Temperature-treated Sandstone: Mechanical and Failure Behaviour under Triaxial Cyclic Loading
Abstract
Understanding thermo-mechanical properties of storage rocks is of great significance for the stability evaluation of underground energy storage projects. In this paper, the particle flow discrete element software (PFC2D) was used to simulate storage sandstone specimens after temperature treatment under triaxial compression and multi-level cyclic loading. Particular attention is paid to the influence of fatigue effect on the mechanical behavior, microcrack propagation, energy evolution, failure mode, and acoustic emission (AE) characteristics of temperature-treated storage sandstone (TTSS) specimens. The comparison of the results of experimental result and numerical simulation demonstrates that the calibrated microscopic parameters are reliable and correct. The results show that the characteristic stresses of the TTSS model, including crack initiation stress, crack damage stress, peak strength, failure strength, and residual strength, increase with increasing confining pressure. The cyclic loading reduces the peak stress of the TTSS model and increases the peak strain. Crack propagation, energy evolution, failure mode, and AE characteristics all depend on the stress level, cyclic loading, and confining pressure. In addition, the fatigue effect increases the number and distribution of microcracks in the TTSS model.
Article Type: Research article
Cited as:
Zhang T. 2025. Temperature-treated Sandstone: Mechanical and Failure Behaviour under Triaxial Cyclic Loading. GeoStorage, 1(2), 113-124. https://doi.org/10.46690/gs.2025.02.02.
Keywords:
Numerical simulation, triaxial multi-level cyclic loading, mechanical properties, failure characteristics, acoustic emission responsesReferences
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