Performances of fissured red sandstone after thermal treatment with constant-amplitude and low-cycle impacts

In the engineering practices,it is increasingly common to encounter fractured rocks perturbed by temperatures and frequent dynamic loads.In this paper,the dynamic behaviors and fracture characteristics of red sandstone considering temperatures(25℃,200℃,400℃,600℃,and 800℃)and fissure angles(0°,30°,60°,and 90°)were evaluated under constant-amplitude and low-cycle(CALC)impacts actuated by a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar(SHPB)system.Subsequently,fracture morphology and second-order statistics within the grey-level co-occurrence matrix(GLCM)were examined using scanning electron microscopy(SEM).Meanwhile,the deep analysis and discussion of the mechanical response were conducted through the synchronous thermal analyzer(STA)test,numerical simulations,one-dimensional stress wave theory,and material structure.The multiple regression models between response variables and interactive effects of independent variables were established using the response surface method(RSM).The results demonstrate the fatigue strength and life diminish as temperatures rise and increase with increasing fissure angles,while the strain rate exhibits an inverse behavior.Furthermore,the peak stress intensification and strain rate softening observed during CALC impact exhibit greater prominence at increased fissure angles.The failure is dominated by tensile damage with concise evolution paths and intergranular cracks as well as the compressor-crushed zone which may affect the failure mode after 400℃.The second-order statistics of GLCM in SEM images exhibit a considerable dependence on the temperatures.Also,thermal damage dominated by thermal properties controls the material structure and wave impedance and eventually affects the incident wave intensity.The tensile wave reflected from the fissure surface is the inherent mechanism responsible for the angle effect exhibited by the fatigue strength and life.Ultimately,the peak stress intensification and strain rate softening during impact are determined by both the material structure and compaction governed by thermal damage and tensile wave.

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.

Intelligent method to experimentally identify the fracture mechanism of red sandstone

Tensile and shear fractures are significant mechanisms for rock failure.Understanding the fractures that occur in rock can reveal rock failure mechanisms.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM)has been widely used to analyze tensile and shear fractures of rock on a mesoscopic scale.To quantify tensile and shear fractures,this study proposed an innovative method composed of SEM images and deep learning techniques to identify tensile and shear fractures in red sandstone.First,direct tensile and preset angle shear tests were performed for red sandstone to produce representative tensile and shear fracture surfaces,which were then observed by SEM.Second,these obtained SEM images were applied to develop deep learning models(AlexNet,VGG13,and SqueezeNet).Model evaluation showed that VGG13 was the best model,with a testing accuracy of 0.985.Third,the features of tensile and shear fractures of red sandstone learned by VGG13 were analyzed by the integrated gradient algorithm.VGG13 was then implemented to identify the distribution and proportion of tensile and shear fractures on the failure surfaces of rock fragments caused by uniaxial compression and Brazilian splitting tests.Results demonstrated the model feasibility and suggested that the proposed method can reveal rock failure mechanisms.

Mechanical behavior of red sandstone under cyclic point loading

The mechanical properties of red sandstone subjected to cyclic point loading were investigated. Tests were conducted using MTS servohydraulic landmark test system, under cyclic loadings with constant amplitudes and increasing multi-level amplitudes. The frequencies range from 0.1 to 5 Hz and lower limit load ratios range from 0 to 0.60. Laboratory investigations were performed to find the effect of the frequency and the lower limit load ratio on the fatigue life and hysteresis properties of sandstone. The results show that the fatigue life of sandstone decreases first and then increases with the increase of frequency and lower limit load ratio. Under the same cycle number, the spacing between hysteresis loops increases with rising frequency and decreasing lower limit load ratio. The existence of “training” and “memory” effects in red sandstone under cyclic point loading was proved.

Effect of Freeze-Thaw Cycles on Mechanical Properties and Permeability of Red Sandstone under Triaxial Compression

Geological disasters will happen in cold regions because of the effects of freeze-thaw cycles on rocks or soils, so studying the effects of these cycles on the mechanical characteristics and permeability properties of rocks is very important. In this study, red sandstone samples were frozen and thawed with o, 4, 8 and 12 cycles, each cycle including 12 h of freezing and 12 h of thawing. The P-wave velocities of these samples were measured, and the mechanical properties and evolution of the steady-state permeabilities were investigated in a series of uniaxial and triaxial compression tests. Experimental results show that, with the increasing of cyclic freeze-thaw times, the P-wave velocity of the red sandstone decreases. The number of freeze-thaw cycles has a significant influence on the uniaxial compressive strength, elastic modulus, cohesion, and angle of internal friction. The evolution of permeability of the rock samples after cycles of freeze-thaw in a complete stress-strain process under triaxial compression is closely related to the variation of the microstructure in the rock. There is a highly corresponding relationship between volumetric strain and permeability with axial strain in all stages of the stress-strain behaviour.

Full-field mapping of internal strain distribution in red sandstone specimen under compression using digital volumetric speckle photography and X-ray computed tomography

It is always desirable to know the interior deformation pattern when a rock is subjected to mechanicalload. Few experimental techniques exist that can represent full-field three-dimensional （3D） straindistribution inside a rock specimen. And yet it is crucial that this information is available for fully understandingthe failure mechanism of rocks or other geomaterials. In this study, by using the newlydeveloped digital volumetric speckle photography （DVSP） technique in conjunction with X-ray computedtomography （CT） and taking advantage of natural 3D speckles formed inside the rock due to materialimpurities and voids, we can probe the interior of a rock to map its deformation pattern under load andshed light on its failure mechanism. We apply this technique to the analysis of a red sandstone specimenunder increasing uniaxial compressive load applied incrementally. The full-field 3D displacement fieldsare obtained in the specimen as a function of the load, from which both the volumetric and the deviatoricstrain fields are calculated. Strain localization zones which lead to the eventual failure of the rock areidentified. The results indicate that both shear and tension are contributing factors to the failuremechanism. 2015 Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Production and hosting byElsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial acoustic emission evolution of red sandstone during multi-stage triaxial deformation

Multi-stage triaxial compression tests for cylindrical red sandstone specimens(diameter of 50 mm,height of 100 mm) were carried out with a rock mechanics testing system and spatial acoustic emission(AE) locations were obtained by adopting an AE monitoring system.Based on spatial AE distribution evolution of red sandstone during multi-stage triaxial deformation,the relation between spatial AE events and triaxial deformation of red sandstone was analyzed.The results show that before peak strength,the spatial AE events are not active and distribute stochastically in the specimen,while after peak strength,the spatial AE events are very active and focus on a local region beyond final microscopic failure plane.During multi-stage triaxial deformation with five different confining pressures,the spatial AE distribution evolution in the red sandstone was obtained.The obtained spatial AE locations of red sandstone at the final confining pressure agree very well with the ultimate failure experimental mode.Finally,the influence of confining pressure on the spatial AE evolution characteristics of red sandstone during triaxial deformation was discussed.The AE behavior of red sandstone during multi-stage triaxial deformation is interpreted in the light of the Kaiser effect,which has a significant meaning for predicting the unstable failure of engineering rock mass.

Effect of specimen size on energy dissipation characteristics of red sandstone under high strain rate

In this experiment, red sandstone specimens, having slenderness ratios of 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1.1 respectively, were subjected to blow tests using a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar(SHPB) system at a pressure of 0.4 atmospheres. In this paper, we have analyzed the effect of slenderness ratio on the mechanical properties and energy dissipation characteristics of red sandstone under high strain rates. The processes of compaction, elastic deformation and stress softening deformation of specimens contract with an increase in slenderness ratio, whilst the nonlinear deformation process extends correspondingly. In addition, degrees of damage of specimens reduced gradually and the type of destruction showed a transformation trend from stretching failure towards shear failure when the slenderness ratio increased. A model of dynamic damage evolution in red sandstone was established and the parameters of the constitutive model at different ratios of length to diameter were determined. By comparison with the experimental curve, the accuracy of the model, which could reflect the stress–strain dynamic characteristics of red sandstone, was verified. From the view of energy dissipation, an increase in slenderness ratio of a specimen decreased the proportion of energy dissipation and caused a gradual fall in the capability of energy dissipation during the specimen failure process. To some extent, the study indicated the effects of slenderness ratios on the mechanical properties and energy dissipation characteristics of red sandstone under the high strain rate, which provides valuable references to related engineering designs and academic researches.

Paleomagnetism of Cretaceous Red beds from Eastern Part of South China Block

We performed on paleomagnetic investigation of the Upper Cretaceous red sandstones collected from Fujiau and Guangdong provinces. Significant characteristic directions were isolated by principal comPonent analysis from 22 of 25 and 9 of 14 sampling sites iu Fujian and Guangdong,respectively. Maximum concentration of global mean directions every province is achieved at 70 %and complete (100 % ) untilting for Fujian and Guangdong, respectively. We regarded these mean directions as the Late Cretaceous paleomagnetic directions and calculated virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs); Fujian, Lat. /Lon. = 79. 4°N/210. 3°E (α95= 5. 1°) and Guangdong, Lat. /Lon. = 80. 1°N/193. 4°E (α95=8. 0°). These two VGPs are nearly equal to each other and to a mean VGP from Sichuan Province reported previously. This observation suggests no relative movement among three regions, Fujian, Guangdong and Sichuan, since the Late Cretaceous. Two VGPs from this study are significantly different from previously reported VGPs from the same regions. Further systematic paleomagnetic works are needed to clarify this difference of VGP Positions.

Experimental study on the expansive deformation of red sandstone of Hongshanyao

An experience formula of expansive strain and stone taken from a foundation pit of Hongshanyao Project (HSYP) in Nanjing was described. It is clear that the curve of expansive strain-water content is a logarithm. In the meantime, the relation of expansive strain with time was studied and the importance of expansive stabilization time was illu-minated. The experiment results indicated that the water content has a tremendous effect on peak expansive and steady expansive deformation of swelling red sandstone.

A model of unfrozen water content in rock during freezing and thawing with experimental validation by nuclear magnetic resonance

The unfrozen water content of rock during freezing and thawing has an important influence on its physical and mechanical properties.This study presented a model for calculating the unfrozen water content of rock during freezing and thawing process,considering the influence of unfrozen water film and rock pore structure,which can reflect the hysteresis and super-cooling effects.The pore size distribution cu rves of red sandsto ne and its unfrozen water conte nt under different temperatures during the freezing and thawing process were measured using nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) to validate the proposed model.Comparison between the experimental and calculated results indicated that the theoretical model accu rately reflected the water content change law of red sandstone during the freezing and thawing process.Furthermore,the influences of Hamaker constant and surface relaxation parameter on the model results were examined.The results showed that the appropriate magnitude order of Hamaker constant for the red sandstone was 10J to 10J;and when the relaxation parameter of the rock surface was within 25-30 μm/ms,the calculated unfrozen water content using the proposed model was consistent with the experimental value.