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Experimental investigation of the failure mechanism of deep granite under high seepage water pressure and strong unloading effect

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Abstract

For deep hard–brittle rock mass engineering in a complicated hydrogeological environment, deformation and damage of the surrounding rock during excavation are often driven by the combined action of the dynamic seepage water and the strong unloading effect. To investigate the failure mechanism of a deep-buried rock mass under high seepage water pressure and high unloading rate, a series of conventional triaxial and unloading triaxial compression tests at different seepage water pressures and unloading rates were conducted on Erlang Mountain granite. The results confirmed that the dynamic seepage water pressure has a great influence on the mechanical properties and failure mechanism of rock because its splitting and expanding effects could stimulate crack generation and accelerate fractures. As the water pressure increased, the granite entered the nonlinear growth phase of the permeability coefficient earlier and entered the energy softening stage later. While the compressive strength and energy storage capacity of the rock were weakened gradually by dynamic seepage water, the permeability, energy hardening properties, and brittle failure mechanism could be magnified. Moreover, the effect of the strong unloading on the mechanical properties and damage mechanism of deep-buried granite was similar to that of the dynamic water pressure. Although the peak stress, peak strain, and energy storage capacity were reduced under the strong unloading effect, the permeability, brittle fracture characteristics, energy hardening properties and energy release rate could be significantly enhanced. Under the combined action of high seepage pressure and high unloading rate, the rock gradually decreased in hardness and increased in brittleness, and these changes were conducive to the instantaneous release of elastic strain energy in the failure stage.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52008351 and U19A200566), the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (Nos. 2021YJ0539 and 2021JDR0399), the project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Nos. 2020TQ0250 and 2021M700112), the Open Foundation of State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection (Chengdu University of Technology) (No. SKLGP2021K019) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 2682021CX013).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Transportation Tunnel Engineering, Ministry of Education, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, 610031, Sichuan, China

    Ziquan Chen, Chunchi Ma & Chuan He

  2. State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, 610059, Sichuan, China

    Ziquan Chen, Chunchi Ma & Tianbin Li

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  1. Ziquan Chen
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Correspondence to Chunchi Ma.

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Chen, Z., Ma, C., Li, T. et al. Experimental investigation of the failure mechanism of deep granite under high seepage water pressure and strong unloading effect. Acta Geotech. 17, 5009–5030 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-022-01665-8

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