Abstract: Recent developments and new understandings are summarized and reviewed of big data nanoindentation (BDNi) of rocks including shales and sandstones based on our past 18 years of activities. Massive data-driven understandings of rock properties such as the homogenization and upscaling of mechanical properties, multiscale and multiphase anisotropy, indentation surround effect (similar to ISE) are readily achieved by the new BDNi. Several example applications of the BDNi are featured, including rock-fluid interactions, nanoparticle injection into fractured shales for wellbore stability, mechanical mapping of calcareous concretions from a glacial lake deposit, and cement-stabilized soft clays. Appealing interests beyond mechanical testing of rocks are discussed.

Bio: Dr. Guoping Zhang is currently a professor in the Dept. of Civil & Environmental Eng. at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and had prior appointments at Louisiana State University and the University of Nottingham (UK). He obtained a Ph.D. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002, and an M.Eng. and dual B.Eng. degrees from Tsinghua Univ. (China) in 1994 and 1991 respectively. His research interests are divided into four major areas: green geopolymers and alkaline-activation for sustainability and carbon mineralization, nanomechanical and microscale characterization of clay-based geomaterials, hydrophobicity and surface modifications of minerals, and clay-biopolymer interactions.