mathematical representation of soil particle-size distribution(PSD) is required to estimate soil hydraulic properties or to compare texture measurements using different classification systems. However, many databases do not contain full PSD data,but instead contain only the clay, silt, and sand mass fractions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the abilities of four PSD models(the Skaggs model, the Fooladmand model, the modified Gray model GM(1,1), and the Fredlund model) to predict detailed PSD using limited soil textural data and to determine the effects of soil texture on the performance of the individual PSD model.The mean absolute error(MAE) and root mean square error(RMSE) were used to measure the goodness-of-fit of the models, and the Akaike's information criterion(AIC) was used to compare the quality of model fits. The performance of all PSD models except the GM(1,1) improved with increasing clay content in soils. This result showed that the GM(1,1) was less dependent on soil texture.The Fredlund model was the best for describing the PSDs of all soil textures except in the sand textural class. However, the GM(1,1) showed better performance as the sand content increased. These results indicated that the Fredlund model showed the best performance and the least values of all evaluation criteria, and can be used using limited soil textural data for detailed PSD.