Modeling rock specimens through 3D printing: Tentative experiments and prospects

Current developments in 3D printing （3DP） technology provide the opportunity to produce rock-like specimens and geotechnical models through additive man- ufacturing, that is, from a file viewed with a computer to a real object. This study investigated the serviceability of 3DP products as substitutes for rock specimens and rock-type materials in experimental analysis of deformation and failure in the laboratory. These experiments were performed on two types of materials as follows： （1） compressive experiments on printed sand-powder specimens in different shapes and structures, including intact cylinders, cylinders with small holes, and cuboids with pre-existing cracks, and （2） com- pressive and shearing experiments on printed polylactic acid cylinders and molded shearing blocks. These tentative tests for 3DP technology have exposed its advantages in produc- ing complicated specimens with special external forms and internal structures, the mechanical similarity of its product to rock-type material in terms of deformation and failure, and its precision in mapping shapes from the original body to the trial sample （such as a natural rock joint）. These experiments and analyses also successfully demonstrate the potential and prospects of 3DP technology to assist in the deformation and failure analysis of rock-type materials, as well as in the sim- ulation of similar material modeling experiments.

Influence of microwave treatment on mechanical behaviour of compact basalts under different confining pressures

The realisation of microwave-induced fracturing of hard rocks has potential signiflcance for microwave-assisted mechanical rock fracturing and stress release in deep rock masses.In this context,compact basalts were treated by microwave heating in a multi-mode cavity at a frequency of 2450 MHz,and then,we investigated the mechanical behaviour of basalt samples after microwave treatment under uniaxial compression and conventional triaxial compression(CTC)tests.After microwave exposure,cracks appeared on the surface and inside of the rock sample,and the temperature of the sample's surface was unevenly distributed.The results show that the conventional triaxial compressive strength(CTCS)of basalt samples decreased linearly with microwave exposure time,and the higher the confining pressure,the smaller the reduction in the strength of basalt samples after microwave treatment.Under uniaxial compression,microwave exposure greatly affected the axial deformation,suggesting that deformation resistance of the samples gradually decreases with increasing microwave exposure time.Under triaxial compression,some microcracks induced by microwave exposure closed due to the effect of confining pressure,resulting in the confining pressure inhibiting any rightward shift of the axial deformation curve.Furthermore,under uniaxial compression,the elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio of basalts also decreased in a quasi-linear manner with elapsed microwave exposure time.Under triaxial compression,microwave exposure has slight influence on elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio.After microwave treatment,the changes in rock strength and deformation mainly result from changes in between the mineral structures.Confining pressure results in the closure of microcracks produced by microwave exposure,so that effects of microwave treatment on strength and deformation decrease,thus reducing the influence on elastic constants.The cohesion decreases with increasing microwave exposure time and shows an approximately linear decrease over time.In the basalt samples,new microcracks in various directions generated by microwave exposure can increase the discreteness of test results,while the discreteness of test results caused by microcracks gradually reduces with increasing confining pressure.

Studies on the evolution process of rockbursts in deep tunnels

This paper focuses on the evolution processes of different types of rockbursts occurring in deep tunnels. A series of laboratory tests and in-situ monitoring in deep tunnels excavated by tunnel boring machine （TBM） and drill-and-blast （D＆B） method have been conducted to understand the mechanisms and processes of the evolution of different types of rockbursts, including strain rockburst, strain-structure slip rockburst, immediate rockburst and time-delayed rockburst. Three different risk assessment methods are proposed to evaluate the intensity and potential failure depth of rockbursts. These methods can be applied before excavation and the results can be updated according to the real-time information during excavation. Two micro-seismicity based real-time warning systems have been established for predicting various intensities ofrockbursts, such as slight, moderate, intensive and extremely intensive rockbursts. Meanwhile, the probability and intensity of the rockburst are also given. The strategy for excavation and support design has been suggested for various intensities of rockbursts before excavation. The strategy for dynamic control of the rockburst evolution process is also proposed according to the monitoring results. The methodology has been successfully applied to rockburst risk reduction for deep tunnels at Jinping II hydropower project. The results have illustrated the applicability of the proposed methodology and techniques concerning rockbursts.

Unloading performances and stabilizing practices for columnar jointed basalt:A case study of Baihetan hydropower station

The columnar jointed rock mass(CJR), composed of polygonal cross-sectional columns cut by several groups of joints in various directions, was exposed during the excavations of the Baihetan hydropower station, China. In order to investigate the unloading performances and the stability conditions during excavation of the columns, an experimental field study was performed. Firstly, on-site investigations indicated that the geotechnical problems, including rock relaxation, cracking and collapse, were the most prominent for the CJR Class I that contains intensive joint network and the smallest column sizes.Comprehensive field tests, including deformation measurement by multi-point extensometers, ultrasonic wave testing, borehole television observation and stress monitoring of rock anchors, revealed that the time-dependent relaxation of the CJRs was marked. The practical excavation experiences for the Baihetan columnar jointed rock masses, such as blasting scheme, supporting time of shotcrete and rock bolts, were presented in the excavations of the diversion tunnels. These detailed investigations and practical construction experiences can provide helpful information for similar geotechnical works in jointed rock mass.

Shear testing on rock tunnel models under constant normal stress conditions

Large shear deformation problems are frequently encountered in geotechnical engineering.To expose the shear failure mechanism of rock tunnels,compression-shear tests for rock models with circular tunnel were carried out,including single tunnel and adjacent double tunnels.The failure process is recorded by the external video and miniature cameras around the tunnel,accompanied by real-time acoustic emission monitoring.The experiments indicate that the shearing processes of rock tunnel can be divided into four steps:(i)cracks appeared around tunnels,(ii)shear cracks and spalling ejection developed,(iii)floor warping occurred,and(iv)shear cracks ran through the tunnel model.Besides,the roughness of the sheared fracture surface decreased with the increase in normal stress.Corresponding numerical simulation indicates that there are tensile stress concentrations and compressive stress concentrations around the tunnel during the shearing process,while the compressive stress concentration areas are under high risk of failure and the existence of adjacent tunnels will increase the degree of stress concentration.

Geomechanical modeling of CO2 geological storage:A review

This paper focuses on the progress in geomechanical modeling associated with carbon dioxide(CO2)geological storage.The detailed review of some geomechanical aspects,including numerical methods,stress analysis,ground deformation,fault reactivation,induced seismicity and crack propagation,is presented.It is indicated that although all the processes involved are not fully understood,integration of all available data,such as ground survey,geological conditions,microseismicity and ground level deformation,has led to many new insights into the rock mechanical response to CO2injection.The review also shows that in geomechanical modeling,continuum modeling methods are predominant compared with discontinuum methods.It is recommended to develop continuum-discontinuum numerical methods since they are more convenient for geomechanical modeling of CO2geological storage,especially for fracture propagation simulation.The Mohr-Coulomb criterion is widely used in prediction of rock mass mechanical behavior.It would be better to use a criterion considering the effect of the intermediate principal stress on rock mechanical behavior,especially for the stability analysis of deeply seated rock engineering.Some challenges related to geomechanical modeling of CO2geological storage are also discussed.

Role of stress,slenderness and foliation on large anisotropic deformations at deep underground excavations

High stress concentrations around underground excavations can result in significant damage to deep hard-rock mines.These conditions can be the result of stopping activities,blasting,seismicity,or other mining activities.Large anisotropic deformation and excavation closure,especially under high-stress conditions,are expected if the excavation is located in a foliated or thin-bedded rock mass.In this research,the behaviour of excavations under deep and high-stress conditions was investigated and categorised.The main purpose was to enhance the existing knowledge of managing large anisotropic deformations and to help prepare suitable measures for handling such contingencies.Numerical simulations using the distinct element method(DEM)and model calibration were performed to reproduce the anisotropic deformation of an ore drive based on the collected field data.Then,the roles of key factors(i.e.stress ratio,slenderness ratio,foliation orientation,and foliation considering excavation orientation)on the large deformation and damage depth of the excavations were investigated.This study found that increasing both the stress ratio and slenderness ratio induced linear increases in wall closure and damage depth,whereas increasing the foliation angle first increases the deformation and damage depth and then reduces them both before and after 45.The wall closure and damage thickness decreased with increasing orientation intercept.The deformation and damage levels were classified based on these factors.

Numerical study on coupled thermo-mechanical processes in sp Pillar Stability Experiment

This paper presents a study of the full three-dimensional thermo-mechanical （TM） behavior of rock pillar in,Aspo Pillar Stability Experiment （APSE） using a self-developed numerical code TM-EPCA3D. The transient thermal conduction function was descritized on space and time scales, and was solved by using cellular automaton （CA） method on space scale and finite difference method on time scale, respectively. The advantage of this approach is that no global, but local matrix is used so that it avoids the need to develop and solve large-scale linear equations and the complexity therein. A thermal conductivity versus stress function was proposed to reflect the effect of stress on thermal field. The temperature evolution and induced thermal stress in the pillar part during the heating and cooling processes were well simulated by the developed code. The factors that affect the modeling results were discussed. It is concluded that, the complex TM behavior of Aspo rock pillar is significantly influenced by the complex boundary and initial conditions.

A HYDRO-MECHANICAL-CHEMICAL COUPLING MODEL FOR GEOMATERIAL WITH BOTH MECHANICAL AND CHEMICAL DAMAGES CONSIDERED

A general framework of hydro-mechanical-chemical coupling model is proposed for geomaterial subjected to the dual effects of mechanical loading and chemical degradation. Mechanical damage due to microcracks in solid matrix and chemical damage induced by the increase of porosity due to dissolution of matrix minerals as well as their interactions are considered. A special model is proposed for sandstone. The reaction rate is formulated within the framework of mineral reaction kinetics and can thus take into account different dissolution mechanisms of three main mineral compositions under different pH values. The increase of porosity is physically defined by the dissolution of mineral composition and the chemical damage is related to the increase of porosity. The mechanical behavior is characterized by unified plastic damage and viscoplastic damage modeling. The effective stress is used for describing the effect of pore pressure. The elastic parameters and plastic evolution as well as viscoplastic evolution are dependent on chemical damage. The advection, which is coupled with mechanical damage and chemical damage, is considered as the dominant mechanism of mass transfer. The application of model proposed is from decoupled experiments to fully coupled experiment. The model offers a convenient approach to describing the hydro-mechanical-chemical coupled behavior of geomaterial.

DEVELOPMENT AND APPLICATIONS OF THE ELASTO-PLASTIC CELLULAR AUTOMATON

The paper presents the advancement and applications of the elasto-plastic cellular automaton （EPCA）, a simulator for rock mechanics and rock engineering. The most significant feature of EPCA lies in its ＇down-top＇ way of dealing with nonlinear behaviors of rocks. The theory, the basic idea and associated developments, including the definition of cellular automaton, the heterogeneous material model, constitutive relations, failure criteria, the post-yield softening scheme, the thermo-hydro-mechanical coupling process, are described. The applications are presented to show the ability of EPCA to model the rock failure process, fluid flow, heat transfer, and the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical （THM） process etc.

UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS OF ROCK FAILURE BEHAVIOUR USING AN INTEGRATION OF THE PROBABILISTIC COLLOCATION METHOD AND ELASTO-PLASTIC CELLULAR AUTOMATON

The Karhunen-Loeve （KL） expansion and probabilistic collocation method （PCM） are combined and applied to an uncertainty analysis of rock failure behavior by integrating a self- developed numerical method （i.e., the elastic-plastic cellular automaton （EPCA））. The results from the method developed are compared using the Monte Carlo Simulation （MCS） method. It is concluded that the method developed requires fewer collocations than MCS method to obtain very high accuracy and greatly reduces the computational cost. Based on the method, the elasto- plastic and elasto-brittle-plastic analyses of rocks under mechanical loadings are conducted to study the uncertainty in heterogeneous rock failure behaviour.

ROCK INITIATION AND PROPAGATION SIMULATION UNDER COMPRESSION-SHEAR LOADING USING CONTINUOUS-DISCONTINUOUS CELLULAR AUTOMATON METHOD

A continuous-discontinuous cellular automaton method is developed for rock initiation and propagation simulations, in which the level set method, discontinuous enrichment shape functions and discontinuous cellular automaton are combined. No renmshing is needed for crack growth analysis, and all calculations are restricted to cells without an assembled global stiffness matrix. The frictional contact theory is employed to construct the contact model of normal pressure and tangential shear on crack surfaces. A discontinuous cellular automaton updating rule suitable for frictional contact of rock is proposed simultaneously with Newton＇s iteration method for nonlinear iteration. Besides, a comprehensive fracturing criterion for brittle rock under compression-shear loading is developed. The accuracy and effectivenesss of the proposed method is proved by numerical simulation.