Mechanical behavior of sandstone during post-peak cyclic loading and unloading under hydromechanical coupling

This paper investigates mechanical behaviours of sandstone during post-peak cyclic loading and unloading subjected to hydromechanical coupling effect, confirming the peak and residual strengths reduction laws of sandstone with water pressure, and revealing the influence of water pressure on the upper limit stress and deformation characteristics of sandstone during post-peak cyclic loading and unloading.Regarding the rock strength, the experimental study confirms that the peak strength σ_(p) and residual strength σ_(r) decrease as water pressure P increases. Especially, the normalized strength parameters σ_(p)/σ_(pk) and σ_(r)/σ_(re) was negatively and linearly correlated with the P/σ_(3). Moreover, the Hoek-Brown strength criterion can be applied to describe the relationship between effective peak strength and effective confining stress. During post-peak cyclic loading and unloading, both the upper limit stress σ_(p(i)) and crack damage threshold stress σ_(cd(i)) of each cycle tend to decrease with the increasing cycle number. A hysteresis loop exists among the loading and unloading stress–strain curves, indicating the unloading deformation modulus E_(unload) is larger than the loading deformation modulus E_(load). Based on experimental results,a post-peak strength prediction model related to water pressure and plastic shear strain is established.

Morphological evolution and flow conduction characteristics of fracture channels in fractured sandstone under cyclic loading and unloading

In coal mining,rock strata are fractured under cyclic loading and unloading to form fracture channels.Fracture channels are the main flow narrows for gas.Therefore,expounding the flow conductivity of fracture channels in rocks on fluids is significant for gas flow in rock strata.In this regard,graded incremental cyclic loading and unloading experiments were conducted on sandstones with different initial stress levels.Then,the three-dimensional models for fracture channels in sandstones were established.Finally,the fracture channel percentages were used to reflect the flow conductivity of fracture channels.The study revealed how the particle size distribution of fractured sandstone affects the formation and expansion of fracture channels.It was found that a smaller proportion of large blocks and a higher proportion of small blocks after sandstone fails contribute more to the formation of fracture channels.The proportion of fracture channels in fractured rock can indicate the flow conductivity of those channels.When the proportion of fracture channels varies gently,fluids flow evenly through those channels.However,if the proportion of fracture channels varies significantly,it can greatly affect the flow rate of fluids.The research results contribute to revealing the morphological evolution and flow conductivity of fracture channels in sandstone and then provide a theoretical basis for clarifying the gas flow pattern in the rock strata of coal mines.

The deformation and permeability of Yanji mudstone under cyclic loading and unloading

During the constructions of motorways and high-speed railway lines in the Yanji Basin,large amounts of excess mudstones due to the enormous tunnel excavations and slope cuts would be deposited as landfills.Assessing the deformation and permeability of Yanji mudstone became important for the design,construction and operation of the landfills.This paper presents an experimental study on the deformation and permeability of Yanji mudstone by carrying out a series of oedometer tests with loading/unloading cycles.The results show that the sample with a lower initial water content exhibited greater swelling deformation after inundation,a lower yield stress,greater deformation and a higher hydraulic conductivity during the loading/unloading cycles.As the number of loading/unloading cycles increased,the yield stress and accumulated plastic deformation increased,while the compression index,rebound index and hydraulic conductivity decreased.The samples became stiffer and their hydromechanical behaviour tended to be stable after three cycles.The compression curves could be divided into pre-yield and post-yield zones.The post-yield zones of compression curves and the rebound curves could be normalized into a unique line,and the pre-yield zones of the compression curves could be described as lines.Basic equations were developed to predict mudstone deformation under cyclic loading and unloading.Additionally,an empirical relationship between the hydraulic conductivity and void ratio was also proposed.The ability of the proposed methods was verified by the overall good agreement between the experimental results and predicted values.

Mechanical and hydraulic properties of fault rocks under multi‑stage cyclic loading and unloading

The rock mass in fault zones is frequently subjected to cyclic loading and unloading during deep resource exploitation and tunnel excavation.Research on the mechanical and hydraulic characteristics of fault rock during the cyclic loading and unloading is of great signifcance for revealing the formation mechanism of water-conducting pathways in fault and preventing water inrush disasters.In this study,the mechanical and seepage tests of fault rock under the multi-stage cyclic loading and unloading of axial compression were carried out by using the fuid–solid coupling triaxial experimental device.The hysteresis loop of the stress–strain curve,peak strain rate,secant Young's modulus,and permeability of fault rock were obtained,and the evolution law of the dissipated energy of fault rock with the cyclic number of load and unloading was discussed.The experimental results show that with an increase in the cyclic number of loading and unloading,several changes occur.The hysteresis loop of the stress–strain curve of the fault rock shifts towards higher levels of strain.Additionally,both the peak strain rate and the secant Young's modulus of the fault rock increase,resulting in an increase in the secant Young's modulus of the fault rock mass.However,the growth rate of the secant Young's modulus gradually slows down with the increase of cyclic number of loading and unloading.The permeability evolution of fault rock under the multi-stage cyclic loading and unloading of axial compression can be divided into three stages:steady increase stage,cyclic decrease stage,and rapid increase stage.Besides,the calculation model of dissipated energy of fault rock considering the efective stress was established.The calculation results show that the relationship between the dissipated energy of fault rock and the cyclic number of loading and unloading conforms to an exponential function.

Evolution of mechanical parameters of Shuangjiangkou granite under different loading cycles and stress paths

Surrounding rocks at different locations are generally subjected to different stress paths during the process of deep hard rock excavation.In this study,to reveal the mechanical parameters of deep surrounding rock under different stress paths,a new cyclic loading and unloading test method for controlled true triaxial loading and unloading and principal stress direction interchange was proposed,and the evolution of mechanical parameters of Shuangjiangkou granite under different stress paths was studied,including the deformation modulus,elastic deformation increment ratios,fracture degree,cohesion and internal friction angle.Additionally,stress path coefficient was defined to characterize different stress paths,and the functional relationships among the stress path coefficient,rock fracture degree difference coefficient,cohesion and internal friction angle were obtained.The results show that during the true triaxial cyclic loading and unloading process,the deformation modulus and cohesion gradually decrease,while the internal friction angle gradually increases with increasing equivalent crack strain.The stress path coefficient is exponentially related to the rock fracture degree difference coefficient.As the stress path coefficient increases,the degrees of cohesion weakening and internal friction angle strengthening decrease linearly.During cyclic loading and unloading under true triaxial principal stress direction interchange,the direction of crack development changes,and the deformation modulus increases,while the cohesion and internal friction angle decrease slightly,indicating that the principal stress direction interchange has a strengthening effect on the surrounding rocks.Finally,the influences of the principal stress interchange direction on the stabilities of deep engineering excavation projects are discussed.

Strength characteristics and energy dissipation evolution of thawing silty clay during cyclic triaxial loading

Cyclic triaxial tests are conducted to analyze the evolution of strength parameters and energy dissipation of thawing silty clay under different stress paths.The effects of freezing temperature,thawing temperature and confining pressures on the stress-strain and strength characteristics of soil samples are studied through monotonic loading and cyclic loading tests by using high-and low-temperature triaxial apparatus.The variation of the total work,elastic deformation energy,dissipated energy,energy dissipation rate,residual strain,and damage variable during loading and unloading are discussed.The experimental results show that the samples have higher strain tolerance under high confining pressure,low freezing temperature,and low thawing temperature,and the same other conditions.The soil sample state and failure pattern can be judged by using the energy parameters measured in the experiment.

Deformation Damage and Energy Evolution of Basalt Fiber Reinforced Concrete under the Triaxial Compression

To explore the law of energy evolution and the change of damage before and after specimen failure,the conventional triaxial compression tests(5,10,15,20,and 30 MPa)of basalt fiber reinforced concrete(BFRC)with different fiber volume fractions(0,0.2%and 0.4%)were carried out by MTS816 rock testing system,and the cyclic loading and unloading tests of BFRC with a fiber content of 0.2%were carried out.The experimental results show that the peak strength and strain of BFRC increase with the increase of confining pressure.Tensile failure occurs under low confining pressure,and shear failure occurs under high confining pressure.The best volume fraction of fiber is 0.2%.Under different confining pressures,the input energy,elastic energy,plastic properties,and dissipated energy of the samples first increase and then decrease to a stable level.The elastic energy and dissipated energy reach the maximum near the peak stress,while the input energy and plastic properties reach the maximum at the peak.At the same time,the damage increases continuously with the input of load under different confining pressures,indicating that the failure of the specimen is a process of energy accumulation.