The Corejacking Test: An Analysis Of The Corejack Loading System

The corejacking test is a field test designed to measure the response of salt to known boundary conditions. A 1.0-m-diameter salt core is externally pressurized using curved flatjacks placed in the annulus surrounding the core. Time-dependent deformation of the salt is measured by monitoring the diametrical closure of an inner borehole. A finite element elastic analysis of the jack loading system has been performed. The purpose of this analysis was to determine if the original assumption of axisymmetric loading is correct. Six loading cases were investigated, each representing either hypothetical or previously encountered jack configurations.