Unconfined Expansion Test (UET) for measuring the tensile strength of organic soft rock

An Unconfined Expansion Test (UET) is presented for measuring the tensile strength of Intermediate Geotechnical Materials (IGM). The test is performed by generating radial cavity expansion inside a cylindrical specimen. Pressure redistributes evenly around the cavity wall during the test. Tensile failure initiates on the weakest plane around the cavity and radially propagates across the specimen. By also capturing the stress-strain relationship and deriving the shear modulus, a UET is also capable of measuring the tensile elastic modulus of the material. An eXtended Finite Element Method (XFEM) analysis using Abaqus/Standard has been carried out to verify the UET test results.