Coupled Hydraulic-Mechanical Experimental System for Evaluating Dynamic Mechanical and Transport Behaviors of Deep Rocks

Background

The dynamic mechanical properties and permeability evolution of deep rocks under coupled osmotic-mechanical conditions are vital for evaluating the stability of surrounding rock in deep rock engineering and further improving deep mining efficiency. However, there is currently no valid experimental system to measure both the dynamic mechanical response and the permeability evolution of deep rocks.

Objective

In this study, a novel experimental system is developed for determining dynamic compressive properties and permeability evolution of deep rocks subjected to coupled differential pore pressure and confinement.

Methods

The experimental system is composed of a dynamic loading system, an in-situ stress system, a differential pore pressure system, and a data acquisition system. The differential pore pressure system is introduced in the dynamic loading system, and the validation of the proposed system is verified by checking the stress wave propagation in the bars and the dynamic force balance on the two loading ends of specimens. It indicates that the differential pore pressure device added to the dynamic loading system barely influences the measurement of the dynamic behaviors of rocks. A homogenous green sandstone (GS) is employed to verify the feasibility and reliability of the proposed system. Dynamic compressive strength, permeability evolution, and failure mode of GS under cyclic dynamic impact loading in combination with coupled osmotic-confining pressure are explored using the proposed system.

Results

The stress–strain curves change with the increase of impact number, and the cyclic impacts deteriorate the dynamic compressive strength of GS. The permeability of GS first increases and then decreases with the impact number. The differential pore pressure enhanced the permeability of GS under the same impact cycle. The main fracture mode of the GS specimen is mainly compressive-shear fracture in combination with a tensile fracture in the middle of the specimen due to the coupling effect of the reflected stress wave and the osmotic-confining pressure.

Conclusions

The proposed experimental system is valid and effective to measure and observe the dynamic compressive behaviors and permeability evolution of rocks under coupled osmotic-mechanical conditions.