Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
In most rock mechanical testing devices, the texture developed during deformation is only observed after the failure, and the detailed mapping of cracks and pore structure evolution, just before or after rupture, remains speculative. Computerized X-ray tomography (CT X-ray) offers a way to observe 'in vivo' some characteristics of a tested sample in the course of its deformation. Therefore we developed an X-ray transparent tri-axial cell that was included in a medical purpose X-ray scanner with a volumetric resolution of the order of 1 mm3. This technique is described and applied to a porous calcarenite, which is regularly scanned for porosity evolution during mechanical testing. The experiment is performed at low confining pressure (2-10 MPa). During testing, an axial load is applied until failure and is then progressively decreased. In these experiments, the peak stress is preceded by phase of diffuse dilatancy. After failure localization, the axial stress is unloaded until the stress reaches isotropy. During this unloading phase, the previous diffuse dilatancy is lost due to an elastic relaxation. Then, the stress is completely relaxed. At this moment the dilatancy increases again and the residual dilatancy is larger than that reached at the peak stress. When observed "post mortem" at microscopic scale, the dilatant structures are comprised of cataclastic deformation bands and cracks in some larger crystals.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science

hal-00767563
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00767563
DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2012.07.020

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : We present an experimental study of relations between hydraulic properties of clayey rocks and their deformation at bulk and micro scale. The experimentation is based on triaxial deformation of kaolinitic core samples, on permeability measurements, and on several methods of analysis of the microstructure. To produce the samples, remoulded kaolinite material is consolidated by axial loading up to 20 MPa in an oedometric cell. Then, in a triaxial cell, an undrained stress path is applied in order to induce shearing damage in the sample. The permeability of the sample is measured by fluid flow across the sample. Before and after these hydro-mechanical tests, the evolution and the homogeneity of the pore space and moreover the texture of the material are analysed by X-ray tomography, environmental scanning electron microscopy and thermic neutron diffraction. Contrary to expectations, the permeability at the sample scale does not vary significantly, although quite large deformation is reached. The final deformation is heterogeneous, with well-developed shear bands. It appears that the development of compacting and dilating zones generates a heterogeneous permeability field, which results in a negligible variation of the bulk permeability at the sample scale.
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Science

hal-00496407
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00496407
DOI : 10.1016/j.ijrmms.2010.04.007

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Nature Publishing Group
Résumé : International audience
The understanding of crop domestication is dependent on tracking the original geographical distribution of wild relatives. The faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is economically important in many countries around the world; nevertheless, its origin has been debated because its ancestor could not be securely identified. Recent investigations in the site of el-Wad (Mount Carmel, Israel), provide the first and, so far, only remains of the lost ancestor of faba bean. X-ray CT scan analysis of the faba beans provides the first set of measurements of the biometry of this species before its domestication. The presence of wild specimens in Mount Carmel, 14,000 years ago, supports that the wild variety grew nearby in the Lower Galilee where the first domestication was documented for Neolithic farmers 10,200 years ago.
ISSN: 2045-2322

Droits : http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
hal-01417973
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01417973
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01417973/document
http://hal.upmc.fr/hal-01417973/file/srep37399.pdf
DOI : 10.1038/srep37399