Porosity equilibrium, strain hardening, and intrinsic micromechanical

model of poromechanics

Alexander H.-D. Cheng

University of Mississippi, Oxford, Mississippi, USA

Younane N. Abousleiman
The PoroMechanics Institute, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

ABSTRACT: This paper explores the role of porosity and an intrinsic micromechanical model in the Biot
theory of poroelasticity. Particularly, when the change of porosity is treated as a variable, as it can be of the same
magnitude as the strain, it needs to satisfy the porosity equilibrium equation established from the variational
principle of minimum energy. The porosity equilibrium condition automatically introduces a geometric nonlin-
earity with all linear material properties. The resultant is a universal strain hardening law in the small strain
range.

1 INTRODUCTION Another controversy of the Biot theory is the role of

The poroelasticity theory that describes the mechan-
ical behavior of fluid infiltrated porous solid was
established by Biot (1941). This widely accepted
theory was originally a phenomenological theory. Cor-
responding to the solid stresses and strains in the
elasticity theory, these definitions were interpreted on
the porous frame, and not on the phase materials. A
fluid pressure p and a variation of fluid content were
then introduced to accommodate the fluid component.
By generalizing the Hookes law, constitutive equa-
tions were constructed for these apparent stresses and
strains. For linear and isotropic poroelastic materials,
four bulk material constants were found, as compared
to two for elasticity.
This macroscopic theory was later modified to a
microscopic theory that distinguished the solid and
fluid phases, the pore space, and the stresses and strains
corresponding to these phases (Biot, 1955; Biot and
Willis, 1957). The constitutive laws and the associated
material constants, however, were constructed based
on the effective stresses concept, a vestige of Terza-
ghis effective stress. For example, one version of the
micromechanical theory (Rice and Cleary, 1976) gave
six material constants, the drained bulk modulus K,
two apparent bulk moduli Ks
and Ks
, the fluid bulk deformation mechanisms then allows the identifica-
modulus Kf , the shear modulus G, and the porosity 0 .
We notice that K, Ks
and Ks
are apparent constants as porosity structure. The last part of nonlinearity is the
their relations to the stiffness of the solid phase, the
pore space, and the interaction of the phases are not
clear and not known.
porosity. Porosity is considered as a material constant
in Biot theory. However, we can imagine the following
situation: given a granular material made of stacking
of rigid solid grains. When such a material is sub-
jected to compression, it is clear that the deformation
of the frame is entirely contributed by the reduction
of pore space. If the strain (the percentage deforma-
tion of the frame) is considered a variable, why isnt
porosity?
In the following, we shall answer these questions by
presenting a physically-based micromechanical the-
ory constructed on the minimum energy principle and
the mass conservation law of solid and fluid phases
(Lopatnikov and Cheng, 2002). The theory allows the
isolation of volumetric deformation into three basic
modes: that of the solid phase, that of porosity, and the
solid-porosity interaction due to inhomogeneity and
anisotropy in the microscale. Also, we shall explore
the implication of the porosity equilibrium equation,
which is a result of treating porosity as a variable. We
demonstrate that even if all the phase materials are
linear, the resultant poroelasticity theory is nonlinear.
This geometric nonlinear theory leads to a universal
strain hardening law that is independent of the mate-
rial and the porosity structure. The isolation of the
tion of the structural nonlinearity due to the change of
material nonlinearity, which will manifest itself only if
the deformation is large and a large part of pore space
has collapsed.

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
 Laboratory data involving soft sediment cores
retrieved from offshore are used to test the present
theory.
2 INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL AVERAGING
To construct the constitutive law for a porous material
with random structure, it is important to recognize two
types of averaging processes: the volume averaging
and the external surface averaging.
It is well known from composite (inhomogeneous)
material theory (Nemat-Nasser and Hori, 1999) that
stresses and strains need to be volume averaged
over the inhomogeneous medium contained in the
REV (representative elementary volume). For porous
media, the averaging needs to be conducted separately
for the solid and the fluid phase. For the solid stresses
and strains, the averaging is performed as follows:
where ijs and sij are respectively the stress and strain
tensor of the solid phase, sijs and  sij are the averaged
stress and strain tensors, uis is the displacement vector,
tis = ijs nsj is the surface traction, nsi is the components
where ijs and sij are respectively called the external
stresses and external strains. Comparing the defini-
tions of (1) and (2) to (3) and (4), we notice that they
differ in the integration over the internal surface !i .
To construct micromechanics based on the physi-
cal laws tied to the intrinsic properties of the phase
materials, volume averaging is needed. On the other
hand, for purposes of engineering application, stresses
and strains are better observed as external surface
averaged quantities. The difference in these defini-
tions must be reconciled. For the strains, it is easy to
show (Lopatnikov and Cheng, 2002) that the integra-
tion over the internal surface produces the change of
pore space, which produces the following relation for
the volumetric strain
where  is the change in porosity, and the volumetric
strains are defined as  s =  sij and s = sij Similarly
we can construct the following relation for the fluid
internal and external strains (Lopatnikov and Cheng,
2002)
For the stresses, it is easy to show that due to the
of unit outward normal, s is the volume of solid
phase, and !s is the surface of the solid phase. These
averaged stresses and strains will be referred to as
internal stresses (sijs ) and internal strains (sij ).
We notice that in the second part of the above equa-
tions, the divergence theorem was applied to convert
volume integrals to surface integrals. In the compos-
ite material theory, this allows the conversion from
the less manageable internal volume averaging to the
more manageable external surface averaging. For the
case of porous medium, however, the surface of solid
phase !s contains two parts: a part s exposed to the
exterior of the REV, and a part !i contained inside the
REV, facing the internal pores. The internal surface !i
is still not observable for practical purposes.
For engineering purposes, stresses are defined as
the average force over the small area that it applies.
Similarly, strains are based on the observation of the
displacements of the external surface of the frame,
because displacements on the internal surface of the
pores are not observable. These bring the following
definitions
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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
equilibrium of fluid pressure in the REV under static
condition, the internal and external stresses are the
same, and no conversion is needed. Equations (5) and
(6) are the key to the construction of true microme-
chanics theory that relate the material phase properties
to the apparent properties of the composite frame.
3 LINEAR MATERIAL CONSTANTS
The use of internal strains allows us to construct
constitutive relations based on the intrinsic material
properties. We can introduce quadratic energy func-
tional based on the internal quantities and seek the
variation around an equilibrium point. This proce-
dure produces four volumetric deformation material
constants: Ks , K , K , and Kf . From the constitutive
relation
We can identify Kf as the bulk modulus of the fluid.
We also find the constitutive relation
where ps = ijs /3 is the solid average compressive
stress. Under the condition of no change in porosity,
 materials such as high porosity sandstones, the porous
material is assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic
Ks at the micro-scale or at the grain level, such as high
porosity sandstones. In that case, K = 0 and there is
a reduction of one material constant.
Although the above constitutive laws bring out the
intrinsic material coefficients, the constitutive rela-
tions are built on the non-observable internal strains.
These need to be converted to the external strains for
practical applications. With such conversion, we will
then obtain the apparent coefficients, or the effec-
K tive stress coefficients. For example, we can construct
the relation for the external strain:

where

is the total mean compressive stress. We hence iden-

tify the drained bulk modulus K as the following
Figure 1. Three fundamental volumetric deformation combination of the intrinsic coefficients
modes and the associated bulk moduli.

we can identify Ks as the intrinsic bulk modulus of the

solid phase. K is a coupling term between the solid
and the porosity change. Later, with the introduction and the Biot effective stress coefficient as
of the porosity equilibrium equation, we can identify
K as the bulk modulus for the porosity change.
In Figure 1, we illustrate the three fundamental
deformation modes of porous materials with the bulk
moduli associated with them, using the granular mate-
rial as an example. The first figure assumes that the In the special case of microhomogeneity and
solid grains are microscopically homogeneous and microisotropy, K = 0 and (11) reduces to
isotropic. When such a material is exposed to an equi-
librated fluid pressure field, each grain deforms in
a self-similar fashion with the same proportion. It is
clear that there is no porosity change and this defor-
mation mode is associated with the intrinsic solid
bulk modulus Ks . The second figure assumes that The above relation becomes clearer if we express it in
each solid grain is non-deformable. With an externally terms of compressibility, that is, the inverse of bulk
applied contacting stress, the particles rearrange their modulus,
positions causing the porosity to change.
This isolates the bulk modulus of porosity as K .
The third figure assumes that each solid particle
is incompressible but deformable. The particles are
microscopically inhomogeneous and/or anisotropic.
We then see that the frame compressibility C is made of
When this material is subjected to an equilibrated fluid
a part of solid compressibility Cs and a part of porosity
pressure field, the particles will have non-selfsimilar
compressibility C .
shape changes causing the change of pore space and
We also notice that under the same assumption (12)
the rearrangement of particles.This solidpore coupling
becomes
deformation mode is characterized by K .
For the stability of the material, it can be shown that
the following constraint exists Ks K > K2 . In the con-
ceptual model proposed by Nur and Byerlee (1971) for

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The above can further be written into the well known 4 POROSITY EQUILIBRIUM EQUATION
relation (Biot and Willis, 1957)
Another important consequence of introducing poros-
ity of a variable is that its variation needs to satisfy the
minimum energy state. This brings out the porosity
equilibrium equation
We notice that (16) is valid only under the special
assumption K = 0.
Other non-intrinsic micromechanics coefficients
such as Ks and Ks of Rice and Cleary (1976) can be
identified as
We notice that this equation is nonlinear. Hence
the poroelasticity theory with small deformation and
quadratic energy density functional for linear phase
materials is nonlinear! It becomes linear only if we
force linearize the above equation by dropping the
nonlinear terms. When this is done, (20) becomes

The direct meanings of Ks and Ks are not clear, unless

the special assumption of K = 0 is applied.
In that case, It has been demonstrated in Lopatnikov and Cheng
(2002) that the resulting linear model is fully consistent
with the Biot model. In the present paper, we shall
In the previous micromechanics theory, the consis- investigate the nonlinear model.
tency of the measured Ks and Ks values serves as
the indication of the validity of the microisotropy and
microhomogeneity assumption. The ability to check 5 GEOMETRIC NONLINEARITY
such assumption might be limited as laboratory tests
often contain errors, and different tests may not be Based on micromechanics, we can identify three
able to be conducted on the same sample. The firm sources of nonlinearity. First, there is the geomet-
conclusion of the consistency or inconsistency of the ric nonlinearity by considering  as a variable,
measured Ks and Ks values may be difficult. as indicated in the porosity equilibrium equation
In the current theory, the role of K is isolated, (20). Second, there is structural nonlinearity which
which may allow a direct identification of the microho- is related to the pore structure and can be charac-
mogeneity and microisotropy effect. Such a laboratory terized by a porosity dependent bulk modulus for
test has not been designed. It seems that a key to such porosity, K = K (). Third, there can be mate-
measurement will be the measurement of 0 prior rial nonlinearity associated with the solid phase, thus
to the test and  during the test. The fluid inter- Ks = Ks (s ).
nal/external strain relation (6) and the fluid equation To examine geometric nonlinearity, we write
of state can be utilized to acquire such information. = 0 +  and eliminate ps and  s among (8), (10)
The microhomogeneity and microisotropy assump- and (20) to obtain the relation between the applied
tion is an important assumption that can bring sim- external stresses and the porosity change. Simplifying
plification to the model. For isotropic material, we for small deformation, this relation can be expressed as
have already shown that there is a reduction of one
material parameter. For anisotropic porous materials,
it has been demonstrated (Cheng, 1997) that if the
anisotropy is derived from structural origin only, that
is, it is derived from the aligned pores, fissures, or
grain shapes, and not from the material itself (as the
material anisotropy axes are likely to be randomly
distributed), then a significant simplification of the The left side of the equation shows an effective stress
micromechanical model results. Particularly, it can be with an effective stress coefficient in front of p f. The
shown that the six Biot effective stress coefficient ij right side shows an apparent modulus and a cubic
are fully defined by the elastic moduli of the frame equation in . We can gain more insight into (22)
(anisotropic) and only one extra modulus, Ks . This fact by making the microhomogeneity and microisotropy
has made the study of anisotropic poroelastic prob- assumption and set K = 0. In this case, (22) reduces to
lems easier (Abousleiman, et al., 1996; Abousleiman
and Cui, 1998).

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
 (KS  0 K  02 K) Pf P 
Pf (N/m2)
P (N/m2)
KS  K  0 K
2107
7
1.510
1.5107
1.25107
1107
1107
7.5106
5106 5106

2.5106
S
 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
0. 02 0.04 0. 06 0.08 0. 1
Figure 3. Effective stress versus external strain strain
Figure 2. Effective stress versus porosity change strain hardening. (Solid line: nonlinear; dash line: linear)
hardening with porosity compaction. (Solid line: nonlinear;
dash line: linear) where and K are defined as (13) and (15). The above
relations show that the solid external strain is con-
trolled by the Biot effective stress with the coefficient
Here we observe that the effective stress is simply the
, and the drained bulk modulus K.
Terzaghi effective stress. This is consistent with earlier
In Figure 3, the effective stress and strain relation is
findings that the porosity deformation is characterized
presented in solid line for the nonlinear behavior, and
by Terzaghi effective stress (Carroll, 1979). The above
in dash line for the linearized case. We observe that
relation also brings out the significance of the bulk
the deformation is basically elastic up to s = 0.05.
modulus of porosity K .
After that, a strain hardening behavior is found.
To examine the nonlinear behavior, we use the
material of a coarse sand with K = 2.1 108 N/m2
Ks = Ks = 1.1 1010 N/m2 , and 0 = 0.48. Based
6 STRUCTURAL NONLINEARITY
on (11), (17), and (18), this is converted to
Ks = 1.1 1010 N/m2 , K = 4.2 108 N/m2 , and
For structural nonlinearity, we assume that K is a func-
K = 0. In Figure 2, we plot the effective stress as
tion of the pore structure and it stiffens as the pore
shown on the left side of (18) versus the porosity
space is consolidated. As  is not a quantity eas-
change as the solid line. Also plotted is the linear
ily measurable in the laboratory, we shall simplify the
behavior in dashed line. From the figure we clearly
model using the external strain, with the exponential
observe a strain hardening behavior. In other words, as
relation
the material becomes more and more compacted due
to the applied compressive stress, the tangent modulus
of the material increases.
The above result is given in porosity change, which
is a quantity not measurable under normal circum- where K0 is the initial value and a is a structural con-
stances. For application purposes, the constitutive laws stant. The constitutive relation is then (24) or (25) with
need to be expressed in terms of external stresses and K defined as
strains. This is accomplished by further introducing
(5) in the above relations. The algebraic expression is
complex, but it can be approximated by the following
expression
The entire model can be simplified by assuming
K = 0 and Ks  K , thus

where the effective stress coefficient and the

drained bulk modulus K have been defined in (11)
and (12). Particularly, for the microhomogeneity and where
microisotropy case, (24) simplifies to

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
 Sample 5 Resin Treated Sample (corrected for system elasticity)
Strains during Triaxial Loading 3000 psi confining pressure
8000

7000

6000
y = 125,137x + 197
5000

stress (psi)
4000

3000
E Interval
2000 Axial Strain
Sample Dimensions
Lateral Strain
Linear (E Interval) Length 2.200 inches
1000 Diameter 1.470 inches

0
-0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2
strain (in/in)

Figure 5. Loading program for a resin treated sample.

3500
test data 3000 psi
3000

confining pressure (psi)

geometric nonlinearity

2500 geometric and structural

nonlinearity

2000

1500

1000

500

0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015 0.02 0.025 0.03 0.035 0.04 0.045
volumetric strain

Figure 4. Soft sediment sample before and after loading.

This is again an exponential model with the exponen-
tial power derived from both the geometric and the
structural nonlinearity.
For the material nonlinearity, we shall assume that in
the small deformation range, most of the deformation
and nonlinearity are derived from porosity and not the
solid grain; hence and the solid material remains in the
linear range during the deformation.
7 LABORATORY TEST
Laboratory tests were conducted in the rock mechan-
ics laboratory of the Poromechanics Institute at the
University of Oklahoma. Although these tests were
not specifically conducted for the validation of the
present theory, we nevertheless could use the result
for the purpose.
The materials tested were soft sediment rocks
retrieved offshore. The cores were either untreated,
or treated with resin to increase cohesion. The cores
sizes were roughly 2.2 inches long and 1.5 inches
in diameter (see Figure 4). Different samples were
loaded by all-confining pressure to 1000, 3000, and
5000 psi. The pore pressure was drained during the
tests. An additional uniaxial stress was then applied
Figure 6. Stressstrain curve for the 3000 psi confining
pressure case.
in the axial direction. The axial and radial strains were
measured. The loadings went through multiple loading
and unloading cycles until the sample failed. Figure 5
shows a typical loading program and Figure 4 shows
the sediment sample before loading and after failure.
The first part of the loading program involving all
around confining pressure is used to test the present
theory. In Figures 6 and 7, the stressstrain data are pre-
sented as confining pressure P versus volumetric strain
s in symbols for two treated samples with confining
pressure up to 3000 psi and 5000 psi, respectively. We
clearly observe a strain-hardening behavior. First the
geometric nonlinear model (25) with the exponential
power of 3 is used to fit the data (short dash line in Fig-
ures 6 and 7). We observe that this exponential power is
not sufficient to cover the nonlinearity of the test data,
indicating the presence of structural nonlinearity.
Next, we use the combined geometric and struc-
tural nonlinear model (28). The two sets of test data
are fitted as follows: for 3000 psi case, K0 = 41000 psi
and b = 17; for the 5000 psi case, K0 = 52700 psi and
b = 17. We notice that the match is quite good. Par-
ticularly surprising is that the exponential powers for
the two test samples are highly consistent. We realize

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
 6000
test data
5000 geometric nonlinearity
confining pressure (psi)
geometric and structural
nonlinearity
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
0 0.005 0.01 0.015
Figure 7. Stressstrain curve for the 5000 psi confining
pressure case.
that these cylinder samples are retrieved from differ-
ent depths and locations, and are not similar at all. But
apparently even though their constituents may be dif-
ferent, their pore structures have the similar hardening
behavior.
8 CONCLUSIONS
In this paper we proposed an intrinsic micromechan-
ical model for Biot poroelasticity. Comparing to the
earlier models, in which the moduli were based on
effective stresses, the present model clearly separates
the moduli into the solid Ks , the porosity K , and the
effect of micro-inhomogeneity and microanisotropy
K . Also, by recognizing porosity as a variable, a geo-
metric strain hardening law emerges with a universal
coefficient. Finally, the separation of deformation at
the microscopic level allows the introduction of non-
linear models based on pore structure, and the solid
material itself. These laboratory test results seem to
support this model. More refined tests are needed to
examine the details of the model.
Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
5000 psi
Mr. John Brumley at the PoroMechanics Institute
conducted and documented the experiments. His assis-
tance is appreciated.
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