geomechanical

Geomechanical, or geomechanics, is the study of how earth materials such as soils and rocks respond to mechanical stresses, strains, and environmental conditions. It integrates principles from geology, geophysics, and engineering to understand deformation, strength, stability, and failure of geologic media. The field addresses issues at scales from laboratory samples to large rock masses and encompasses both dry and saturated conditions, where pore pressures influence effective stress.

Key concepts include constitutive models that relate stress to strain, the role of fractures and damage, and the transition from elastic to plastic behavior. In many problems, fluid flow interacts with mechanics in poroelastic or poromechanical formulations, where changes in pore pressure affect deformation and vice versa. Geomechanics also considers thermal effects, anisotropy, heterogeneity, and time-dependent behavior such as creep.

Common methods include laboratory tests (triaxial compression, oedometer, direct shear), in-situ investigations (borehole stress measurements, hydraulic fracturing tests), and monitoring of ground movement. Numerical modeling with finite element or finite difference techniques is widely used to simulate stress fields, deformation, fracture growth, and coupled hydraulic-mechanical processes. Analytical approaches complement numerical work in simplified geometries.

Applications span civil engineering (foundations, tunnels, slope stability), petroleum and geothermal engineering (reservoir compaction, subsidence, hydraulic fracturing, enhanced oil recovery), mining engineering (pillar stability, rock bursts), and environmental problems such as CO2 sequestration and landslide risk assessment. As an interdisciplinary field, geomechanics informs design, risk assessment, and mitigation strategies in projects interacting with the subsurface.