ALBERT

Description / Table of Contents: INTRODUCTION While the complex mechanical properties of rocks and soils are studied for quite a while, it is only in the last decades that sound established mathematical models were developed based on accurate experimental data. Some rheological properties of geomaterials as for instance creep, were studied for a long time but the experimental data reported were incomplete and, as a consequence, the models developed have missed either the generality necessary for the solving of engineering problems or some of the major specific mechanical properties possessed by these materials as for instance dilatancy and/or compressibility , long term damage etc. Generally, these very particular empirical models were made for a specific test only and therefore are not appropriate for solving problems involving general loading histories. Let us remind that due to the presence of a great number of cracks and/or pores existing in roks and soils, the mechanical behaviour of geomaterials is quite distinct from that of other materials as for instance metals or plastics. That is why rock and soil rheology has some specific aspects. It must also be mentioned that the solving of various problems of rock and soil mechanics posed by modern technology was not possible by using time-independent models, thus the study and development of rehological models become absolutely necessary. In the last decade or so, very accurate experimantal data became available as a result of the development of experimental techniques and of the growing interest for this field of research in the scientific community. These data, in turn, have made possible the development of genuine models for geomaterials, mainly rheological models, able to describe such properties as creep, dilatancy and/or compressibility during creep, long term damage and failure occurring after various time intervals, slip surface formation etc. Today it is clear that no accurate constitutive equation for rocks can be formulated unless the dilatancy phenomena and the time effects are not included. Another idea is the need of a better description of the concepts of damage and failure of rocks, again using in someway the concepts of irreversible dilatancy or another related notion. In soil rheology it is clear that the scale effect may be taken into consideration in order to obtain a corect information from the routine tests. Also in writing the constitutive equations for soils it is neccessary to take into account the microscopic or local phenomena, because there is a great variety of types of saturated or nonsaturated soils, granular or cohesionless soil etc. The aim of the Euromech Colloquium 196 devoted to Rock and Soil Rheology and therefore that of the present volume too, is to review some of the main results obtained in the last years in this field of research and also to formulate some of the major not yet solved problems which are now under consideration. Exchange of opinions and scientific discussions are quite helpful mainly in those areas where some approaches are controversial and the progress made is quite fast. That is especially true for the rheology of geomaterials, domain of great interest for mining and petroleum engineers, engineering geology, seismology, geophlsics, civil engineering, nuclear and industrial waste storage, geothermal energy storage, caverns for sports, culture, telecommunications, storage of goods and foodstuffs (cold, hot and refrigerated storages), underground oil and natural gas reservoirs etc. Some of the last obtained results are mentioned in the present volume...