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Radon emission evolution and rock failure

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Abstract

Previous experimental studies showed that the variation of Radon (Rn) emission is closely related to the development of rock deformation: Rn emission has a rapid increase with the growth of cracks and their surface areas (i.e. onset of fracture coalescence point), and reaches the maximum at rock failure. In this study, the stress level at the onset of fracture coalescence λ c is predicted with the renormalization group theory. It is assumed that rock is a strain-softening medium whose strength can be described by Weibull’s distribution. Result shows that λ c depends mainly on the homogeneity index or shape parameter m in the Weibull’s distribution for the rock. Both experimental and analytical results show that this point of rapid increase in Rn emission on the Rn-strain curve corresponds to the critical point on the stress–strain curve; for rock compression, the stress at this point is approximately 70–80 % of the peak strength. Hence a generalized crack damage threshold is proposed in the present study based on the characteristics of Rn emission during the loading process, for recognizing the critical point of rock fracture.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the State Basic Research and Development Program of China (No. 2013CB036003), the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Transport project of China (2013318J12330) and the National Science Youth Foundation of China (41102201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Geosciences, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Qiang Sun

  2. Xi’an Research Institute, China Coal Technology and Engineering Group, Xi’an, 710054, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Chunhu Zhao & Hanjiang Lü

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  1. Qiang Sun
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  2. Chunhu Zhao
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  3. Hanjiang Lü
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Correspondence to Qiang Sun.

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Sun, Q., Zhao, C. & Lü, H. Radon emission evolution and rock failure. Acta Geod Geophys 51, 583–595 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40328-015-0147-z

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