Experimental Investigation of the Mechanical Behavior in Unloading Conditions of Sandstone After High-Temperature Treatment

A detailed understanding of damage evolution in rock after high-temperature treatment in unloading conditions is extremely important in underground engineering applications, such as the disposal of highly radioactive nuclear waste, underground coal gasification, and post-disaster reconstruction. We have studied the effects of temperature (200, 400, 600 and 800 °C) and confining pressure (20, 30 and 40 MPa) on the mechanical properties of sandstone. Scanning electron microscopy studies revealed that at temperatures exceeding 400 °C, new cracks formed, and original cracks extended substantially. When the confining pressure was 20 MPa, a temperature increase from 400 to 800 °C resulted in a 75.2% increase in peak strain, a decrease in Young’s modulus and peak strength of 62.5 and 35.8 %, respectively, and transition of the failure mechanism from brittleness to ductility. In the triaxial compression tests, the specimen deformed in a more obvious ductile failure manner at higher confining pressure, whereas in the unloading confining pressure experiments, brittle failure was more obvious when the initial confining pressure was higher. We focused on the effects of temperature and initial confining pressure on peak effective loading stress and peak ductile deformation during unloading. At temperatures of >400 °C, the peak ductile deformation increased rapidly with increases in the high temperature treatment or initial confining pressure. The peak effective loading stress decreased sharply with increased temperature but barely changed when the initial confining pressure was varied.