On the challenge of preparing representative carbonate samples for centrifuge testing
On the challenge of preparing representative carbonate samples for centrifuge testing
Marine carbonate sediments display complex engineering behaviour due to their irregular shapes, high crushability and compressibility, high void ratio and sensitivity, and variations of bonding and cementation. The engineering properties of intact and reconstituted carbonate sediments can differ significantly, potentially undermining the fidelity of centrifuge experiments, which use reconstituted samples due to the impracticality of acquiring intact samples large enough for physical modelling. This study compares engineering properties from fine to coarse grained carbonate sediments, using fall cone and simple shear tests. These findings will contribute to the development of new techniques for recreating the engineering properties of in situ carbonate sediments in centrifuge models, supporting high fidelity modelling of critical offshore infrastructure which is the aim of an ongoing research project at The University of Western Australia.
Zhechen Hou; Usha Mani; Hua Li; Christophe Gaudin; Phil Watson
11th International Conference on Physical Modelling in Geotechnics (ICPMG2026)
Session 2: Scaling laws and fundamentals
https://doi.org/10.53243/ICPMG2026-295