Experimental study on mesostructural damage evolution of sandstone subjected to freeze-thaw cycling under uniaxial compression

• Published in: 寒旱区科学（英文版） 2022, Vol.14 (5), p.317-328
• Main Authors: Hui Liu, SenLei Han, GengShe Yang, Yuan Zhang, JinJie Yu, ZongXin Feng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1674-3822

In perennially frozen or seasonally frozen soil regions,freeze-thaw cycling adversely impacts the mechanical properties of rock mass,resulting in landslides,rock erosion,and other geological disasters.The microscopic damage evolution law of loaded sandstone under the freeze-thaw cycle is analyzed by conducting Nuclear Magnetic Resonance(NMR)and uniaxial compression acoustic emission(AE)experiments.The experimental results have shown that:(1)Freeze-thaw cycling increases sandstone's internal pores,enlarges the pore size,and modifies the original pore distribution.(2)The damage due to freeze-thaw cycling is positively correlated with the initial damage to the rock,and the damage on the rock surface is more severe than inside the rock sample.(3)Freeze-thaw cycling negatively impacts the mechanical properties of sandstone,and the elastic deformation stage of sandstone gradually decreases as the number of freeze-thaw cycles increases and gradually transitions from brittle failure to ductile failure.(4)The characteristic parameters of AE ringing count and accumulated energy can reveal the severity of freeze-thaw damage and the dynamic evolution process,and the damage development rate exhibits abrupt changes at critical moments.After five freeze-thaw cycles,the damage development rate rises suddenly,as manifested by a sharp increase in the frequency and energy of AE events.High-energy AE events frequently occur during the rapid expansion period of damage,which can be adopted as an essential reference for damage propagation and aggravation.