The grant from the Investment Bank of the State of Brandenburg (ILB No. 85053766) enabled the acquisition of a high-pressure, high-temperature 3D True Triaxial Press facility at the GFZ, which is to be expanded beyond the scope of the project in a modular fashion and additionally utilised in a national cluster.

To this end, the core elements of a national high-pressure triaxial press cluster were set up and put into operation as part of this project. This includes a modularly expandable, cubic, polyaxial high-pressure testing facility for carrying out stress-strain analyses on rock samples under real triaxial pressure conditions with control options in all three main stress directions.

The facility is used to carry out highly specialised, experimental pressure tests on rocks, e.g. from boreholes. The experiments open up previously unattainable dimensions. The facility is coupled with a system for measuring acoustic emissions and a flow-through system. This makes the facility unique in Germany and even unique in the world. In addition, a surface grinder and a lathe will be purchased and put into operation for sample preparation and for setting up the experiments.

The uniqueness of the experimental facility results from the fact that a real true triaxial press operates in a high pressure and temperature range and is simultaneously coupled with

a) an acoustic emission (AE) system
b) a flow-through system to quantify fluid-rock interaction, and
c) a hydraulic stimulation simulation module.