Poromechanical Toughening in Tensile Fracture of Saturated Solids

Poromechanical Toughening in Tensile Fracture of Saturated Solids | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Poromechanical Toughening in Tensile Fracture of Saturated Solids Antoine Guggisberg, Mehana Allache, Philipp Braun, Marie Violay, and 1 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9180349/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Fracture in fluid-saturated porous solids is governed not only by solid mechanics but also by fluid flow within the pore space. In systems ranging from geomaterials to biological tissues, deformation in the near-tip region perturbs pore pressure and thereby alters crack growth. Yet these pore-fluid effects have largely been inferred rather than directly observed. Here, we perform in situ pore-pressure measurements during controlled tensile rupture of a water-saturated microporous cement. We demonstrate that a propagating crack generates a localized underpressure ahead of its tip, providing a direct experimental signature of poromechanical coupling. The amplitude of this transient pressure drop scales with the square root of crack velocity, in agreement with poroelastic theory. This underpressure reduces the effective stress near the crack tip, leading to a coupled mechanical response: the apparent fracture energy doubles across the tested velocity range while the fracture process zone shrinks by half. Our findings reveal poromechanical coupling as a rate-dependent control on fracture in saturated porous materials, governed by effective stress changes induced by competing fluid diffusion and crack advance. Physical sciences/Materials science Earth and environmental sciences/Solid Earth sciences/Geophysics Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9180349","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":612684373,"identity":"9f14f6a3-3148-4cd7-9ca0-0d12e8b436aa","order_by":0,"name":"Antoine Guggisberg","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"LEMR - EPFL","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Antoine","middleName":"","lastName":"Guggisberg","suffix":""},{"id":612684374,"identity":"087f3ce6-73b6-4095-825e-a5ea8730f03c","order_by":1,"name":"Mehana Allache","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Navier, ENPC, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Univ Gustave Eiffel, CNRS","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mehana","middleName":"","lastName":"Allache","suffix":""},{"id":612684375,"identity":"03584f17-fe3a-479c-adef-90b18046ec8e","order_by":2,"name":"Philipp Braun","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Navier, ENPC, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Univ Gustave Eiffel, CNRS","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Philipp","middleName":"","lastName":"Braun","suffix":""},{"id":612684376,"identity":"2b985701-ef8f-4765-99fd-e5dbfd845614","order_by":3,"name":"Marie Violay","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7402-8263","institution":"LEMR - EPFL","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Marie","middleName":"","lastName":"Violay","suffix":""},{"id":612684377,"identity":"dd348de6-5d35-4ae0-b4a5-0ba067a9a819","order_by":4,"name":"Mathias Lebihain","email":"","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2233-4701","institution":"Navier, ENPC, Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Univ Gustave Eiffel, CNRS","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mathias","middleName":"","lastName":"Lebihain","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-20 15:27:02","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9180349/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9180349/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105567088,"identity":"da5136d1-a981-43f9-b81d-813ff3f6ecbd","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-03-27 12:58:16","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5169269,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"Article File","description":"","filename":"AGarticle.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9180349/v1_covered_5771a2e0-461f-49b9-9dba-61c107625e34.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Poromechanical Toughening in Tensile Fracture of Saturated Solids","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9180349/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9180349/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Fracture in fluid-saturated porous solids is governed not only by solid mechanics but also by fluid flow within the pore space. In systems ranging from geomaterials to biological tissues, deformation in the near-tip region perturbs pore pressure and thereby alters crack growth. Yet these pore-fluid effects have largely been inferred rather than directly observed.\r\nHere, we perform in situ pore-pressure measurements during controlled tensile rupture of a water-saturated microporous cement. We demonstrate that a propagating crack generates a localized underpressure ahead of its tip, providing a direct experimental signature of poromechanical coupling. The amplitude of this transient pressure drop scales with the square root of crack velocity, in agreement with poroelastic theory. 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