MATHEMATICAL MODELING OF RHEOLOGICAL
PROPERTIES OF CLAYS AND CLAY ROCKS

M. G. Khramchenkov

UDC 552.52,624.131.54

A mathematical model of the rheological properties of 
water-saturated clays has been considered. The model is built upon 
the combination of the theory of filtrational consolidation and the 
theory of stability of lyophobe colloids, which is based on the concept 
of disjoining pressure as excess pressure compared to the hydraulic 
one which is due to surface forces and which acts in water films between 
clay particles. It is shown that the problem of shrinkage of a clay 
layer in deformation can be reduced to the known problem of N. N. 
Verigin. An approximation solution of pressing-out of water from the 
clay layer has been analyzed. The obtained approximate solution necessarily 
results in the introduction of the concept of an ultimate shear stress 
for clays. Special features of the model which are of importance for 
explaining characteristic features of transport processes in clays 
(the possibility of abnormally high pressures in subconsolidated clays) 
have been studied. It is shown that the solutions obtained are in 
good agreement with the experimental results.

Kazan' State University, Kazan', Russia; email: Maxim.Khramchenkov@ksu.ru. 
Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 76, No. 3, pp. 
159-164, May-June, 2003. Original article submitted September 18, 2002.