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 Mechanical and Hydrologic Laboratory
1,000,000 lbf Triaxial Test Apparatus
with Transient Pulse Permeability

RESPEC’s mechanical and hydrologic properties laboratory is one of the best equipped laboratories in the world for studying rock behavior under complex coupled thermal, mechanical, and hydrologic loading conditions. Four computer-controlled servohydraulic testing systems and ten computer-controlled triaxial compression creep testing systems can apply:
  • Tensile strength
  • Axial loads to 4.5 MN (l,000,000 pounds)
  • Confining and pore pressures to 140 MPa (20,000 psi)
  • Temperatures to 300°C (570°F).
The testing systems can be equipped with liquid or gas permeability systems, sophisticated electronic instrumentation for on-the-specimen deformation measurements and ultrasonic velocity/acoustic emission measurements at temperatures to 175°C (350°F), or a pressure vessel designed especially for applying multiaxial stress paths.

RESPEC engineers are experienced with formulating testing and analysis programs for routine quality control testing conducted according to the standard methods recommended by ASTM, ISRM, or API and for specialized testing conducted to resolve specific customer problems and regulatory concerns.

The following mechanical and hydrologic testing services are available:
View of 10 Creep Machines
for Long-Term Tests


  • Unconfined compressive strength
  • Confined compressive strength
  • Triaxial compression under conditions of constant mean stress, uniaxial strain, constant strain (stress relaxation), and cyclic/fatigue loading 
  • Triaxial creep/creep rupture
  • Multiaxial creep (hollow cylinder)
  • One-dimensional and hydrostatic compaction and consolidation
  • Fracture toughness
  • Intrinsic single-phase permeability at simulated in situ stress and temperature conditions
  • Liquid permeants including water, brine, and oil
  • Gas permeants including air, nitrogen, and argon with Klinkenberg correction
  • Water content, density, and porosity determinations
  • Specialized testing for:
    • Constitutive model development
    • Characterization of rock/fluid interaction
    • Customer-specified applications
 

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