CREEP MODELING OF ROCK SALTS FOR GEOENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATION

The paper discusses a rate-dependent constitutive model to describe th e creep deformation of rock salts. The model is based on the dislocati on-related micromechanisms; the concept of effective stress is utilize d by incorporating the back stress as an, internal variable The model is used to predict the creep potential of rock salt under general ther mo-mechanical loading. The experimental test results from Avery island dome salt are used in this work. The associated five model parameters are evaluated by using an. optimization technique, called ''box algor ithm.'' The parameters are then used with the model to predict unoptim ized experimental data sets. The influence of temperature and confirmi ng pressure are investigated in detail for the selected rock salt. Ove rall, excellent correlations are observed.