Shear failure analysis of a shallow depth unsupported borehole drilled through poorly cemented granular rock
- Authors: Hashemi, Sam , Taheri, Abbas , Melkoumian, Noume
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Engineering Geology Vol. 183, no. (2014), p. 39-52
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Adopting an appropriate failure criterion plays a key role in the borehole stability analysis. In this paper the induced stresses on a vertical borehole wall were calculated based on the elastic theory. Then, to predict the stability of a borehole drilled through a poorly cemented sand formation, failure envelopes in different failure criterion domains were derived using the results from a series of precise laboratory tests conducted on solid and hollow cylinder specimens. The mixture used in specimen preparation was designed to simulate the properties of the samples collected from depths up to 200m at a drilling site in South Australia. The hollow cylinder test apparatus was developed by modifying a Hoek triaxial cell. These modifications allowed observing the process of debonding of sand grains from the borehole wall during the test and consequently, acquiring a better understanding on the failure mechanisms of a borehole drilled through poorly cemented sand formations. Three well-known failure criterion domains; Coulomb, Drucker–Prager and Mogi, were considered versus the laboratory test data to investigate their capability to predict the shear failure of a borehole using the data from hollow cylinder tests. The obtained results showed the significance of selecting an appropriate failure domain for predicting the shear failure behavior of poorly cemented sands near the borehole wall. The results also showed that the Coulomb criterion is not well suited for predicting the borehole failure when there is no pressure acting inside the borehole. A failure envelope based on the Mogi domain was developed which can be used for the far-field stress states. The introduced failure envelope allows predicting the stability of a borehole drilled in poorly cemented sands.
Maximising the efficiency of Menard pressuremeter testing in cohesive materials by a cookie-cutter drilling technique
- Authors: Tolooiyan, Ali , Dyson, Ashley , Karami, Mojtaba , Shaghaghi, Tahereh , Ghadrdan, Mohsen , Tang, Zhan
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Engineering Geology Vol. 287, no. (Jun 2021), p. 106096
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Menard pressuremeter testing has been widely used in geotechnical engineering applications for 40 years and is an important technique in determining in-situ horizontal stress distributions. In this study, Menard pressuremeter testing is combined with a "cookie-cutter" insertion technique to determine horizontal stresses for a soft-rock in an operational Australian mine. The method presents an alternative to the Self-Bored Pressuremeter, with cookie-cutter drill rods allowing for sample recovery and further laboratory testing. The method accommodates for the presence of gravel and hard layered materials that present a risk of damage to cutting shoes of Self-Bored Pressuremeter devices. The combination of a sonic drill rig, coupled with the cookie cutter rods produces a close tolerance pocket resulting in "pseudo self boring pressuremeter tests". The undrained shear strength, unload-reload shear modulus and in-situ horizontal stress are presented from pressuremeter tests conducted in the region for the first time. The undrained shear strength was observed in the range of 0.47-0.57 MPa, the unload-reload shear modulus between 17.43 and 18.25 MPa, the lift-off pressure in the range of 0.35-0.61 MPa. The K-0 of coal was equal to 1, with interseam materials ranging from 2.1 to 3.5. Results of the cookie-cutter insertion method are compared with conventional drilling methods, with the cookie-cutter insertion test providing results in good agreement with both advanced triaxial laboratory tests and FEM numerical analysis. Cookie-cutter pressuremeter tests were conducted on cohesive soils at Australia's second-largest open-pit mine, with pressuremeter test results presented for Victorian brown coal for the first time.