Download: Floxlab_Pump_Actuated_Systems_Brochure.pdf
Five systems are available in the range: TRILAB, PREPEAK, ROCLAB, AVS700, and TRUTEST.
The first four systems (TRILAB, PREPEAK, ROCLAB and AVS700) are designed to independently control three principal stress components—axial load, confining pressure, and pore pressure—on cylindrical or cubic rock specimens inside a high-pressure triaxial cell.
The rock core is jacketed, positioned between the lower pedestal and upper loading platen, and sealed to allow independent regulation of external confining pressure and internal pore-fluid pressure. The cell is filled with hydraulic oil and connected to electro-mechanical pumps generating the axial, confining, and pore pressures required for advanced rock mechanics testing. Depending on the instrumentation, the systems support multiple experimental protocols including stress–strain tests, ultrasonic velocity measurements, acoustic emission (AE) monitoring, electrical resistivity testing, hydraulic fracturing, and permeability measurements.
The axial pressure pump supplies hydraulic fluid to the chamber above the loading piston, generating compressive force along the specimen axis. Axial loading can be servo-controlled in load, displacement, or constant strain-rate modes, while a high-precision load cell continuously measures the transmitted force to determine deviatoric stress throughout elastic, peak, and post-peak deformation stages.
Confining pressure is applied through a dedicated electro-mechanical pump connected to the cell chamber. By pressurizing the cell fluid, it generates isotropic radial stress around the specimen and can operate in constant-pressure or constant-displacement modes to maintain stable confinement during loading, unloading, creep, or relaxation tests.
Pore pressure is regulated by a separate pump connected to the specimen drainage ports, operating in constant-pressure, constant-flow, or constant-volume modes to simulate drained, partially drained, or undrained hydro-mechanical conditions.
Instrumentation includes internal LVDTs for axial deformation and diametral extensometers for radial strain, enabling precise measurement of volumetric strain and time-dependent deformation. Combined control of axial, confining, and pore pressures allows the systems to reproduce a wide range of stress paths, from conventional triaxial compression to hydrostatic loading, creep, relaxation, and complex failure conditions.
The TRUTEST system differs from the other systems in the range. It is designed for true-triaxial stress testing on cubic specimens and therefore does not include pore-pressure control. Instead, it uses three independent hydraulic pumps, each dedicated to generating and controlling one of the three orthogonal principal stresses (σ₁, σ₂, σ₃). This configuration allows independent stress application along the three spatial directions, enabling the study of fully three-dimensional stress paths and anisotropic rock behavior.
For tests performed at elevated temperature, the triaxial cell can be equipped with an external heating jacket. The temperature control system maintains uniform heating of the specimen, enabling thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling experiments representative of reservoir environments.