Identifying the real fracture hidden in rock microcrack zone by acoustic emission energy

Identifying the real fracture of rock hidden in acoustic emission(AE)source clusters(AE-depicted microcrack zone)remains challenging and crucial.Here we revealed the AE energy(representing dissipated energy)distribution rule in the rock microcrack zone and proposed an AE-energy-based method for identifying the real fracture.(1)A set of fracture experiments were performed on granite using wedgeloading,and the fracture process was detected and recorded by AE.The microcrack zone associated with the energy dissipation was characterized by AE sources and energy distribution,utilizing our selfdeveloped AE analysis program(RockAE).(2)The accumulated AE energy,an index representing energy dissipation,across the AE-depicted microcrack zone followed the normal distribution model(the mean and variance relate to the real fracture path and the microcrack zone width).This result implies that the nucleation and coalescence of massive cracks(i.e.,real fracture generation process)are supposed to follow a normal distribution.(3)Then,we obtained the real fracture extension path by joining the peak positions of the AE energy normal distribution curve at different cross-sections of the microcrack zone.Consequently,we distinguished between the microcrack zone and the concealed real fracture within it.The deviation was validated as slight as 1–3 mm.

Effect of the layer orientation on mechanics and energy evolution characteristics of shales under uniaxial loading

The uniaxial compression tests were conducted on the cylindrical shale specimens with bedding plane inclined at 0° and 90° to the axial loading direction, respectively. Effect of the bedding orientation on the mechanical property and energy evolution characteristics of shales was revealed. The failure mechanisms of the specimens with layers in 0° orientation showed splitting failure along weak bedding, while the specimens with layers in 90° orientation were failed by shearing sliding. The values of compressive strength, elastic modulus and shear modulus of samples at 0° were higher than those of samples at 90°and there was little difference of Poisson's ratio between samples at 0° and 90°. The analysis of the stress–strain energy and acoustic emission(AE) energy indicated that the growth rate of absorbed energy density and elastic energy density at 0° was significantly faster than that at 90°, hence their final values at 0°were relatively larger than the latter. Moreover, higher energy release was observed for specimens at 0°.The energy release and rapid growth of energy dissipation also appeared more early at 0°. The stress ratio63% was a critical point of energy distribution at which differences started to arise between samples at 0°and 90°. These results indicated that the failure of shale at 0° was more violent and devastative than the failure of shale at 90°.

Temperature effect on shear behavior of ore-backfill coupling specimens at various shear directions

Understanding the temperature effect on shear behavior of the ore-backfill coupling structure is critical for the safety and stability of backfill stope under the condition of high horizontal stress in deep mining.Direct shear tests were carried out on the cemented rod-mill sand backfill(CRB)and ore-CRB(OCRB)coupling specimens at various temperatures(20,40 and 60°C).The shear behavior and AE characteristic parameters of OCRB at different shear directions were compared and analyzed.The results show that the temperature effect on the shear performance of CRB mainly depends on the characteristics of microstructures and main mineral phases;the performance of CRB at 40°C is relatively good;the shear deformation of OCRB has one more“peak fluctuation stage”than CRB and has a good correlation with AE characteristic parameters.The temperature can positively or negatively impact the shear strength of OCRB,depending on the temperature and shear direction;the shear performance of OCRB along the axis direction(D1)is significantly better than that perpendicular to the axis direction(D2).The co-bearing capacity of the ore-backfill coupling structure(i.e.,stopes)is closely related to the ambient temperature and principal stress orientation.