This is the first book ever published on the problems of true triaxial testing of rocks addressing all aspects of true triaxial testing of rocks, including: (i) true triaxial testing techniques and procedures; (ii) test results: strength, deformability, failure mode, permeability, acoustic emission, and elastic wave velocity; (iii) constitutive laws and failure criteria; and (iv) applications to geoengineering and geosciences. Recent developments in the field of true triaxial testing of rocks are presented, as well as a thorough review of the most important achievements in the whole history of true triaxial testing of rocks. Almost all researchers from around the world engaged in the true triaxial testing of rocks over the last three decades have contributed to this work. The authors originate from different branches of geoengineering and geosciences, including civil engineering, engineering geology, geotechnical engineering, mining engineering, petroleum engineering, seismology, and tectonophysics.

"Although the triaxial compression test is presently the most widely used procedure for determining strength and stress-deformation properties of soils, there have been no books published on triaxial testing since the 1962 second edition of the landmark work The Measurement of Soil Properties in the Triaxial Test by Bishop and Henkel. It is apparent there is a need to document advances made in triaxial testing since publication of Bishop and Henkel's book and to examine the current state of the art in a forum devoted solely to triaxial testing. Because of increasing versatility brought about by recent developments in testing techniques and equipment, it is also important that the geotechnical profession be provided with an up-to-date awareness of potential uses for the triaxial test."--Overview.

The significance of true triaxial tests instead of conventional tests has been enhanced because of the need for generalized constitutive laws for geomaterials. To investigate the behavior of rock masses having restricted conditions for strains, tests of marble under strain rate control as well as stress rate control were performed using a specially designed true triaxial apparatus with rigid platens. As an example of a set of restricted conditions, the condition of the mean principal strain being constant was adopted when the octahedral shear strain was increased. The direction of stress paths obtained under these conditions is discussed, along with the elastic, dilatant, and contractile behavior of marble as clarified by stress controlled tests.

Fracture and flow of rocks under stress and their geophysical and seismological implications raise fundamental questions in rock mechanics, particularly in the areas of tectonophysics and seismology. This text exclusively addresses the deformation and fracture of rock specimens under general triaxial compression, in which all three principal stress

Two new and related true-triaxial apparatus are described that make use of conventional triaxial pressure vessels in combination with specially configured, high-pressure hydraulic jacks inside these vessels. The development combines advantages not found in existing facilities, including a compact design, pore-pressure and flow-through capabilities, the ability to attain high principal stresses and principal stress differences, direct access to parts of the sample, and provisions to go to relatively large deformations without developing serious stress field inhomogeneities.