Abstract
Although freeze–thaw damage to rocks has been extensively studied in recent decades, the quantitative correlation between the microscopic pores and macroscopic physico-mechanical properties of rocks under freeze–thaw action has not yet been determined. In this study, the pore structure variation in three sandstones during the freeze–thaw process was continuously measured by the mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) test. The pore size distribution can be characterized by a multimodal exponential function. With increasing freeze–thaw cycles, the characteristic pore radii of the nanopores (d ≤ 5 × 10−5 mm), micropores (5 × 10−5 mm ≤ d ≤ 0.1 mm), and macropores (0.1 mm ≤ d ≤ 1 mm) increase. However, the volumetric fractions of nanopores and micropores decrease continuously during freeze–thaw cycles because a considerable number of nanopores and micropores develop into macropores. The fractal dimension of the pore structure gradually decreases as the number of freeze–thaw cycles increases. This implies that the pore size distribution gradually tends to be more homogeneous and that the complexity of the pore structure decreases. Finally, the relationship between microscopic pore structure parameters and macroscopic properties (porosity, P-wave velocity, and uniaxial compressive strength) was established. Through the analysis of microscopic structure evolution and loss of macroscopic properties, it can be concluded that the growth of macropores may play a dominant role in freeze–thaw damage and strength loss. This study can provide a better understanding of the macro-microscopic freeze–thaw damage mechanism of sandstones.
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The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
Abbreviations
- UCS :
-
Uniaxial compressive strength (unit: MPa)
- n,n 0 :
-
Porosity and initial porosity of sandstone, respectively
- ρ d :
-
Density of dry sandstone (unit: kg/m3)
- ρ w :
-
Density of water (unit: kg/m3)
- V p sa , :
-
P-wave velocity for sandstone (unit: m/s)
- V s :
-
The volume of a sandstone sample (unit: m3)
- E m :
-
Elastic modulus for saturation sandstone (unit: GPa)
- m sa(N), m d(N):
-
Completely saturated and dry masses of sandstones after Nth freeze–thaw cycles, respectively (unit: g)
- \({p}_{\text{c}}\) :
-
Capillary pressure (unit: MPa)
- \(\sigma\) :
-
Surface tension of mercury (unit: N)
- \(\theta\) :
-
Wetting contact angle between the mercury and pore wall of rocks (unit: °)
- k :
-
Peak point number of the increment curve of mercury inlet
- F(r):
-
Cumulative pore fraction
- V 1, V 2, V 2.1, V 2.2, V 3 :
-
Volumetric fractions of nanopores, micropore, fine micropores, coarse micropores, and macropores, respectively
- D f :
-
Fractal dimension
- m 1, m 2, m 2.1, m 2.2, m 3 :
-
Characteristic pore radii of nanopores, micropore, fine micropores, coarse micropores, and macropores, respectively (unit: mm)
- D 1, D 2, D n :
-
The diameter of throat pores (unit: mm)
- V 1 ink, V 2 ink, V n ink :
-
The volume of ink-bottle pores
- V m1 ink, V m2 ink, V mn ink :
-
The volume of residual mercury in ink-bottle pores
- r :
-
Pore radius (unit: mm)
- d :
-
Pore diameter (unit: mm)
- N(r):
-
Number of pores larger than r
- N f :
-
Number of freeze–thaw cycles
- a :
-
An undetermined coefficient
- V Hg :
-
Accumulated mercury volumetric for the pores
- l :
-
Pore length (unit: mm)
- j :
-
Peak point number of the increment curve of mercury intrusion
- MIP:
-
Mercury intrusion porosimeter
- SEM:
-
Scanning electron microscope
- NMR:
-
Nuclear magnetic resonance
- XRD:
-
X-ray diffraction
- CT:
-
Computer tomography
- AE:
-
Acoustic emission
- BET:
-
Brunauer–Emmett–Teller
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Funding
This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42371374, No. 42072300 and No. 41702291), Project of Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province (Grant No. 2021CFA094). This work was supported by “The 14th Five Year Plan” Hubei Provincial advantaged characteristic disciplines (groups) project of Wuhan University of Science and Technology (Grant No. A0303).
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Yu, S., Huang, S., Liu, F. et al. Quantification of pore structure evolution and its correlation with the macroscopic properties of sandstones under freeze–thaw action. Bull Eng Geol Environ 83, 3 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03484-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03484-x