Fatigue fracture behaviors and damage evolution of coal samples treated with drying–wetting cycles investigated by acoustic emission and nuclear magnetic resonance

Abstract

Constructing pumped-storage power stations using underground reservoirs in mines offers a promising method for large-scale energy storage. Watertight coal pillars have the potential to destabilize under the mine-shock cyclic dynamic loading and the drying–wetting cycles (DWCs). Understanding the fatigue damage mechanism and failure precursors in watertight coal pillars under cyclic dynamic loading disturbances in overburdened rock strata has become challenging. This study investigated the fatigue fracture behavior and precursor information of coal samples under acoustic emission (AE) monitoring over 1–7 DWC times. We analyzed the effects of DWC and fatigue cycles on the dynamic parameters and AE response, investigated crack spatial extension behaviors and the tensile-shear cracking evolution law, and analyzed the fatigue damage evolution law and failure precursor with energy and b-value. The results demonstrated that fatigue loading produced a strengthening effect on the DWC coal samples, and DWC promoted plastic softening damage to the specimens and increased the percentage of the elastic phase. The average dynamic fatigue strength and life of the specimens decreased exponentially under 7 DWC times. The average dynamic axial stiffness decreased by 15.67 %, the axial deformation increased by 6.1 × 10⁻⁴ in a single cycle, and the dynamic elasticity modulus of the fatigue damage instant decreased by 8.86 %. The greater the number of DWC, the smaller the b-value and the larger the fluctuation amplitude at fatigue failure of the specimen. A large short-term increase or decrease in the b-value can be regarded as a precursor to fatigue failure. This study provides a reference for the stability monitoring and forewarning of underground pumped-storage facilities.