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An Experimental and Modeling Investigation on Creep Mechanical Behavior of Granite Under Triaxial Cyclic Loading and Unloading

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Abstract

The objective of this work is to investigate the creep damage mechanism of granite from a nuclear power station. A series of multi-step loading and unloading cycles creep tests of granite were carried out under different confining pressures. For the creep test, the creep differential stresses (i.e., 60%, 70%, 80%, 90%, 100% and even larger than 100% of σp) were applied according to the instantaneous peak deviatoric stress σp. To study the elastic-visco-plastic creep deformations of the granite specimens, the total strain was divided into instantaneous and creep strains, including the instantaneous elastic strain, plastic strain, visco-elastic strain, and visco-plastic strain. The results show that the short-term strength, crack damage threshold, and Young’s modulus all increased with the increasing of confining pressure. Due to an existing critical stress, the creep strain stabilizes when the applied stress is less than the stress level. An exponential function is proposed, which can well describe the relationship between the visco-plastic strain and stress ratio. The long-term strength of the granite corresponds to the stress level at the stress ratio range from 0.86 to 0.95. Besides, the damage mechanism of the failed granite specimens is analyzed using an X-ray micro-CT scanning system. Finally, a time-dependent damage model is proposed to quantitatively characterize the creep damage and deformation behaviors of granite.

Highlights

  • Investigate long-term creep mechanical behavior of granite under different confining pressure

  • Explore the internal damage fracture behavior by X-ray micro-CT observation

  • Propose a time-dependent damage model to describe the creep damage evolution of granite

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42077231, 52109143) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2021ZDPYJQ002). The authors would also like to express their sincere gratitude to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments which have greatly improved this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Geomechanics and Deep Underground Engineering, School of Mechanics and Civil Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, 221116, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Sheng-Qi Yang & Su-Sheng Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Mining Response and Disaster Prevention and Control in Deep Coal Mines, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, 232001, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Jin-Zhou Tang

  3. State Key Laboratory of Geomechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, Institute of Rock and Soil Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, 430071, Hubei, People’s Republic of China

    Dian-Sen Yang

  4. China Energy Engineering Group, Guangdong Electric Power Design Institute Co., LTD, Guangzhou, 510000, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China

    Wen-Tang Zheng

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  1. Sheng-Qi Yang
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  2. Jin-Zhou Tang
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Correspondence to Sheng-Qi Yang.

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Yang, SQ., Tang, JZ., Wang, SS. et al. An Experimental and Modeling Investigation on Creep Mechanical Behavior of Granite Under Triaxial Cyclic Loading and Unloading. Rock Mech Rock Eng 55, 5577–5597 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-022-02920-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-022-02920-w

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