Experimental study on the influence of hydrostatic stress on the Lode angle effect of porous rock

To investigate the deformation mechanisms of rock under hydrostatic stress, destructive experiments were conducted on sandstone under different levels of hydrostatic stress and stress Lode angles. The results reveal that the shape of the strength envelope on the π plane gradually changes from the shape of the Lade criterion to the shape of the Drucker-Prage criterion with an increase in hydrostatic stress. Normally, there exists a deviation between the strain and stress paths for porous rocks on the π plane, and the deviation decreases with an increase in stress Lode angle and hydrostatic stress. A rock failure hypothesis based on the rock porous structure was proposed to investigate the reasons for the abovementioned phenomena. It was found that the shear expansion in the minimum principal stress direction is the dominant factor affecting the Lode angle effect (LAE); the magnitude of the hydrostatic stress induces the variation of the porous structure and influences the shear expansion. Therefore, the hydrostatic stress state affects the LAE. The failure hypothesis proposed in this paper can clarify the hydrostatic stress effect, LAE, and the variation of the rock strength envelope shape.