the impact of water content and ionic diffusion on the uniaxial compressive strength of shale

Experimental data showed that water content has a profound influence on the uniaxial compressive strength of shale. Testing has shown a great decrease in the uniaxial compressive strength as the water content increases. Regression analysis was used in this work to develop a general equation for predicting uniaxial compressive strength of shale from the available information on its water content and dry uniaxial compressive strength. The impact of ionic diffusion on the compressive strength of shale has been investigated under three saturation conditions: wet shale, dry shale and chemically balanced wet shale. A chemically balanced shale has a water activity (chemical potential) which equals that of the test solution. Results show that, except for potassium ions, ionic diffusion has reduced the compressive strength of all studied shales. It has also been confirmed that diffusion osmosis has a detrimental effect on the mechanical stability of shale by reducing its compressive strength. Furthermore, it was found that when the water activity of shale is slightly higher than that of the test solution, chemical osmosis plays a major role in strengthening the shale by extracting water out of the shale. However, when the water activity of the shale is much higher than that of the test solution, diffusion osmosis weakens the shale. In other words, the detrimental impact of diffusion osmosis overtakes the beneficial effect of chemical osmosis. Moreover, this work shows that compressive strength measurements for completely dried shale could be misleading due to the development of capillary forces that significantly modifies the compressive strength of shale. Finally, the impact of ionic diffusion on the compressive strength of shale was carried out in the absence of both chemical osmosis and capillary forces. Results show that the invasion of sodium and calcium ions into shale reduced its compressive strength considerably while the invasion of potassium ions enhanced its compressive strength.