Showing papers in "Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering in 2018"

Cyclic and Fatigue Behaviour of Rock Materials: Review, Interpretation and Research Perspectives

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive state of the art of fatigue and cyclic loading of natural rock materials. Papers published in the literature are classified and listed in order to ease bibliographical review, to gather data (sometimes contradictory) on classical experimental results and to analyse the main interpretation concepts. Their advantages and limitations are discussed, and perspectives for further work are highlighted. The first section summarises and defines the different experimental set-ups (type of loading, type of experiment) already applied to cyclic/fatigue investigation of rock materials. The papers are then listed based on these different definitions. Typical results are highlighted in next section. Fatigue/cyclic loading mainly results in accumulation of plastic deformation and/or damage cycle after cycle. A sample cyclically loaded at constant amplitude finally leads to failure even if the peak load is lower than its monotonic strength. This subcritical crack is due to a diffuse microfracturing and decohesion of the rock structure. The third section reviews and comments the concepts used to interpret the results. The fatigue limit and S–N curves are the most common concepts used to describe fatigue experiments. Results published from all papers are gathered into a single figure to highlight the tendency. Predicting the monotonic peak strength of a sample is found to be critical in order to compute accurate S–N curves. Finally, open questions are listed to provide a state of the art of grey areas in the understanding of fatigue mechanisms and challenges for the future.

Experimental Investigation on the Fatigue Mechanical Properties of Intermittently Jointed Rock Models Under Cyclic Uniaxial Compression with Different Loading Parameters

Abstract: Intermittently jointed rocks, widely existing in many mining and civil engineering structures, are quite susceptible to cyclic loading. Understanding the fatigue mechanism of jointed rocks is vital to the rational design and the long-term stability analysis of rock structures. In this study, the fatigue mechanical properties of synthetic jointed rock models under different cyclic conditions are systematically investigated in the laboratory, including four loading frequencies, four maximum stresses, and four amplitudes. Our experimental results reveal the influence of the three cyclic loading parameters on the mechanical properties of jointed rock models, regarding the fatigue deformation characteristics, the fatigue energy and damage evolution, and the fatigue failure and progressive failure behavior. Under lower loading frequency or higher maximum stress and amplitude, the jointed specimen is characterized by higher fatigue deformation moduli and higher dissipated hysteresis energy, resulting in higher cumulative damage and lower fatigue life. However, the fatigue failure modes of jointed specimens are independent of cyclic loading parameters; all tested jointed specimens exhibit a prominent tensile splitting failure mode. Three different crack coalescence patterns are classified between two adjacent joints. Furthermore, different from the progressive failure under static monotonic loading, the jointed rock specimens under cyclic compression fail more abruptly without evident preceding signs. The tensile cracks on the front surface of jointed specimens always initiate from the joint tips and then propagate at a certain angle with the joints toward the direction of maximum compression.

Laboratory Investigation on Physical and Mechanical Properties of Granite After Heating and Water-Cooling Treatment

Abstract: High-temperature treatment may cause changes in physical and mechanical properties of rocks. Temperature changing rate (heating, cooling and both of them) plays an important role in those changes. Thermal conductivity tests, ultrasonic pulse velocity tests, gas permeability tests and triaxial compression tests are performed on granite samples after a heating and rapid cooling treatment in order to characterize the changes in physical and mechanical properties. Seven levels of temperature (from 25 to 900 °C) are used. It is found that the physical and mechanical properties of granite are significantly deteriorated by the thermal treatment. The porosity shows a significant increase from 1.19% at the initial state to 6.13% for samples heated to 900 °C. The increase in porosity is mainly due to three factors: (1) a large number of microcracks caused by the rapid cooling rate; (2) the mineral transformation of granite through high-temperature heating and water-cooling process; (3) the rapid cooling process causes the mineral particles to weaken. As the temperature of treatment increases, the thermal conductivity and P-wave velocity decrease while the gas permeability increases. Below 200 °C, the elastic modulus and cohesion increase with temperature increasing. Between 200 and 500 °C, the elastic modulus and cohesion have no obvious change with temperature. Beyond 500 °C, as the temperature increases, the elastic modulus and cohesion obviously decrease and the decreasing rate becomes slower with the increase in confining pressure. Poisson’s ratio and internal frictional coefficient have no obvious change as the temperature increases. Moreover, there is a transition from a brittle to ductile behavior when the temperature becomes high. At 900 °C, the granite shows an obvious elastic–plastic behavior.

Experimental Study on the Growth, Coalescence and Wrapping Behaviors of 3D Cross-Embedded Flaws Under Uniaxial Compression

Abstract: The crack initiation, growth, wrapping and coalescence of two 3D pre-existing cross-embedded flaws in PMMA specimens under uniaxial compression are investigated. The stress–strain curves of PMMA specimens with 3D cross-embedded flaws are obtained. The tested PMMA specimens exhibit dominant elastic deformation and eventual brittle failure. The experimental results show that four modes of crack initiation and five modes of crack coalescence are observed. The initiations of oblique secondary crack and anti-wing crack in 3D cracking behaviors are first reported as well as the coalescence of anti-wing cracks. Moreover, two types of crack wrapping are found. Substantial wrapping of petal cracks, which includes open and closed modes of wrapping, appears to be the major difference between 2D and 3D cracking behaviors of pre-existing flaws, which are also first reported. Petal crack wraps symmetrically from either the propagated wing cracks or the coalesced wing cracks. Besides, only limited growth of petal cracks is observed, and ultimate failure of specimens is induced by the further growth of the propagated wing crack. The fracture mechanism of the tested PMMA specimens is finally revealed. In addition, the initiation stress and the peak stress versus the geometry of two 3D pre-existing cross-embedded flaws are also investigated in detail.

Case Studies of Rock Bursts Under Complicated Geological Conditions During Multi-seam Mining at a Depth of 800 m

Abstract: A serious rock burst (“4.19” event) occurred on 19 April 2016 in the No. 4 working face of the No. 10 coal seam in Da’anshan Coal Mine, Jingxi Coalfield. According to the China National Seismological Network, a 2.7 magnitude earthquake was simultaneously recorded in this area. The “4.19” event resulted in damage to the entire longwall face and two gateways that were 105 m in long. In addition, several precursor bursts and mine earthquakes had occurred between October 2014 and April 2016 in the two uphill roadways and the No. 4 working face. In this paper, the engineering geological characteristics and in situ stress field are provided, and then the rock burst distributions are introduced. Next, the temporal and spatial characteristics, geological and mining conditions, and other related essential information are reviewed in detail. The available evidence and possible explanations for the rock burst mechanisms are also presented and discussed. Based on the description and analysis of these bursts, a detailed classification system of rock burst mechanisms is established. According to the main causes and different disturbance stresses (i.e., high/low disturbance stresses and far-field/near-field high disturbance stresses), there are a total of nine types of rock bursts. Thus, some guidelines for controlling or mitigating different types of rock bursts are provided. These experiences and strategies not only provide an essential reference for understanding the different rock burst mechanisms, but also build a critical foundation for selecting mitigation measures and optimizing the related technical parameters during mining or tunnelling under similar conditions.

Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Red Sandstone Specimens Under Uniaxial Cyclic Loading and Unloading Compression

Abstract: To explore the acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of rock materials during the deformation and failure process under periodic loads, a uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading compression experiment was conducted based on an MTS 815 rock mechanics test system and an AE21C acoustic emissions test system. The relationships among stress, strain, AE activity, accumulated AE activity and duration for 180 rock specimens under 36 loading and unloading rates were established. The cyclic AE evolutionary laws with rock stress–strain variation at loading and unloading stages were analyzed. The Kaiser and Felicity effects of rock AE activity were disclosed, and the impact of the significant increase in the scale of AE events on the Felicity effect was discussed. It was observed that the AE characteristics are closely related to the stress–strain properties of rock materials and that they are affected by the developmental state and degree of internal microcracks. AE events occur in either the loading or unloading stages if the strain is greater than zero. Evolutionary laws of AE activity agree with changes in rock strain. Strain deformation is accompanied by AE activity, and the density and intensity of AE events directly reflect the damage degree of the rock mass. The Kaiser effect exists in the linear elastic stage of rock material, and the Felicity effect is effective in the plastic yield and post-peak failure stages, which are divided by the elastic yield strength. This study suggests that the stress level needed to determine a significant increase in AE activity was 70% of the i + 1 peak stress. The Felicity ratio of rock specimens decreases with the growth of loading–unloading cycles. The cycle magnitude and variation of the Felicity effect, in which loading and unloading rates play a weak role, are almost consistent.

Experimental Study on Mechanical and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Rock-Like Material Under Non-uniformly Distributed Loads

Abstract: The mechanical and acoustic emission characteristics of rock-like materials under non-uniform loads were investigated by means of a self-developed mining-induced stress testing system and acoustic emission monitoring system. In the experiments, the specimens were divided into three regions and different initial vertical stresses and stress loading rates were used to simulate different mining conditions. The mechanical and acoustic emission characteristics between regions were compared, and the effects of different initial vertical stresses and different stress loading rates were analysed. The results showed that the mechanical properties and acoustic emission characteristics of rock-like materials can be notably localized. When the initial vertical stress and stress loading rate are fixed, the peak strength of region B is approximately two times that of region A, and the maximum acoustic emission hit value of region A is approximately 1–2 times that of region B. The effects of the initial vertical stress and stress loading rate on the peck strain, maximum hit value, and occurrence time of the maximum hit are similar in that when either of the former increase, the latter all decrease. However, peck strength will increase with the increase in loading rate and decrease with the increase in initial vertical stress. The acoustic emission hits can be used to analyse the damage in rock material, but the number of acoustic emission hits cannot be used alone to determine the degree of rock damage directly.

Grain-Based Discrete Element Method (GB-DEM) Modelling of Multi-scale Fracturing in Rocks Under Dynamic Loading

Abstract: This study aims to explore dynamic behaviours of fracturing and damage evolution of rock materials at the grain scale. A grain-based discrete element method (GB-DEM) is proposed to reveal microscale characterisation and mineral grain compositions of rock materials realistically. Micro-parameters of GB-DEM are obtained by calibrating quasi-static strengths, elastic modulus, stress–strain curves, and fracture characteristics of igneous rocks. Comprehensive numerical simulations are conducted to compare with dynamic experimental results obtained by the split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB). The reasonability of using the GB-DEM is presented to validate fundamental pre-requisites of the SHPB technique. Combined with crack strain and acoustic emissions, the rate dependency of crack initiation stress threshold and crack damage stress threshold is investigated. The dynamic damage evolution in the form of Weibull distribution is distinctively different from that in static tests and the shape/scale parameters are presented as functions of strain rate. Moreover, microcharacteristics of crack fracturing transition and fracturing patterns formation are discussed in detail. It is found that there exist two classes of mechanical behaviour (i.e., Class I and Class II) observed from stress–strain responses of dynamic tests. Main fracturing surfaces induced by intergranular fractures split the specimen along the direction of stress wave propagation in the type of Class I behaviour. Branching cracks derive the cracks’ nucleation and in turn increases the fragment degree. A shearing band formed near the fracture surface is caused by grain pulverisations, which eventually enhances the sustainability of rocks under dynamic loading. At last, we propose a generalised equation of dynamic increase factor in the range from 10− 5 to 500/s, and also discuss the characteristic strain rate.

Dynamic Response and Failure Mechanism of Brittle Rocks Under Combined Compression-Shear Loading Experiments

Abstract: A novel method is developed for characterizing the mechanical response and failure mechanism of brittle rocks under dynamic compression-shear loading: an inclined cylinder specimen using a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) system. With the specimen axis inclining to the loading direction of SHPB, a shear component can be introduced into the specimen. Both static and dynamic experiments are conducted on sandstone specimens. Given carefully pulse shaping, the dynamic equilibrium of the inclined specimens can be satisfied, and thus the quasi-static data reduction is employed. The normal and shear stress–strain relationships of specimens are subsequently established. The progressive failure process of the specimen illustrated via high-speed photographs manifests a mixed failure mode accommodating both the shear-dominated failure and the localized tensile damage. The elastic and shear moduli exhibit certain loading-path dependence under quasi-static loading but loading-path insensitivity under high loading rates. Loading rate dependence is evidently demonstrated through the failure characteristics involving fragmentation, compression and shear strength and failure surfaces based on Drucker–Prager criterion. Our proposed method is convenient and reliable to study the dynamic response and failure mechanism of rocks under combined compression-shear loading.

The Influence of Fracturing Fluids on Fracturing Processes: A Comparison Between Water, Oil and SC-CO 2

Abstract: Conventional water-based fracturing treatments may not work well for many shale gas reservoirs. This is due to the fact that shale gas formations are much more sensitive to water because of the significant capillary effects and the potentially high contents of swelling clay, each of which may result in the impairment of productivity. As an alternative to water-based fluids, gaseous stimulants not only avoid this potential impairment in productivity, but also conserve water as a resource and may sequester greenhouse gases underground. However, experimental observations have shown that different fracturing fluids yield variations in the induced fracture. During the hydraulic fracturing process, fracturing fluids will penetrate into the borehole wall, and the evolution of the fracture(s) then results from the coupled phenomena of fluid flow, solid deformation and damage. To represent this, coupled models of rock damage mechanics and fluid flow for both slightly compressible fluids and CO2 are presented. We investigate the fracturing processes driven by pressurization of three kinds of fluids: water, viscous oil and supercritical CO2. Simulation results indicate that SC-CO2-based fracturing indeed has a lower breakdown pressure, as observed in experiments, and may develop fractures with greater complexity than those developed with water-based and oil-based fracturing. We explore the relation between the breakdown pressure to both the dynamic viscosity and the interfacial tension of the fracturing fluids. Modeling demonstrates an increase in the breakdown pressure with an increase both in the dynamic viscosity and in the interfacial tension, consistent with experimental observations.

Estimation of Crack Initiation and Propagation Thresholds of Confined Brittle Coal Specimens Based on Energy Dissipation Theory

Abstract: A new energy-dissipation method to identify crack initiation and propagation thresholds is introduced. Conventional and cyclic loading–unloading triaxial compression tests and acoustic emission experiments were performed for coal specimens from a 980-m deep mine with different confining pressures of 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35 MPa. Stress–strain relations, acoustic emission patterns, and energy evolution characteristics obtained during the triaxial compression tests were analyzed. The majority of the input energy stored in the coal specimens took the form of elastic strain energy. After the elastic-deformation stage, part of the input energy was consumed by stable crack propagation. However, with an increase in stress levels, unstable crack propagation commenced, and the energy dissipation and coal damage were accelerated. The variation in the pre-peak energy-dissipation ratio was consistent with the coal damage. This new method demonstrates that the crack initiation threshold was proportional to the peak stress (σ p) for ratios that ranged from 0.4351 to 0.4753σ p, and the crack damage threshold ranged from 0.8087 to 0.8677σ p.

Fracture Evolution Around a Cavity in Brittle Rock Under Uniaxial Compression and Coupled Static–Dynamic Loads

Abstract: To experimentally investigate the stability of underground excavations under high in situ stress conditions, several rock samples with a mini-tunnel were prepared and subjected to monotonic axial and coupled static–dynamic loading until failure. Mini-tunnels were generated by drilling circular or cubic cavities in the centre of granite rock blocks. Strain gauges were used to monitor the deformation of the mini-tunnels at different locations, and a high-speed camera system was used to capture the cracking and failure process. We found that the dynamic crack initiation stress, failure mode and dynamic crack velocity of the specimen all depend on the pre-stress level when the sample is under otherwise similar dynamic disturbance conditions. The crack initiation stress threshold first increased slightly and then decreased dramatically with the increase in the pre-stress value. The specimens were mainly fractured by tensile cracks parallel to the compression line under lower pre-stress, while they were severely damaged with additional shear cracks under higher pre-stress. Furthermore, the propagation velocity of the primary crack was significantly larger than that of the subsequent cracks. The effect of applying different amounts of static pre-stresses on the velocity of the primary tensile crack was similar to that observed for the crack initiation stress threshold; however, it did not affect the velocity of the secondary and subsequent tensile cracks.

True-Triaxial Experimental Study of the Evolutionary Features of the Acoustic Emissions and Sounds of Rockburst Processes

Abstract: Rockbursts are markedly characterized by the ejection of rock fragments from host rocks at certain speeds. The rockburst process is always accompanied by acoustic signals that include acoustic emissions (AE) and sounds. A deep insight into the evolutionary features of AE and sound signals is important to improve the accuracy of rockburst prediction. To investigate the evolutionary features of AE and sound signals, rockburst tests on granite rock specimens under true-triaxial loading conditions were performed using an improved rockburst testing system, and the AE and sounds during rockburst development were recorded and analyzed. The results show that the evolutionary features of the AE and sound signals were obvious and similar. On the eve of a rockburst, a ‘quiescent period’ could be observed in both the evolutionary process of the AE hits and the sound waveform. Furthermore, the time-dependent fractal dimensions of the AE hits and sound amplitude both showed a tendency to continuously decrease on the eve of the rockbursts. In addition, on the eve of the rockbursts, the main frequency of the AE and sound signals both showed decreasing trends, and the frequency spectrum distributions were both characterized by low amplitudes, wide frequency bands and multiple peak shapes. Thus, the evolutionary features of sound signals on the eve of rockbursts, as well as that of AE signals, can be used as beneficial information for rockburst prediction.

Energy-Based Brittleness Index and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Anisotropic Coal Under Triaxial Stress Condition

Abstract: Evaluating the ability of coal seams to form fracture networks by hydraulic fracturing is important for the development of coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs. In this paper, a new index for evaluating coal brittleness was established from the perspective of energy evolution during coal failure. Uniaxial and triaxial compression tests of coal monitored by an acoustic emission (AE) system were carried out and the applicability of the new index and the influence of the confining pressure and cleat orientation on the coal brittleness were analyzed. The pre-peak and post-peak dissipated energies were the essential factors in determining the coal brittleness. The new index can characterize the influence of the external stress and cleat orientation on coal brittleness, and can also comprehensively reflect the mechanical properties of the coal during the pre-peak and post-peak stages. The corresponding AE energy curves can be divided into Rapid Fracture Type, Stable Fracture Type and Plastic Fracture Type. For the Rapid Fracture Type, the accumulation rate of AE energy showed sudden changes when reaching the yield stress and peak strength, which represented high brittleness. The Plastic Fracture Type represented low brittleness, and the accumulated AE energy curves were smooth—first concave and then convex. The brittleness index of coal studied in this paper can provide a new method for selecting the optimal CBM reservoir and optimizing the fracturing scheme.

Failure Characteristics of Granite Influenced by Sample Height-to-Width Ratios and Intermediate Principal Stress Under True-Triaxial Unloading Conditions

Abstract: The failure modes and peak unloading strength of a typical hard rock, Miluo granite, with particular attention to the sample height-to-width ratio (between 2 and 0.5), and the intermediate principal stress was investigated using a true-triaxial test system. The experimental results indicate that both sample height-to-width ratios and intermediate principal stress have an impact on the failure modes, peak strength and severity of rockburst in hard rock under true-triaxial unloading conditions. For longer rectangular specimens, the transition of failure mode from shear to slabbing requires higher intermediate principal stress. With the decrease in sample height-to-width ratios, slabbing failure is more likely to occur under the condition of lower intermediate principal stress. For same intermediate principal stress, the peak unloading strength monotonically increases with the decrease in sample height-to-width. However, the peak unloading strength as functions of intermediate principal stress for different types of rock samples (with sample height-to-width ratio of 2, 1 and 0.5) all present the pattern of initial increase, followed by a subsequent decrease. The curves fitted to octahedral shear stress as a function of mean effective stress also validate the applicability of the Mogi–Coulomb failure criterion for all considered rock sizes under true-triaxial unloading conditions, and the corresponding cohesion C and internal friction angle φ are calculated. The severity of strainburst of granite depends on the sample height-to-width ratios and intermediate principal stress. Therefore, different supporting strategies are recommended in deep tunneling projects and mining activities. Moreover, the comparison of test results of different σ2/σ3 also reveals the little influence of minimum principal stress on failure characteristics of granite during the true-triaxial unloading process.

Effects of thermal damage on strain burst mechanism for brittle rocks under true-triaxial loading conditions

Abstract: Strain burst is a common problem encountered in brittle rocks in deep, high-stress mining applications. Limited research focuses on the effects of temperature on the strain burst mechanism and the kinetic energies of rocks. This study aims to investigate the effects of thermal damage on the strain burst characteristics of brittle rocks under true-triaxial loading-unloading conditions using the acoustic emission (AE) and kinetic energy analyses. The time-domain and frequency-domain responses related to strain burst were studied, and the damage evolution was quantified by b-values, cumulative AE energy and events rates. The ejection velocities of the rock fragments from the free face of the granite specimens were used to calculate kinetic energies. The experimental results showed that thermal damage resulted in a delay in bursting but increased the bursting rate at ~ 95% of normalised stress level. This is believed to be due to the micro-cracks induced by temperature exposure, and thus the accumulated AE energy (also supported by cumulative AE counts) at the initial loading stage was reduced, causing a delay in bursting. The strain burst stress, initial rock fragment ejection velocity, and kinetic energy decreased from room temperature (25 °C) to 100 °C, whereas they resulted in a gradual rise from 100 to 150 °C demonstrating more intense strain burst behaviour.

Prediction Model of TBM Disc Cutter Wear During Tunnelling in Heterogeneous Ground

Abstract: When shield tunnelling is constructed in complex geological conditions using a tunnel boring machine, the disc cutter in the cutterhead easily wears to the failure state, particularly when the ground conditions are heterogeneous. This paper summarises the failure modes of the disc cutter in heterogeneous ground conditions into three categories, based on the observed wear data from field: (1) uniform disc cutter wear, (2) non-uniform disc cutter wear, and (3) breakage of cutter ring. Subsequently, the stress state of a disc cutter in the heterogeneous ground was analysed and the effective factors were investigated. The relationships between friction energy during cutting, working status of the machine and the characteristics of the geological conditions were evaluated. Based on the stress analysis and friction energy, a prediction model was proposed. The proposed model was applied to two field case studies: pertaining to uniform and mixed-face ground conditions, for which the empirical coefficient k for energy transfer was also determined. The preliminary results from this research indicated that the proposed model was valid for both homogeneous and heterogeneous ground conditions. Further case studies provided by co-operators are expected to improve the effectiveness of the proposed model.

The Influence of Water Saturation on the Short- and Long-Term Mechanical Behavior of Red Sandstone

Abstract: The presence of water greatly influences time-dependent rock deformation. An understanding of how water can affect the time-dependent mechanical behavior of rock is important when assessing the long-term stability of geotechnical projects. While the previous studies have performed brittle creep experiments on oven-dry or fully-saturated rocks, we report here on a study designed to better understand brittle creep at different levels of saturation. We performed brittle creep experiments on oven-dry samples of red sandstone (Hunan province, China) and samples of the sandstone pre-immersed in water for different durations (from 2 to 8 days). These samples were deformed at a constant stress in one of either two conditions: dry or submerged in water. Before performing creep experiments, we first performed a series of water absorption and constant stress rate experiments to guide the stresses required for our creep tests and to assist with their interpretation. Our creep experiments show that immersion in water greatly increased the minimum creep strain rate and greatly shortened the time-to-failure when compared to the dry state. In detail, the minimum creep strain rate and time-to-failure increased and decreased, respectively, as pre-immersion duration increased from 4 to 6 days, but did not change as the duration was further increased to 8 days. We attribute this to the saturation of microcracks between 4 and 6 days (i.e., water imbibition was complete, or close to completion, following 6 days). We also show that oven-dry samples deformed at a constant stress underwater fail at stresses much lower than oven-dry samples deformed under dry conditions, due to the imbibition of water during deformation. Samples pre-immersed in water, but deformed in the dry condition were characterized by lower strain rates and longer time-to-failure than those pre-immersed in water and deformed underwater. Our explanation for this is that, due to the availability of water, crack tips can remain hydrated when the sample is deformed underwater, thus increasing the efficacy of stress corrosion cracking. The relationships and data provided herein inform on the long-term stability of engineering structures.

Cracking Processes and Coalescence Modes in Rock-Like Specimens with Two Parallel Pre-existing Cracks

Abstract: The cracks in a rock tend to initiate, propagate, and coalesce under loading. Based on the digital image correlation (DIC) method, uniaxial compression tests are carried out on rock-like specimens with various arrangements of two parallel cracks. The full-field strain and failure features of the rock-like materials are observed and analysis by a self-developed code. Two process zones are defined according to the differences between the shear strain field and the tensile strain field: a shear process zone and a tensile process zone. The following results are obtained in this study. (1) Three coalescence modes can be observed using the DIC method: a shear coalescence mode, a tensile coalescence mode, and a mixed coalescence mode. (2) At the microscopic level, the bridge angle and crack arrangement affect the formation of the process zone; at the macroscopic level, they determine the crack propagation path and the failure mode. (3) The peak strength of the rock-like specimen is related to the crack inclination angle and the bridge angle. (4) Numerical modeling by the expanded distinct element method and the strain strength criterion simulates the different coalescence modes of the experimental study efficiently.

Creep and Long-Term Permeability of a Red Sandstone Subjected to Cyclic Loading After Thermal Treatments

Abstract: Long-term experiments were performed on red sandstones after different thermal treatments (25, 300, 700 and 1000 °C) under multi-step loading and unloading cycles and a confining pressure of 25 MPa. Furthermore, to quantitatively analyse the temperature influence on the deformation behaviours of the specimens, the concept of the temperature–strain rate was proposed to describe the relationship between strain and temperature, and the experimental results were corrected to identical temperatures (i.e., 20 °C), to overcome the influence of periodic fluctuations in ambient temperature. The results show that the axial mean temperature–strain rate first increased as temperature increased from 25 to 300 °C and then decreased with increasing temperature, whereas the lateral mean temperature–strain rate decreased with increasing temperature. The total strain was divided into the instantaneous elastic strain, the instantaneous plastic strain, the visco-elastic strain and the visco-plastic strain. The total axial strain increased with increasing deviatoric stress, and the irrecoverable strain increased with increasing loading and unloading history. Furthermore, the total axial strain increased with increasing temperature; specifically, at 1000 °C, it was approximately two times that at 700 °C and three times those at 25 and 300 °C. The instantaneous elastic strain and the instantaneous plastic strain increased approximately linearly with increasing deviatoric stress, whereas the creep strain varied with deviatoric stress in complicated ways at different temperatures. However, under identical deviatoric stress, the instantaneous elastic strain and the instantaneous plastic strain increased slightly as temperature increased from 25 to 700 °C and then increased substantially as temperature reached 1000 °C, whereas the variations in the creep strain, the visco-elastic strain and the visco-plastic strain were dependent on temperature and stress level. Finally, the permeability first decreased slightly as temperature increased from 25 to 300 °C and then increased with increasing temperature.

In Situ Observation of Rock Spalling in the Deep Tunnels of the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (2400 m Depth)

Abstract: To study rock spalling in deep tunnels at China Jinping Underground Laboratory Phase II (CJPL-II), photogrammetry method and digital borehole camera were used to quantify key features of rock spalling including orientation, thickness of slabs and the depth of spalling. The failure mechanism was analysed through scanning electron microscope and numerical simulation based on FLAC3D. Observation results clearly showed the process of rock spalling failure: a typical spalling pattern around D-shaped tunnels after top-heading and bottom bench were discovered. The orientation and thickness of the slabs were obtained. The slabs were parallel to the excavated surfaces of the tunnel and were related to the shape of the tunnel surface and orientation of the principal stress. The slabs were alternately thick and thin, and they gradually increased in thickness from the sidewall inwards. The form and mechanism of spalling at different locations in the tunnels, as influenced by stress state and excavation, were analysed. The result of this study was helpful to those rethinking the engineering design, including the excavation and support of tunnels, or caverns, at high risk of spalling.

Modeling Micro-cracking Behavior of Bukit Timah Granite Using Grain-Based Model

Abstract: Rock strength and deformation behavior has long been recognized to be closely related to the microstructure and the associated micro-cracking process. A good understanding of crack initiation and coalescence mechanisms will thus allow us to account for the variation of rock strength and deformation properties from a microscopic view. This paper numerically investigates the micro-cracking behavior of Bukit Timah granite by using a grain-based modeling approach. First, the principles of grain-based model adopted in the two-dimensional Particle Flow Code and the numerical model generation procedure are reviewed. The micro-parameters of the numerical model are then calibrated to match the macro-properties of the rock obtained from tension and compression tests in the laboratory. The simulated rock properties are in good agreement with the laboratory test results with the errors less than ±6%. Finally, the calibrated model is used to study the micro-cracking behavior and the failure modes of the rock under direct tension and under compression with different confining pressures. The results reveal that when the numerical model is loaded in direct tension, only grain boundary tensile cracks are generated, and the simulated macroscopic fracture agrees well with the results obtained in laboratory tests. When the model is loaded in compression, the ratio of grain boundary tensile cracks to grain boundary shear cracks decreases with the increase in confining pressure. In other words, the results show that as the confining pressure increases, the failure mechanism changes from tension to shear. The simulated failure mode of the model changes from splitting to shear as the applied confining pressure gradually increases, which is comparable with that observed in laboratory tests. The grain-based model used in this study thus appears promising for further investigation of microscopic and macroscopic behavior of crystalline rocks under different loading conditions.

Effect of Thermal Treatment on Brazilian Tensile Strength of Granites with Different Grain Size Distributions

Abstract: Since the first enhanced geothermal system (EGS) was conceived at the Fenton Hill project, the USA, in the 1970s, EGS projects have been pursued around the world (McClure and Horne 2014). EGS projects involve finding vast blocks with high-temperature (> 200 °C) and fracture systems. Water is first injected and circulated through the fracture networks in geothermal reservoirs and eventually pumped back to the surface as steam. EGS projects are commonly located in granite rocks with various mineralogical properties (Table 1). The mechanical response of “hot granites” to cooling becomes an important question to geologists and engineers. A large number of laboratory experiments have been performed to study the influence of heating or heating–cooling cycles on the mechanical properties of various granites, which were carefully reviewed in Heuze (1983) and Zhao (2016). These laboratory-scale experiments showed that the elastic modulus, compressive, and tensile strengths of various granites generally decrease either under the elevated temperatures or after cyclic heating–cooling treatments, mainly owing to the increasing thermal stresses and the generation of intergranular microcracks at the interfaces between minerals with different thermal expansion coefficients. In contrast, some studies also showed that these mechanical properties may not necessarily decrease or increase monotonically, when the temperature increases from room temperature to hundreds of degrees Celsius (Ranjith et al. 2012; Zhang et al. 2014). This indicates that the thermal–mechanical behavior of granites may be dependent on their mineralogical properties, such as grain size, grain shape, and mineralogy. In other words, the relationship between the thermally induced weakening of granites and their microstructural characteristics still remains poorly understood. The effect of the constituent grain size on the mechanical behavior of granites has been investigated in recent experimental studies. Shao et al. (2014) performed unconfined compressive strength tests on granite specimens with three different average grain sizes, which were first heated to four different temperatures and then subjected to cooling in air or water. Their results showed that both peak strength and elastic modulus decreased with increasing holding temperature beyond 400 °C. Sabri et al. (2016) found that the granite specimens with medium grain size (i.e., 3 mm) had the higher mode I fracture toughness than the specimens with small (i.e., 1 mm) or large (i.e., 5 mm) grain sizes. The main aim of this study is to investigate the thermal effect on the Brazilian tensile strength of granites with similar mineralogical compositions but different grain size distributions. The average grain size of reservoir granites can range from fine to coarse in different EGS projects (Table 1). During the EGS operation phase, the reservoir granites of initially high temperatures are commonly cooled by the injected water. Therefore, both cooling in air and water were considered in this generic study to better understand the effect of cooling conditions on the Brazilian tensile strength of granites. * Zhihong Zhao zhzhao@tsinghua.edu.cn

The Effects of High Heating Rate and High Temperature on the Rock Strength: Feasibility Study of a Thermally Assisted Drilling Method

Abstract: In this paper, the feasibility of a thermally assisted drilling method is investigated. The working principle of this method is based on the weakening effect of a flame-jet to enhance the drilling performance of conventional, mechanical drilling. To investigate its effectiveness, we study rock weakening after rapid, localized flame-jet heating of Rorschach sandstone and Central Aare granite. We perform experiments on rock strength after flame treatments in comparison to oven heating, for temperatures up to 650 $$^{\circ}$$ C and heating rates from 0.17 to 20 $$^{\circ}$$ C/s. The material hardening, commonly observed at moderate temperatures after oven treatments, can be suppressed by flame heating the material at high heating rates. Our study highlights the influence of the heating rate on the mechanism of thermal microcracking. High heating rate, flame treatments appear to mostly induce cracks at the grain boundaries, opposed to slow oven treatments, where also a considerable number of intragranular cracks are found. Herewith, we postulate that at low heating rates, thermal expansion stresses cause the observed thermal cracking. In contrast, at higher heating rates, thermal cracking is dominated by the stress concentrations caused by high thermal gradients.

Shear Strength and Cracking Process of Non-persistent Jointed Rocks: An Extensive Experimental Investigation

Abstract: In this paper, a number of artificial rock specimens with two parallel (stepped and coplanar) non-persistent joints were subjected to direct shearing. The effects of bridge length (L), bridge angle (γ), joint roughness coefficient (JRC) and normal stress (σ n) on shear strength and cracking process of non-persistent jointed rock were studied extensively. The experimental program was designed based on Taguchi method, and the validity of the resulting data was assessed using analysis of variance. The results revealed that σ n and γ have the maximum and minimum effects on shear strength, respectively. Also, increase in L from 10 to 60 mm led to decrease in shear strength where high level of JRC profile and σ n led to the initiation of tensile cracks due to asperity interlocking. Such tensile cracks are known as “interlocking cracks” which normally initiate from the asperity and then propagate toward the specimen boundaries. Finally, the cracking process of specimens was classified into three categories, namely tensile cracking, shear cracking and combination of tension and shear or mixed mode tensile–shear cracking.

Identification of a Suitable 3D Printing Material for Mimicking Brittle and Hard Rocks and Its Brittleness Enhancements

Abstract: Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a computer-controlled additive manufacturing technique which is able to repeatedly and accurately fabricate objects with complicated geometry and internal structures. After 30 years of fast development, 3DP has become a mainstream manufacturing process in various fields. This study focuses on identifying the most suitable 3DP material from five targeted available 3DP materials, i.e. ceramics, gypsum, PMMA (poly(methyl methacrylate)), SR20 (acrylic copolymer) and resin (Accura® 60), to simulate brittle and hard rocks. Firstly, uniaxial compression tests were performed to determine the mechanical properties and failure patterns of the 3DP samples fabricated by those five materials. Experimental results indicate that among current 3DP techniques, the resin produced via stereolithography (SLA) is the most suitable 3DP material for mimicking brittle and hard rocks, although its brittleness needs to be improved. Subsequently, three methods including freezing, incorporation of internal macro-crack and addition of micro-defects were adopted to enhance the brittleness of the 3DP resin, followed by uniaxial compression tests on the treated samples. Experimental results reveal that 3DP resin samples with the suggested treatments exhibited brittle properties and behaved similarly to natural rocks. Finally, some prospective improvements which can be used to facilitate the application of 3DP techniques to rock mechanics were also discussed. The findings of this paper could contribute to promoting the application of 3DP technique in rock mechanics.

Dynamic mechanical property deterioration model of sandstone caused by freeze-thaw weathering

Abstract: In cold climate regions, rock engineering structures are subjected to repeated processes of freeze–thaw weathering and consequently the integrity of these structures will gradually deteriorate. The resulted reduction in rock strength makes the structures become increasingly more vulnerable to external loads, particularly to dynamic loads such as blasting or earthquakes, even when these loads are below the original designed capacity. In this work, the reductions in static and dynamic strengths of sandstones after they are treated with different number of freeze–thaw cycles were studied using conventional UCS experiments and impact tests with split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus. Based on the experimental results, a decay model was used to describe the reduction of rock strength with the increasing number of freeze–thaw weathering cycles. For the prediction of the degradation of dynamic rock strength corresponding to freeze–thaw weathering, a model describing the dynamic increase factor for the dynamic rock strength corresponding to different strain rates and specimen sizes was proposed and its parameters are obtained by regression analysis of published experimental data. These two models were then combined into a unified model which can be used to describe the reduction in the dynamic strength of rocks when they are subjected to repeated freeze–thaw weathering processes. Though only tested on sandstones, the proposed unified model, with different parameters, is expected to be applicable to other types of rocks as long as the rocks undergo the same or similar damage mechanism when they are subjected to freeze–thaw weathering processes.

Energy Storage and Dissipation Evolution Process and Characteristics of Marble in Three Tension-Type Failure Tests

Abstract: Similar to investigations of failure mechanisms using the stress–strain relationship of rock materials, the energy analysis method, as a branch of the rock failure research methods, has already been applied to the field of rock mechanics and engineering applications because of its advantages in compensating for the deficiencies of classical elastoplastic mechanics theory (Thomas and Filippov 1999; Hua and You 2001; Wasantha et al. 2014). In addition, theoretical and experimental studies have confirmed that energy plays a highly crucial role in the process of deformation and destruction of rock materials (Bernabé and Revil 1995; Sujatha and Kishen 2003; Xie et al. 2004, 2005, 2009, 2011; Ju et al. 2010; Peng et al. 2015; Zhang and Gao 2015; Deng et al. 2016). The rock deformation and failure process can essentially be considered a process of energy storage, dissipation, and release (Xu et al. 2013). Hence, it is of great significance to further explore the range of rock energy-based research systems, and a macro–meso–micro system based on energy analysis has been suggested (Xie et al. 2004, 2005, 2011). Over the last few decades, numerous relevant attempts have been made by scholars, and considerable findings have been achieved. For the energy characteristics of rocks under uniaxial compression, Li et al. (2014) showed that the absorbed strain energy, damage strain energy, and elastic strain energy all increase with the strain rate. With the aid of uniaxial cyclic loading and unloading compressive tests, Meng et al. (2016) researched the characteristics of energy accumulation, evolution, and dissipation of sandstone and found that with increasing axial loading stress, the stored energy varied rapidly, followed by the elastic energy, and then the dissipated energy. In addition, a series of rock failure criteria or energy-based indexes and stability evaluation methods were also presented from the perspective of energy (Bhattacharya et al. 1998; Li 2001; Cornetti et al. 2006; Ferro 2006; Wu et al. 2006; Liu 2009; Zhou et al. 2009; Ai et al. 2016; Liu et al. 2016; Munoz et al. 2016a, b, 2017). Among the research studies regarding the energy mechanism of rocks under triaxial compression, You and Hua (2002) and Chen et al. (2013) suggested that the absorbed energy of a rock at a crack point has a linear relation with the confining pressure, and the energy dissipation is linearly related to the lateral deformation. The initial confining pressure significantly affects the energy accumulation, dissipation and release (Huang and Li 2014), i.e., a higher pressure increases the energy input intensity, improves the energy accumulation efficiency, and inhibits the energy release degree of rock (Zhang et al. 2017). Analogously, to characterize the crack propagation of sandstone under triaxial stress conditions, energy dissipation and release laws were proposed by Yang et al. (2016), who reported that as confining pressure increases, the elastic strain energy increases, and the dissipated energy density linearly decreases. These efforts have greatly enriched rock mechanics and promoted their development. The aforementioned research studies show that the previous works mostly focused on tests that were under conditions of uniaxial or triaxial compressions; the energy evolution characteristics of rocks under tension conditions have not been adequately studied, as exceedingly limited data can be found in the previous investigations. In general, rock * Feng-qiang Gong fengqiangg@126.com

Comparison of Short-Term and Long-Term Creep Experiments in Shales and Carbonates from Unconventional Gas Reservoirs

Abstract: We carried out a series of long-term creep experiments on clay- and carbonate-rich shale samples from unconventional gas reservoirs to investigate creep over both relatively short-term (4-h) and long-term (4-week) periods. Results from each set of experiments were compared to evaluate the ability to predict the long-term behavior of reservoir rocks using relatively short-term creep experiments. The triaxial deformation experiments were performed in a time-cycling pattern, which included a series of four stages of loading, creep, unloading and recovery experiments conducted over different time spans. The loading conditions (tens of MPa) reflect current reservoir conditions and were far below the strength of the samples. Experiments were conducted on both horizontal and vertical shale samples to address anisotropy introduced by the bedding. A power-law model was fitted to the creep data to predict the long-term behavior of shale samples. Regardless of the applied loading history, results of the experiments show that the shale samples follow a single trend representing their creep behavior through time. We show that the simple power-law model is capable of describing creep over multiple time periods. Additionally, the value of the creep compliance factor is consistent over different creep testing periods and it is possible to characterize the behavior of these samples from relatively short-term (1 day) creep experiments.

Dynamic Characteristics of Green Sandstone Subjected to Repetitive Impact Loading: Phenomena and Mechanisms

Abstract: A split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus driven by a pendulum hammer was used to perform uniaxial compression tests to examine the degradation process of green sandstone subjected to repetitive impact loading. The acoustic characteristics, dissipated energy, deformation characteristics, and microstructure evolution were investigated. The representative stress–strain curve can be broken into five stages that were characterized by changes in the axial strain response during impact loading. Both the ultrasonic wave velocity and cumulative dissipated energy exhibited obvious three-stage behavior with respect to the impact number. As the impact number increased, more than one peak was observed in the frequency spectra, and the relative weight of the peak frequency increased in the low-frequency range. According to the evolution of the ultrasonic wave velocity, the degradation process was divided into three stages. By comparing the intact stage I and early stage II microcrack development patterns, the initiation of new cracks and elongation of existing cracks were identified as the main degradation mechanisms. Furthermore, a slight increase in the number of cracks was observed, and microcrack lengths steadily increased. Moreover, due to the low level of microcrack damage, the deformation mechanism was mainly characterized by volume compression during impact loading. In late stage II, the main degradation mechanism was the elongation of existing cracks. Additionally, as microcracks accumulated in the rock samples, cracks were arranged parallel to the loading direction, which led to volume dilation. In stage III, microcracks continued to elongate nearly parallel to the loading direction and then linked to each other, which led to intense degradation in the rock samples. In this stage, rock sample deformation was mainly characterized by volume dilation during impact loading. Finally, rock samples were split into blocks with fractures oriented subparallel to the loading direction. These results can improve the understanding of the stability evaluations of rock structures subjected to repetitive impact loading.