Mechanical response of cement and shale admixtures under cyclic triaxial loading monitored by in-situ synchrotron micro-computed tomography

Understanding the mechanical behaviour of natural soils as mixed with cement for stabilization is crucial for civil engineering developments. The response of cement-soil admixtures when subjected to cyclic loads is a largely unexplored topic, despite the importance of understanding fatigue in these ubiquitous construction materials. We present cyclic loading experiments on Portland cement mixed with fragmented shale fragments using triaxial testing, monitored with synchrotron-based mu CT. Through digital volume correlation (DVC), the temporal evolution of the displacement, volumetric, and von Mises equivalent strain fields were obtained. We observed in detail the fatigue damage evolution during cyclic loading and found that following high-strain deformation of the much softer shale fragments, the ultimate failure of the samples occurred in the adjacent cement matrix. The failure mechanism under periodic stress and its relevance for accelerated laboratory testing of slow degradation long-term processes are of key importance to technical infrastructure, including subsea CO2 storage.