Fracture of sedimentary rocks under a complex triaxial stress state

Most sedimentary rocks have layered structure, and their strength properties are therefore anisotropic; as a consequence, the rock strength depends on the direction of the applied stresses. In this case, various fracture mechanisms are possible. The following two possible fracture mechanisms are considered: actions along the bedding planes, which are weakening surfaces, and along the planes where stresses exceeding the total rock strength are attained. A triaxial independent loading test bench was used to study the fracture conditions for layered rocks composed of productive oil-and-gas strata in complex true triaxial loading tests. The study shows a good qualitative agreement between experimental results and theoretical estimates.