Engineering Research Equipment Grant: Large Scale PolyaxialTesting Apparatus

A large polyaxial loading system is being procured, which will be employed to apply triaxial compression to large (l2 x l2 x l2 in) specimens of rock. The equipment to be procured includes flatjacks, hydraulic assemblies, a hydraulic pump, and a data acquisition system. The equipment will initially be utilized to investigate: the spall failures induced in deep bore holes by field stresses and thermal stresses; the shear conductivity for dilatant rock joints; acoustic emission monitoring of fluid injection into various types of rock; failure theories of coal which will include three dimensional stress effects; and inelastic effects and residual strain in stress measurements of rock masses.