Paterson gas medium triaxial apparatus #6

The Paterson apparatus is a special high-pressure high-temperature internally-heated pressure vessel aimed at performing dynamic experiments (i.e., deformation). It is a triaxial cell capable of pressures of up to 500 MPa (approximately 20 km depth) using Argon gas as pressurizing medium and up to a maximum of 1300 °C. The equipment can be fitted with either a standard axial deformation piston (for pure shear deformation) or a torsion actuator (for simple shear deformation). The torsion configuration allows for exploring the rheology of rocks for largely high total strains. The vessel is additionally fitted with a pair of fluid volumometers for the measurements of fluid permeability in rocks.