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.

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.

Influence of volume compression on the unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone under damage-controlled cyclic triaxial loading

A reasonable evaluation of unloading deformation characteristics is of great significance for the effective analysis of deformation and stability of surrounding rocks after underground excavation.In this study,the damage-controlled cyclic triaxial loading tests were conducted to investigate the pore compaction mechanism and its influences on the unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone,including Young’s modulus,Poisson’s ratio,volumetric strain,and irreversible strain.The experimental results show that the increases of volumetric and irreversible strains of rocks can be attributed to the compaction mechanism,which almost dominates the entire pre-peak deformation process.The unloading deformation consists of the reversible linear and nonlinear strains,and the irreversible strain under the influence of the porous grain structure.The pre-peak Young’s modulus tends to increase and then decrease due to the influence of the unloading irreversible strain.However,it hardly changes with the increasing volumetric strain compaction under the influence of reversible nonlinear strain.Instead,the initial unloading tangent modulus is highly related to the volumetric strain,and clearly reflects the compaction state of red sandstone.Furthermore,both the reversible nonlinear and irreversible unloading deformations are independent of confining pressure.This study is beneficial for the theoretical modeling and prediction of cyclic unloading deformation behavior of red sandstone.

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.

Study of Load Modeling Technology on Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulator of Gun Servo System

A hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulator for gun servo system is described in this paper, and its load modeling technologies,such as road spectrum model,sea wave model are studied. The simulation results show that the models can be used in HWIL and satisfy the requirements of hardware-in-the-loop simulator of gun servo system.

Mechanical properties and failure modes of stratified backfill under triaxial cyclic loading and unloading

Multiple filling of gobs will lead to a layered structure of the backfill.To explore the influence of layering structure on the mechanical properties and failure modes of backfill,different backfill specimens were prepared with a cement/sand ratio of 1:4,a slurry concentration of 75%,and backfilling times of 1,2,3 and 4,separately.Triaxial cyclic loading and unloading experiments were carried out.The results show that with an increase in backfilling time,the peak strength of backfill decreases as a polynomial function and the peak strain increases as an exponential function.The cyclic load enhances the linear characteristic of backfill deformation.The loading and unloading deformation moduli have a linear negative correlation with the backfilling time.The unloading deformation modulus is always slightly higher than the loading deformation modulus.The failure modes of stratified backfill are mainly characterized by conjugate shear failure at the upper layer and tensile failure across the layer plane,and there is usually no damage in the lower layer away from the loading area.

Application of high-pressure water jet technology and the theory of rock burst control in roadway

This paper puts forward using high-pressure water jet technology to control rock burst in roadway, and analyzes the theory of controlling rock burst in roadway by the weak structure zone model. The weak structure zone is formed by using high-pressure water jet to cut the coal wall in a continuous and rotational way. In order to study the influence law of weak structure zone in surrounding rock, this paper numerically analyzed the influence law of weak structure zone, and the disturbance law of coal wall and floor under dynamic and static combined load. The results show that when the distance between high-pressure water jet drillings is 3 m and the diameter of drilling is 300 mm, continuous stress superposition zone can be formed. The weak structure zone can transfer and reduce the concentrated static load in surrounding rock, and then form distressed zone. The longer the high-pressure water jet drilling is, the larger the distressed zone is. The stress change and displacement change of non-distressed zone in coal wall and floor are significantly greater than that of distressed zone under dynamic and static combined load. And it shows that the distressed zone can effectively control rock burst in roadway under dynamic and static combined load. High-pressure water jet technology was applied in the haulage gate of 250203 working face in Yanbei Coal Mine, and had gained good effect. The study conclusions provide theoretical foundation and a new guidance for controlling rock burst in roadway.

Calculation of foundation pit deformation caused by deep excavation considering influence of loading and unloading

A new analytical solution for ground surface settlement induced by deep excavation is proposed based on the elastic half space Melan’s solution,and the analytical model is related to the physical and mechanical properties of soil with the loading and unloading action during excavation process.The change law of earth pressure of the normal consolidation soil after the foundation pit excavation was analyzed,and elastic displacement calculation methods of analytic solution were further established given the influence of excavation and unloading.According to the change of stress state in the excavation process of foundation pit,the planar mechanical analysis model of the foundation excavation problem was established.By combining this model with the physical equations and geometric equations of plane strain problem with consideration of the loading and unloading modulus of soil,constitutive equation of the plane strain problem was also established.The loading and unloading modulus formula was obtained by using the parameter calculation method in Duncan-Chang curve model.The constitutive equation obtained from the model was used to calculate the soil stress state of each point to determine its loading and unloading modulus.Finally,the foundation pit displacement change after excavation was calculated,and thus the soil pressure distribution after retaining structure deformation.The theoretical results calculated by making corresponding programs were applied to engineering practice.By comparing the conventional calculation results with monitoring results,the practicability and feasibility of the calculation model were verified,which should provide a theoretical basis for similar projects.

Experimental investigation on damage evolution behaviour of a granitic rock under loading and unloading

In-situ rock failures can result from stress changes due to pure loading and/or unloading. Understanding of the damage evolution behavior in brittle rocks during loading and unloading is imperative for the designs of rock structures. In this paper, we investigate the damage evolution characteristics of a granitic rock during loading and unloading after a series of triaxial experiments performed at different confining pressures. The axial stress-axial strain variations of the tested specimens revealed that the specimens undergoing unloading fail with a lower axial strain compared to the specimens failed purely by loading. Higher confining pressures were observed to exacerbate the difference. Volumetric strain versus axial strain curves indicated that the curves reverse the trend with the beginning of major damage of specimens. We suggest here a new form of equation to describe the secant modulus variation of brittle rocks against the axial stress for the unloading process. Failure mechanisms of tested specimens showed two distinct patterns, namely, specimens under pure loading failed with a single distinct shear fracture while for the unloading case specimens displayed multiple intersecting fractures. In addition, analysis of the evolution of dissipation and elastic energy during deformation of the specimens under loading and unloading conditions showed differentiable characteristics. Moreover, we evaluated the variations of two damage indices defined based on the energy dissipation and secant modulus evolution during deformation and observed that both of them satisfactorily distinguish key stages of damage evolution.

Effect of fatigue loading-confining stress unloading rate on marble mechanical behaviors: An insight into fracture evolution analyses

Rocks in underground works usually experience rather complex stress disturbance.For this,their fracture mechanism is significantly different from rocks subjected to conventional triaxial compression conditions.The effects of stress disturbances on rock geomechanical behaviors under fatigue loading conditions and triaxial unloading conditions have been reported in previous studies.However,little is known about the dependence of the unloading rate on fatigue loading and confining stress unloading(FL-CSU)conditions that influence rock failure.In this paper,we aimed at investigating the fracture behaviors of marble under FL-CSU conditions using the post-test X-ray computed tomography(CT)scanning technique and the GCTS RTR 2000 rock mechanics system.Results show that damage accumulation at the fatigue stage can influence the final fracture behaviors of marble.The stored elastic energy for rock samples under FL-CSU tests is relatively larger compared to those under conventional triaxial tests,and the dissipated energy used to drive damage evolution and crack propagation is larger for FL-CSU tests.In FL-CSU tests,as the unloading rate increases,the dissipated energy grows and elastic energy reduces.CT scanning after the test reveals the impacts of the unloading rate on the crack pattern and a fracture degree index is therein defined in this context to represent the crack dimension.It shows that the crack pattern after FL-CSU tests depends on the unloading rate,and the fracture degree is in agreement with the analysis of both the energy dissipation and the amount of energy released.The effect of unloading rate on fracture evolution characteristics of marble is revealed by a series of FL-CSU tests.

Utilizing a novel fiber optic technology to capture the axial responses of fully grouted rock bolts

Rock bolts are one of the primary support systems utilized in underground excavations within the civil and mining engineering industries. Rock bolts support the weakened rock mass adjacent to the opening of an excavation by fastening to the more stable, undisturbed formations further from the excavation. The overall response of such a support element has been determined under varying loading conditions in the laboratory and in situ experiments in the past four decades; however, due to the limitations with conventional monitoring methods of capturing strain, there still exists a gap in knowledge associated with an understanding of the geomechanical responses of rock bolts at the microscale. In this paper, we try to address this current gap in scientific knowledge by utilizing a newly developed distributed optical strain sensing(DOS) technology that provides an exceptional spatial resolution of 0.65 mm to capture the strain along the rock bolt. This DOS technology utilizes Rayleigh optical frequency domain reflectometry(ROFDR) which provides unprecedented insight into various mechanisms associated with axially loaded rebar specimens of different embedment lengths, grouting materials, borehole annulus conditions, and borehole diameters. The embedment length of the specimens was found to be the factor that significantly affected the loading of the rebar. The critical embedment length for the fully grouted rock bolts(FGRBs) was systematically determined to be430 mm. The results herein highlight the effects of the variation of these individual parameters on the geomechanical responses FGRBs.

Mechanical Properties of Deep-buried Marble Material Under Loading and Unloading Tests

The mechanical properties are essentially different when rock material is subjected to loading or unloading conditions. In this study, loading and unloading tests with various confining pressures are conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of marble material samples taken from the deep diversion tunnels of Jinping II Hydropower Station. The stress-strain relationship, failure characteristics and strength criterion are compared and analyzed based on the experiment results. The results show： in the loading and unloading test, peak strength, lateral strain, axial strain and plastic deformation increase significantly as the confining pressure increases. Lateral strain increased significantly and obvious lateral dilatancy can be observed to the change of confining pressure; The fracture mode is mainly the single shear fracture for the triaxial compression test and post-peak test, angle between the failure surface and the ends of the rock material becomes smaller as the confining pressure increases. Hock-Brown strength criterion reflects the strength characteristics of marble material under two different unloading conditions, and has some supplementary effects to the rock material of mechanical field.

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.

Space-time evolution rules of acoustic emission location of unloaded coal sample at different loading rates

By using MTS815 rock mechanics test system,a series of acoustic emission(AE) location experiments were performed under unloading confining pressure,increasing the axial stress.The AE space-time evolution regularities and energy releasing characteristics during deformation and failure process of coal of different loading rates are compared,the influence mechanism of loading rates on the microscopic crack evolution were studied,combining the AE characteristics and the macroscopic failure modes of the specimens,and the precursory characteristics of coal failure were also analyzed quantitatively.The results indicate that as the loading rate is higher,the AE activity and the main fracture will begin earlier.The destruction of coal body is mainly the function of shear strain at lower loading rate and tension strain at higher rate,and will transform from brittleness to ductility at critical velocities.When the deformation of the coal is mainly plasticity,the amplitude of the AE ringing counting rate increases largely and the AE energy curves appear an obvious ''step'',which can be defined as the first failure precursor point.Statics of AE information shows that the strongest AE activity begins when the axial stress level was 92-98%,which can be defined as the other failure precursor point.As the loading rate is smaller,the coal more easily reaches the latter precursor point after the first one,so attention should be aroused to prevent dynamic disaster in coal mining when the AE activity reaches the first precursor point.

Automatic determination method of optimal threshold based on the bootstrapping technology

In order to predict the extreme load of the mechanical components during the entire life,an automatic method based on the bootstrapping technology(BT)is proposed to determine the most suitable threshold.Based on all the turning points of the load history and a series of thresholds estimated in advance,the generalized Pareto distribution is established to fit the exceedances.The corresponding distribution parameters are estimated with the maximum likelihood method.Then,BT is employed to calculate the mean squared error(MSE)of each estimated threshold based on the exceedances and the specific distribution parameters.Finally,the threshold with the smallest MSE will be the optimal one.Compared to the kurtosis method and the mean excess function method,the average deviation of the probability density function of exceedances determined by BT reduces by 38.52%and 29.25%,respectively.Moreover,the quantile-quantile plot of the exceedances determined by BT is closer to a straight line.The results suggest the improvement of the modeling flexibility and the determined threshold precision.If the exceedances are insufficient,BT will enlarge their amount by resampling to solve the instability problem of the original distribution parameters.

The Experimental Simulation of Rocks on Load/Unload Response Ratio for Earthquake Prediction

The load/unload experiments on rock failure under pressure have been carried out in Material Test System (MTS) in the Laboratory for Non-linear Mechanics of Continuous Media (LNM), Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and load/unload response ratio (LURR) values with strain as response (i.e. inverse elastic constant as response rate) have been obtained. The experimental results are in accordance with theoretical results and those in real earthquakes: LURR rises just before rock failure. So LURR can be used as the precursor of rock failure and earthquake prediction.

The design of automatic loading-and-unloading material manipulator for telescopic punch

To reduce the amount of labor in the sheet metal stamping industry, improve the processing efficiency and safety factor and realize the automatic production of stamping, this paper designs a new type of overall plan about automatic loading and unloading material manipulator for telescopic punch which can realize the telescopic movements with two degrees. The mechanical structure of the manipulator includes a lifting device and a telescopic device. Using PLC control program, the control system can automatically achieve continuous beat actions of drawing and stacking for the processing raw materials. According to the mechanical structure, the paper analyzes the working principle and control strategy of each component in the loading-and-unloading material manipulator systems.

Experimental Research on the Load/Unload Response Ratio (LURR) Theory

Implementing acoustic emission experiments with large rock samples, LURR (Load/Unload Response Ratio) theory was studied. The loading conditions in the experiments were designed to simulate the complicated loading process of underground rocks. The damages emerging inside the rock samples were recorded by the acoustic emission technique during the loading process. The experimental results were consistent with prediction by LURR theory. Integrating the changing processes of LURR value Y and the location process of acoustic emission events showed agreement between the variation of LURR value Y and the damage evolution inside the rocks. Furthermore, the high value of Y emerged before the complete breakdown of materials. Therefore, the damage evolution of rock specimen can be quantitatively analyzed with LURR theory, thus the failure of the rock materials and the earthquake occurrence may be predicted. The experimental results gave a further verification of LURR theory.

A STUDY OF THE POSTBUCKLING PATH OF CYLINDRICALLY CURVED PANELS OF LAMINATED COMPOSITE MATERIALS DURING LOADING AND UNLOADING

In this paper, Dynamic Relaxation Method is applied to study the postbuckling path of cylindrically curved panels of laminated composite materials during loading and unloading. The phenomenon that loading paths do not coincide with unloading paths has been found. Numerical results are given for cylindrically curved cross-ply panels subjected to uniform uniaxial compression under two types of boundary conditions. The influence of the number of layers, the panels curvature and the initial imperfection on the postbuckling paths is discussed.