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Strength, energy evolution and cracking process of sandstone under high-temperature and high-pressure coupled true triaxial compression

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Abstract

High temperature and high-stress environment significantly impact the mechanical properties of rocks in the deep underground. In this paper, the true triaxial compression tests were carried out to explore the impact of principal stresses and temperature on the mechanical properties and cracking characteristics of sandstone from Sichuan province China using the self-developed real-time high-temperature true triaxial test system. Four groups of laboratory tests were carried out, with minor principle stress ranging from 4 to 70 MPa, intermediate principle stress ranging from 6 to 200 MPa, and temperatures ranging from 26 to 200 ℃, on two dozens of Longchang sandstone samples. The complete stress–strain curves were obtained, and the strength, deformation, brittleness, and cracking mode at the failure were analyzed for the sandstone under different principal stresses and temperatures. It indicates that the angle of the sandstone failure plane decreases monotonically with the increase of the minimum principal stress, and shows no obvious relationship with the intermediate principal stress. The deformation modulus and featuring stresses of the sandstone increase first and then decrease with the increase of temperature in the range from 26 to 200 ℃ and reach the maximum value at 90 °C. The crack initiation in the sandstone before the peak induced by true triaxial stress loading seems to be delayed in temperatures lower than 90 ℃ while accelerated in those higher than 90℃ by the temperature increase. The results provide references for the high-temperature cracking of sandstone reservoirs in the field and data support for the corresponding numerical models.

Article highlights

  • Sandstone property is studied in thermal–mechanical coupled true triaxial compression.

  • Brittleness of sandstone is studied at different principal stresses and temperatures.

  • Crack initiation and propagation of sandstone are analyzed by energy evolution.

  • Failure-plane angle is found related to minor horizontal stress condition.

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Any data and code used in this study can be available by requesting the corresponding author by email.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Supports from the National RD Program of China (No. 2021YFB2301304-5), National Science of Foundation of China (No. 52278333), the Science and Technology Program of Tibet Province (No. XZ202101ZD0001G) and the Research Project of China Railway First Survey and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd (No. 19-15 and No. 20-17-1) are acknowledged. The help of Professor Fei Wang and Dr. Jing Zhang in editing the manuscript and discussion was acknowledged. The work is also partially supported by the 111 Project (B17009) and under the framework of Sino-Franco Joint Research Laboratory on Multiphysics and Multiscale Rock Mechanics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Lab of Ministry of Education on Safe Mining of Deep Metal Mines, College of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, Liaoning, China

    Zhaolei Gao, Zaobao Liu, Feng Tian & Wanqing Shen

  2. Key Lab of Deep Engineering and Intelligent Technology, Institute of Deep Engineering and Intelligent Technology, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, Liaoning, China

    Zhaolei Gao, Zaobao Liu & Feng Tian

  3. Univ. Lille, CNRS, Centrale Lille, UMR 9013-LaMcube-Laboratoire de MecaniqueMultiphysique, Multi-Echelle, Lille, France

    Wanqing Shen

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  1. Zhaolei Gao
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Correspondence to Zaobao Liu.

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Gao, Z., Liu, Z., Tian, F. et al. Strength, energy evolution and cracking process of sandstone under high-temperature and high-pressure coupled true triaxial compression. Geomech. Geophys. Geo-energ. Geo-resour. 8, 176 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40948-022-00490-3

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